SciDev.Net

The newly discovered frog species Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis

Dr S. D. Biju

This week, scientists have reported the discovery of a new species of frog with unusually deep evolutionary roots in the Western Ghats of southern India.

In this article, S. Blair Hedges reflects on the implications of the discovery of the species – which merits the establishment of a new taxonomic family – for models of continental drift of India.

The frog's closest relatives are the so-called sooglossids, a small group of frogs found only in the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Although now separated by 3,000 kilometres of ocean, the Seychelles and India once formed part of a greater landmass that split up millions of years ago.

Link to full article by S. Blair Hedges in Nature
Link to research paper on discovery of new frog family in Nature

References: Nature 425, 669 (2003); Nature 425, 711 (2003)