In a major breakthrough in the field of zoological discoveries, a team of zoologists from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Zoological Survey of India, Pune, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Biodiversity Research and Conservation Foundation, Satara and Balasaheb Desai College, Patan led by researcher Vishal Kumar Prasad discovered new species of small burrowing terrestrial subterranean frog from Koderma.
Informing about the research Vishal said that the breakthrough discovery came from the vigilant nocturnal searches in and around the agricultural areas in Nawadih and Joungi Village of Koderma District in Jharkhand during 2015 and confirmed in 2019. “Unlike most of the amphibian species discoveries in India where it happened in the forested areas the current species was discovered from the roadside puddles in pre monsoon showers in 2015,” he added.“The research shows, it’s the smallest frog (SVL approximately 34mm) compared with other members of same genus. This study highlights the geological significance of Chota Nagpur Plateau and the importance of exploration of amphibians in and around the homestead areas, agro ecosystems and disturbed habitats. The populations discovered from type locality in Koderma are from highly disturbed area facing infrastructural development and expansions of roads. This region is one of the least explored areas for its biodiversity and facing deforestation and habitat loss of several species at an alarming rate,” said Vishal.
Giving detail about the frog, Vishal said that this frog species remained unnoticed probably because of paucity of field exploration and lack of systematic studies in this region and the secretive terrestrial burrowing nature for the frog. “Interestingly, this is the first amphibian discovery from Bihar and Jharkhand region in the amphibian research history of India and highlights the unexplored diversity of amphibians in this region. The genus represents 10 species distributed across South Asia and this new frog species is first species of the genus from Eastern India barring two species from Nepal,” he added.Informing about nomenclature of the new breed of frog Vishal said that the new species’ name is derived from the ancient Indian kingdom ‘Magadha’ in Jharkhand and the scientists scientifically named it as ‘Sphaerotheca Magadha’ and proposed the common name as ‘Magadha Burrowing Frog’.
“Due to prevalent taxonomic ambiguity in the burrowing frog group they have employed ‘Integrated Taxonomic Approach’ using combination of morphological, phylogenetic and geographical studies in describing the new species as some of the related species of this frog species are inhabiting Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Pakistan,” he added.