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Purple frog

May 04, 2024

The purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), Indian purple frog, or pignose frog is a frog species of the genus Nasikabatrachus. It is endemic to the Western Ghats in India. Although the adult frog was formally described in October 2003,[2] the juvenile form of the species was described earlier in 1917.[3]

Purple frog
Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis
Calls of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Nasikabatrachidae
Genus: Nasikabatrachus
Species:
N. sahyadrensis
Binomial name
Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis
Biju & Bossuyt, 2003
Distribution range of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis (in ORANGE)

History of the discovery edit

The species was described from specimens collected in the Idukki district of Kerala by S.D. Biju from the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Palode, India, from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels), in 2003. However, it was already well known to the local people and several earlier documented specimens and publications had been ignored by the authors in the 2003 paper that describes the genus and species.[4] Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis closest living relatives are considered to be the Sooglossidae, only known in the Seychelles, an island chain in the Indian Ocean.[5]

Name edit

The scientific name Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis is a Latinized portmanteau of the Sanskrit nāsikā (नासिका) for "nose", Greek batrachos (βάτραχος) for "frog", and Sahyadri, the native name for the Western Ghats which forms the purple frog's natural habitat.

One of its common names, the purple pig-nosed frog, also makes reference to the elongated morphology of its snout, which is well adapted to the acquisition of fossorial termites.

Description edit

Video recording of a vocalizing male.

The body of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis appears robust and bloated and is relatively rounded compared to other more dorsoventrally flattened frogs. Their flattened body assists them to cling to submerged rocks and boulders which essentially helps them fight strong currents, allowing them to remain near stream banks where they typically reside.[6] Its arms and legs splay out in the standard anuran body form. Compared to other frogs, N. sahyadrensis has a small head and an unusual pointed snout. Adults are typically dark purplish-grey in color. Males are about a third of the length of females.[7] The specimen with which the species was originally described was 7.0 cm (2.8 inches) long from the tip of the snout to the vent. Tadpoles of the species had been described in 1917 by Nelson Annandale and C. R. Narayan Rao as having oral suckers that allowed them to live in torrential streams.[3][8] Suckers are also present in rheophilic fishes of genera such as Glyptothorax, Travancoria, Homaloptera, and Bhavania, adaptations that are the result of convergent evolution. Some of these fishes co-occur with Nasikabatrachus tadpoles in the hill streams.[7][9] Its vocalization is a drawn-out harsh call that sounds similar to a chicken clucking. Males of this species exhibit the unique behavior of calling from under a thin layer of soil. Some other burrowing frogs (Myobatrachus gouldii and Arenophyrne rotunda) are known to do this, but these frogs have also been observed to call from the surface, while N. sahyadrensis has not.[10] The frogs may switch to headfirst burrowing due to their wedge-shaped skull and other shaped limbs.[11]

 
Purple frog tadpole

Distribution edit

Earlier thought to be restricted to the south of the Palghat Gap in the Western Ghats, additional records have extended its known range farther north of the gap.[12][13] The species is now known to be quite widely distributed in the Western Ghats, ranging from the Camel's Hump Hill Range in the north, all the way to the northernmost portions of the Agasthyamalai Hill Range in the south.[7]

Ecology edit

The Indian purple frog is one of the many discovered frogs that have evolved over time, allowing it to easily adapt to its underground environment.[14] The frog spends most of its life underground and surfaces only during the monsoon, for a period of two weeks, for mating.[15] With few field scientists out in the field during the rainy season, the species was discovered and studied only in recent times. Males emerge to call beside temporary rainwater streams. They mount females and grip them (amplexus) along the vertebral column. The females then carry the male frogs on their backs to the egg laying sites which are usually crevices along the fast-flowing streams.[16] Around 3000 eggs are laid in a rock pool and the tadpoles metamorphose after around 100 days.[7]

 
Purple frog juveniles
 
Purple frogs mating

Unlike many other burrowing species of frogs that emerge and feed above the ground, this species has been found to forage underground, feeding mainly on termites using its tongue and a special buccal groove.[17]

In 2015, tadpoles of the species were discovered to be traditionally consumed by tribal communities.[18]

