Kingdom Animalia Class Amphibia Family Nyctibatrachidae Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Order Anura Genus Nyctibatrachus | |
Similar Nyctibatrachus, Dattatreya night frog, Bombay night frog, Giant wrinkled frog | ||
Nyctibatrachus poocha (also known as the meowing night frog because of its distinct cat-like call) is one of 12 species of frogs in the Nyctibatrachus genus discovered in September 2011. It is found exclusively in the Western Ghats, India. The team, composed of researchers from the Bombay Natural History Society, Zoological Survey of India and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, led by herpetologist Sathyabhama Das Biju of the University of Delhi, used morphological traits and molecular markers to identify the 12 new species and three others which were thought to have been extinct.
According to Biju, the 12 new species, described in Zootaxa journal, are exclusive to the Western Ghats and one of the ancient groups of frogs that coexisted with dinosaurs. "Night frogs (Nyctibatrachus), which are exclusively seen in Western Ghats, have unique breeding behaviour. These frogs successfully complete their breeding without any physical contact between male and female," Biju told the Press Trust of India.
The findings also led to the rediscovery of three frog species which were unseen for over 75 years since their original descriptions by C. R. Narayan Rao in 1920 and 1937, respectively, after scientists "had completely ignored these animals, thinking they were lost." The Nyctibatrachus sanctipalustris (Coorg night frog) was unseen for 91 years and the Kempholey (Nyctibatrachus kempholeyensis) and forest night frogs (Nyctibatrachus sylvaticus) for 75 years.