New species of music frog discovered in Arunachal Pradesh
Guwahati: A team of biologists has discovered a new species of music frog in the Namdapha-Kamlang landscape of Arunachal Pradesh.
The frog has been named after the Noa-Dihing River and is found near Gandhigram, close to the Namdapha Tiger Reserve.
The frog grows up to six centimetres and is characterized by a pale cream-coloured line on the mid-body and a unique call pattern consisting of two or three notes.
The team first heard the call from a marsh near the Noa-Dihing River, which is quite similar to wild duck species, like "quack... quack... quack," which they had never heard before.
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The species was also discovered in the surrounding marshy habitat of Glaw Lake in the Kamlang Tiger Reserve in 2022.
The marshy habitat is dominated by a particular grass species called Rotala, in which the males make circular pits almost like their private pools and call from the pits to attract female frogs.
The interesting breeding, egg-laying, and parental care, if any, remain unknown for this interesting marsh-adapted frog species.
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The discovery of the new species from the close vicinity of one of the largest protected areas of Northeast India indicates that further study is likely to uncover more populations of Nidirana inside the Namdapha Tiger Reserve.
"As the new species inhabits swampy areas, conservation of such habitats inside the protected area and its surroundings is crucial. The addition of three new species of amphibians within one year underscores the biological richness of the region and flags the need for further exploration in hyper diverse Namdapha-Kamlang landscape," it said.
