During the efforts in documenting ‘Amphibians in the Deccan plateau parts of a Karnataka’, research team discovered a new species of burrowing frog and also got published in journal Zootaxa. It has been named after Bengaluru city being – “Sphaerotheca Bengaluru”.
Discovered by Deepak P, an assistant professor in Mount Carmel college in the city in 2018, the dilettante herpetologist sent the images of discovered frog to Zoological survey of India (ZSI). A phylogenetic study confirmed the discovery. The frog was found on the outskirts of Bengaluru in the barren tract of land near Rajankunte.
“With most findings getting concentrated on the biodiversity hotspots of the country or at least forested areas with green cover Amphibian discoveries in india have been rising in a way. The new species is described on the basis of morphological differences and molecular structure in comparative case study with known species of burrowing frog (Across South Asia).” – says the team.
The team of researchers includes Scientist Dinesh P from ZSI Pune, Kartik Shankar from centre for Ecological Sciences (IISc Banglore), Dr. Annemarie Ohler from The Institute of Systematics, Biodiversity, Evolution, National Museum of natural History (France), scientist B.H. Channakeshavamurthy from ZSI Kozhikode, and J.S. Ashadevi a professor at Yuvaraaja college, Mysuru.
Researchers and scientists are now hopeful that species of frog can be found in cities that are highly populous.