New species of cascade frog found in the Adi Hills of India

By Shuchi Giridhar and inputs from Alka Singh

Himachal Pradesh, August 20: A new species of the cascade frog has been discovered in the Adi Hills located in Arunachal Pradesh. The discovery was made by a team of researchers from the Delhi University (DU) accompanied by biologists from the Wildlife Institute of India and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in the USA. The cascade frog genus (Amolops) belongs to the family Ranidae. They are mostly found in southern and southeastern Asia. They mostly hang around small waterfalls, namely cascades. The frog has a deep brown-colored skin and its size can range from four cm to seven cm.

The new species has been named the Adi cascade frog after the Adi tribe on the Adi Hills. Its scientific name is Amolops adicola. The findings have been published in the Journal of Natural History in London. This study shows how little is known about the frogs, the most threatened animal groups, in the northeastern part of India.