A new terrestrial frog has been discovered in Goa, seen in the high elevation areas near paddy fields and ponds. The frog is brown coloured and has been given the scientific name Fejervarya goemchi in honor of the state where it was identified.
The team that made the discovery was led by KP Dinesh, from Zoological Survey of India, Pune and included Nirmal Kulkarni of Mhadei Research Centre, Goa; Priyanka Swami of Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and P Deepak of Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.
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The Fejervarya goemchi measuring 41.0 to 46.0 millimetres is found with peak activity from the onset of the monsoon to post monsoon in the highland plateaus of the Western Ghats. Frogs of this family are commonly found in South and South east Asia. They range from a size of 19 millimetres to 56 millimetres. As they are also very similar to look at and difficult to distinguish, scientists relied on a combination of morphology, geographic distribution range and molecular methods to describe the new species.
“Many frogs sitting next to water bodies, making calls to attract females for mating and breeding are large sized terrestrial fejervaryan frogs,” said Nirmal to Navhind Times. He adds: “Although most of these frogs are terrestrial, they need water bodies to continue breeding and for their survival.”
The team hopes that now that the frog has been identified, more research can be done regarding its habitat and behaviour.
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Goa has 32 amphibians listed which includes frogs, toads and caecillians, the limbless amphibians.
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