GUWAHATI A examine spanning 21 years has yielded a new species of frog named after an Assam college that helped a locality shed its id as a hub of nation liquor manufacturing.
Guwahati’s Aryanagar was referred to as Sharabbhati, which means a spot for brewing liquor. The locality was renamed in 2022 to offer it the respectability that the native authorities felt Arya Vidyapeeth College, one in every of Assam’s most reputed academic establishments within the neighborhood, deserved.
Leptobrachium aryatium, a new-to-science frog recorded within the Garbhanga Reserve Forest on the southwestern a part of Guwahati bordering Meghalaya, is now carrying the college’s title.
The frog has been described by 4 zoologists, related to Arya Vidyapeeth College both as alumni or school members, within the newest challenge of the journal Zootaxa. They are Jayaditya Purkayastha of Guwahati-based NGO Help Earth; Dipankar Dutta of the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya; Jayanta Gogoi of Arya Vidyapeeth College, and Saibal Sengupta of Assam Don Bosco University.
“This frog stood out with its fiery orange-and-black eyes, a unique reticulated throat pattern, and a smooth, rhythmic call at dusk. Scientific analysis of its appearance, DNA, and call patterns confirmed that this was a previously unknown species,” Dr. Purkayastha stated.
The genus Leptobrachium, comprising a bunch of stocky frogs with broad heads, comparatively quick hind limbs, and distinctively colored eyes, presently consists of 38 species and is broadly distributed throughout Southern China and India to islands of the Sunda Shelf and the Philippines.
Studied first in 2004, the frog from the Garbhanga Reserve Forest was initially recognized because the Leptobrachium smithi. “Not much work was being done on this genus for a long time. Recent molecular and morphological studies revealed significant cryptic diversity within the genus, describing several new species, particularly in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Burma region,” Dr. Purkayastha stated.
The quartet of zoologists reverted to their previous information on their topic, and after tallying them with the new research on the opposite species within the genus, established Leptobrachium aryatium as a definite species.
The examine has put the highlight on the Garbhanga Reserve Forest, a biodiversity hotspot that has been threatened by city sprawl and habitat destruction.
A reserve forest that helps regulate Guwahati’s local weather and water programs, Garbhanga is dwelling to elephants, butterflies, and uncommon birds, other than reptiles and amphibians comparable to Leptobrachium aryatium.
Published – April 14, 2025 01:10 pm IST
