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Scientists rediscover new genus of tree frogs long thought extinct

Group of scientists led by renowned Indian biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju rediscovered frogs and also identified them as part of new genus.

By :  sadhguru jaggi vasudev
Update: 2016-01-21 08:27 GMT
AFrankixalus jerdonii, belonging to a newly found genus of frogs, seated in the wild. The frogs live high in the forest canopies of northeastern Indian jungles.
Biju believes the frogs remained hidden from science so long because of their secretive lifestyle living in tree holes at heights up to 6 meters (20 feet) above ground. Most tree frogs live in shrubs or tree holes closer to the ground. But other experts suggest that, while the uniquely high habitat does make them hard to find, the frogs probably remained in obscurity simply because there are so few scientists working in the remote region.
Over decades, the frogs were reclassified at least four times in cases of incorrect identity as scientists drew conclusions from their enlarged snouts or the webbing between their toes.
The frogs had long been considered lost to science, with the first and only previously known specimens collected in 1870 by British naturalist T.C. Jerdon in the forests of Darjeeling.
They looked at the frogs' behavior, collected specimens and described their outer appearance and skeletal features. But it wasn't until they had sequenced the frogs' genetic code that they confirmed it as a new genus, and surprisingly found another DNA match from a single tadpole specimen reported recently under a mistaken identity in China.
For the study of the new frog genus, Frankixalus, published by the Public Library of Science journal PLOS ONE, Biju and his doctoral students teamed up with researchers from the central Indian state of Pune, Sri Lanka, Brussels and the American Museum of Natural History.
Finding the frogs was an accident. The team had been searching the forest floor for other amphibians in 2007 when, one night, \"we heard a full musical orchestra coming from the treetops. It was magical. Of course we had to investigate,\" Biju said.
\"This frog is facing extreme stress in these areas, and could be pushed to extinction simply from habitat loss,\" Biju said. \"We're lucky in a way to have found it before that happens, but we're all worried.\"
\"This is an exciting find, but it doesn't mean the frogs are safe,\" Biju said, adding that he hopes the discovery leads to more awareness of the dangers of unfettered development to the animals. The frogs were found at high altitudes in four northeast Indian states, underlining the rain-soaked region's role as a biodiversity hotspot.
Not only have they found the frogs in abundance in northeast Indian jungles, they believe they could also be living across a wide swathe of Asia from China to Thailand.
A group of scientists, led by renowned Indian biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju, has rediscovered the frogs and also identified them as part of a new genus one step higher than a species on the taxonomic ranking.
For more than a century, two mysterious tree frog specimens collected by a British naturalist in 1870 and housed at the Natural History Museum in London were assumed to be part of a vanished species, never again found in the wild.
Group of scientists led by renowned Indian biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju rediscovered frogs and also identified them as part of new genus.

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