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SCIENCEFriday 22 January 2016
Scientists ID new genus of tree frogs long thought extinct
This photo provided by biologist S.D. Biju shows a Frankixalus jerdonii, belonging to a newly found awry. Of the more than mistaken identity in China.
genus of frogs, placed on a leaf for scientific documentation of external appearance in the wild. 7,000 amphibian species The frogs had long been
known globally, about 32 considered lost to science,
(Systematics Lab, Delhi University via AP) percent are threatened with the first — and only
with extinction, according — previously known speci-
KATY DAIGLE the frogs in abundance in ed frogs in 2007 and 2008 to the International Union mens collected in 1870 by
AP Environment Writer northeast Indian jungles, were already slashed and for Conservation of Nature. British naturalist T.C. Jerdon
NEW DELHI (AP) — For more they believe they could burned by 2014 for agri- “This frog is facing extreme in the forests of Darjeel-
than a century, two myste- also be living across a wide cultural development. The stress in these areas, and ing. Over decades, the
rious tree frog specimens swathe of Asia from China region’s tropical forests are could be pushed to extinc- frogs were reclassified at
collected by a British natu- to Thailand. quickly disappearing be- tion simply from habitat least four times in cases of
ralist in 1870 and housed at “This is an exciting find, but cause of programs to cut loss,” Biju said. “We’re lucky incorrect identity as scien-
the Natural History Museum it doesn’t mean the frogs trees, plant rice, expand in a way to have found it tists drew conclusions from
in London were assumed to are safe,” Biju said, adding human settlements and before that happens, but their enlarged snouts or the
be part of a vanished spe- that he hopes the discov- build roads. we’re all worried.” webbing between their
cies, never again found in ery leads to more aware- Industrial growth amid a Finding the frogs was an toes.
the wild. Until now. ness of the dangers of un- decade-long economic accident. The team had Biju believes the frogs re-
A group of scientists, led fettered development to boom has also increased been searching the forest mained hidden from sci-
by renowned Indian biolo- the animals. The frogs were pollution, to which frogs floor for other amphibians ence so long because of
gist Sathyabhama Das Biju, found at high altitudes in are particularly vulnerable. in 2007 when, one night, their secretive lifestyle living
has rediscovered the frogs four northeast Indian states, That same sensitivity to cli- “we heard a full musical in tree holes at heights up
and also identified them as underlining the rain-soaked mate and water quality orchestra coming from the to 6 meters (20 feet) above
part of a new genus — one region’s role as a biodiver- makes them perfect en- treetops. It was magical. ground. Most tree frogs live
step higher than a species sity hotspot. vironmental barometers, Of course we had to inves- in shrubs or tree holes closer
on the taxonomic ranking. Some of the forest areas putting them at risk when tigate,” Biju said. to the ground.
Not only have they found where Biju’s team collect- ecological systems go For the study of the new But other experts suggest
frog genus, Frankixalus, that, while the uniquely
published Wednesday by high habitat does make
the Public Library of Sci- them hard to find, the frogs
encejournal PLOS ONE, Biju probably remained in ob-
and his doctoral students scurity simply because
teamed up with research- there are so few scientists
ers from the central Indian working in the remote re-
state of Pune, Sri Lanka, gion.
Brussels and the American “This part of Southeast Asia,
Museum of Natural History. in particular, is poorly inven-
They looked at the frogs’ toried,” said James Hank-
behavior, collected speci- en, a biology professor and
mens and described their director of the Museum of
outer appearance and Comparative Zoology at
skeletal features. But it Harvard University. Given
wasn’t until they had se- the habitat threats and
quenced the frogs’ ge- alarming rate of extinctions
netic code that they con- worldwide, he said the “re-
firmed it as a new genus, markable” tree frog find
and surprisingly found an- “points out that we may be
other DNA match from a losing even more species
single tadpole specimen than we know or can fully
reported recently under a document.”q
