Jaladhara skittering frog: Researchers discover new frog species

What is the News?

Researchers have discovered a new frog species named “Jaladhara skittering frog” from the freshwater bodies of the western coastal plains of India.

What is Jaladhara skittering frog?

Scientific Name: Euphlyctis Jaladhara

Type: It is predominantly a freshwater frog

Found in: The frog was first spotted in freshwater bodies around the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary in Ernakulam and then multiple populations along the western coastal plains from Kerala to Gujarat. 

This frog species looks similar to the common skittering frog (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis) which is predominantly distributed in the eastern coastal plains, Deccan Plateau and the Western Ghats. This species was discovered 220 years ago.

Significance: Amphibians like frogs are the living link between vertebrate life in water and land. Since this frog species was predominantly a freshwater frog, they were the first vertebrate organisms to get affected due to water pollution due to their primitive body plan.  

Is this the first species of skittering frog detected from this region?

This is the second new species of skittering frog detected from the locality.The earlier species, the Kerala pond frog (Phrynoderma Kerala) was also discovered in the same region by the same group of researchers in 2021.

Source: This post is based on the article “Researchers discover new frog species” published in The Hindu on 23rd February 2022.