The find comes as part of an effort sponsored by the Indian government to sample the DNA of every frog and toad species in the nation. Together, the two make up the only known members of their family. sahyadrensis) found in the region in 2003.
īhupathy’s purple frog is closely related to another purple frog ( N. Instead, the Indian purple frogs use a long, fluted tongue to slurp up ants and termites underground, says Elizabeth Prendini, a herpetologist at the American Museum of Natural History and coauthor of a paper describing the species in the newest issue of the journal Alytes. In fact, the amphibians don’t even surface to eat. Small eyes, a long snout, and short limbs equipped with hardened ‘spades’-each enables the frog to spend almost its entire life below ground. While the new amphibians may appear odd, each quirk of the purple frog’s anatomy is the result of countless years of evolution. Subramaniam Bhupathy, a respected herpetologist who lost his life in the Western Ghats in 2014. The scientists have called the new species Bhupathy's purple frog ( Nasikabatrachus bhupathi), in honor of their colleague, Dr.
The frog has shiny, purple skin, a light blue ring around its eyes, and a pointy pig-nose. Scientists have discovered a new and unusual species of frog in the Western Ghats mountain range in India.
