12 new frog species discovered, including the Meowing Night Frog and Jog Night Frog
33 replies, posted
[release]NEW DELHI -- Years of combing tropical mountain forests, shining flashlights under rocks and listening for croaks in the night have paid off for a team of Indian scientists which has discovered 12 new frog species plus three others thought to have been extinct.
It's a discovery the team hopes will bring attention to India's amphibians and their role in gauging the health of the environment.
Worldwide, 32 percent of the world's known amphibian species are threatened with extinction, largely because of habitat loss or pollution, according to the group Global Wildlife Conservation.
"Frogs are extremely important indicators not just of climate change, but also pollutants in the environment," said the project's lead scientist, biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju of the University of Delhi.
Many of the newly found frogs in India are rare and are living in just a single area, so they will need rigorous habitat protection, Biju told The Associated Press on Saturday. "Unfortunately in India, conservation has basically focused on the two most charismatic animals -- the elephant and the tiger. For amphibians there is little interest, little funding, and frog research is not easy."
Night frogs are extremely hard to find, coming out only at dark and during the monsoon season, living either in fast-flowing streams or on moist forest ground.
Biju said he and his student researchers had to sit in dark, damp forests listening for frog sounds and shining flashlights under rocks and across riverbeds. They confirmed the new species by description as well as genetics.
The 12 new species include the meowing night frog, whose croak sounds more like a cat's call, the jog night frog, unique in that both the males and females watch over the eggs, and the Wayanad night frog, which grows to about the size of a baseball or cricket ball. "It's almost like a monster in the forest floor, a huge animal for a frog, leaping from one rock to another," Biju said.
Three other species were rediscovered, including the Coorg night frog described 91 years ago, after scientists "had completely ignored these animals, thinking they were lost."
The discoveries -- published in the latest issue of international taxonomy journal Zootaxa -- bring the known number of frogs in India to 336. Biju estimated this was only around half of what is in the wild, and said none of India's amphibians are yet being studied for biological compounds that could be of further use in science.
"We first have to find the species, know them and protect them, so that we can study them for their clinical importance," he said.
Biju is credited with discovering dozens of new Indian frog species during his 35-year career.[/release]
SOURCE: [url]http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/17/scientists-discover-12-new-frog-species-in-india/#ixzz1YEkw7S00[/url]
[B]FROGS (pictures fron NAT GEO):[/B]
Meowing Night Frog:
[release] [img]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-meowing_40096_600x450.jpg[/img]
The Nocturnal, 3.5 centimeter Meowing Night Frog.
Jog Night Frog:
[img]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-jog_40095_600x450.jpg[/img]
Jog Night Frog, named for Jog Falls in India, is unique because both males and females watch over eggs.
Gavi Night Frog:
[img]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-gavi_40094_600x450.jpg[/img]
The Gavi Night Frog, named the the indian village of Gavi.
Feisty Night Frog:
[img]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-wayanad_40098_600x450.jpg[/img]
The Fiesty Night Frog is the largest frog that has been found.
Spinular Night Frog:
[img]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-spinular_40097_600x450.jpg[/img]
The spinular night frog is also among the largest of its genus, reaching up to 2.6 inches.
Coorg Night Frog:
[img]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-coorg_40093_600x450.jpg[/img]
The Coorg Night frog was thought to have been extinct for 90 years.[/release]
So everything with the name night in it.
They all look like they're smiling.
[quote][img]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-gavi_40094_600x450.jpg[/img][/quote]
"fuck im high"
Square pupils?
How do they distinguish between different species?
magic
[QUOTE=Zergeant;32341295]They all look like they're smiling.[/QUOTE]
They evaded human notice all this time.
:frog:
[QUOTE='[sluggo];32341201']
Jog Night Frog:
[IMG]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-jog_40095_600x450.jpg[/IMG]
[/QUOTE]
its eyes fell out
Some of them look the same, how do they say "K this is meows and this one is high as fuck different species."
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;32342863][img]http://sae.tweek.us/static/images/emoticons/emot-frog.gif[/img][/QUOTE]
...
[img]http://sae.tweek.us/static/images/emoticons/frog-ssj3.gif[/img]
[editline]17th September 2011[/editline]
I can swear one of those frogs is smiling
I feel like a few should've been named the Happy Night Frog.
I get a fuzzy feeling inside me whenever I read about new species being discovered. Just imagine the huge amount of undiscovered species all over the world.
The spinular frog looks nasty for some reason.
We need a frog for every occasion. We already have a getout one.
[QUOTE=Carne;32343935]I get a fuzzy feeling inside me whenever I read about new species being discovered. Just imagine the huge amount of undiscovered species all over the world.[/QUOTE]
Especially those in the OCEAN. Things that shouldn't even exist, easily thriving within the coldest depths.
[QUOTE=Carne;32343935]I get a fuzzy feeling inside me whenever I read about new species being discovered. Just imagine the huge amount of undiscovered species all over the world.[/QUOTE]
Most "undiscovered" species aren't really unknown. We might know about a particular type of animal for a while, thinking it's part of a different species, then careful analysis reveals it is actually a unique species. The flip side also happens, where we think an animal is it's own species and then we find out later that it is really part of a different species.
Most new species we find are ants in the Amazon rainforest, it's incredibly rare a large animal was able to avoid human eyes and taxology in this day and age, except in the ocean.
[QUOTE=chaz13;32341387]How do they distinguish between different species?[/QUOTE]
DNA analysis I would expect. Also just plain old fashioned eyeballing the frog and finding out if it is different enough to be its own species.
[editline]18th September 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=eatdembeanz;32345714]Especially those in the OCEAN. Things that shouldn't even exist, easily thriving within the coldest depths.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.oddee.com/_media/imgs/articles/a60_Dragonfish2.jpg[/img]
Pictured: Proof there is no loving god.
[QUOTE='[sluggo];32341201'][release]
[B]FROGS (pictures fron NAT GEO):[/B]
Feisty Night Frog:
[img]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-wayanad_40098_600x450.jpg[/img]
The Fiesty Night Frog is the largest frog that has been found.
[/release][/QUOTE]
[I]"It's ffffffffffffffffffffffffffeisty night, motherfuckers!"[/I]
It's nice to know that there's still so much more to be discovered in our world
the gavi one is so happy, it makes me happy.
ribbit
[QUOTE=Carne;32343935]I get a fuzzy feeling inside me whenever I read about new species being discovered. Just imagine the huge amount of undiscovered species all over the world.[/QUOTE]
Even better yet, When we start to explore other planets with life on them or venture outside our galaxy.
Frogs are awesome.
Some of these look evil, like they are plotting world domination or something.
As others have said, its nice to be reminded that there is so much of our planet still to be discovered, found and understood.
[img_thumb]http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/400/cache/new-night-frog-species-india-coorg_40093_600x450.jpg[/img_thumb]
This one's expression makes me happy.
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