The major threat to these amphibians in the Western Ghats of India is caused by the alteration of natural habitats by an ever-increasing human population, resulting in large areas being converted for settlement and agricultural use. Recent studies have shown frog utilization to be one of the major threats, which include the utilization of frogs for food, traditional medicine such as a cure for burns, asthma, and other lung ailments,[18] research purposes, and pet trade has also been considered a major contributor to their decline. Tadpole-harvesting was prevalent in the monsoon season during July–September every year. The Nadukani-Moolamattom-Kulamaav tribal people have developed an indigenous method for collecting these uniquely adapted suctorial tadpoles. Usually, about 2–5 individuals would participate in each harvesting event.[18] The Purple Frog growth also depends on the velocity of the water. When the velocity of water increased, there was a greater number of tadpoles than the lower velocity of water areas in both streams. The tadpoles also had constant activity in the streams as well. They also have a huge influence on the number of tadpoles in the environments they are in.[18] Due to increasing population in India where the purple frogs are native to, large open areas where purple frogs typically reside are being reconstructed for agricultural and settlement purposes. This has led to almost 40% of all amphibians in the Western Ghats of India going extinct, due to a lack of data the remaining amphibians are mostly unresearched with no knowledge of ecology, biology, defining characteristics, threats faced (Thomas & Biju, 2015).

The building of dams during monsoon season is affecting the loss of microhabitat that is needed for survival of the Purple Frog. The harvesting of tadpoles by indigenous communities is also a factor for their endangerment.[19]

References edit

  1. ^ IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2022). "Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T58051A166098621.
  2. ^ Biju, S. D.; Bossuyt, F. (2003). "New frog family from India reveals an ancient biogeographical link with the Seychelles". Nature. 425 (6959): 711–714. Bibcode:2003Natur.425..711B. doi:10.1038/nature02019. PMID 14562102. S2CID 4425593.
  3. ^ a b Annandale, N. & Rao, C.R.N. (1917). "Indian tadpoles". Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 13: 185–186.
  4. ^ Das, Indraneil (2007). "Some forgotten descriptions of Nasikabatrachus (Anura - Sooglossidae)". Herpetological Review. 38: 291–292.
  5. ^ Biju SD, Bossuyt F. New frog family from India reveals an ancient biogeographical link with the Seychelles. Nature. 2003 Oct 16;425(6959):711-4. doi: 10.1038/nature02019. PMID 14562102.
  6. ^ Senevirathne G, Thomas A, Kerney R, Hanken J, Biju SD, Meegaskumbura M. From clinging to digging: The postembryonic skeletal ontogeny of the indian purple frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis (anura: Nasikabatrachidae). PLOS ONE. 2016;11(3):e0151114.
  7. ^ a b c d Zachariah, A; RK Abraham; S Das; KC Jayan & R Altig (2012). "A detailed account of the reproductive strategy and developmental stages of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis (Nasikabatrachidae), the only extant member of an archaic frog lineage" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3510: 53–64. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3510.1.3.
  8. ^ Annandale, N. (1918). "Some undescribed tadpoles from the hills of southern India". Records of the Indian Museum. 15: 17–23.
  9. ^ Annandale, N. & Hora, S.L. (1922). "Parallel evolution in the fish and tadpoles of mountains torrents". Records of the Indian Museum. 24: 505–510.
  10. ^ Thomas, Ashish; Suyesh, Robin; Biju, S. D.; Bee, Mark A. (7 February 2014). "Vocal Behavior of the Elusive Purple Frog of India (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), a Fossorial Species Endemic to the Western Ghats". PLOS ONE. 9 (2): e84809. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...984809T. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084809. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3917828. PMID 24516517.
  11. ^ PLOS ONE, 2016, Volume 11, Issue 3
  12. ^ Das, K. S. 2006 Record of Nasikabatrachus from the Northern Western Ghats. Zoos' Print Journal 21(9):2410
  13. ^ Radhakrishnan, C.; K.C. Gopi & K.P. Dinesh (2007). "Zoogeography of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Biju and Bossuyt (Amphibia: Anura; Nasikabatrachidae) in the Western Ghats, India". Records of the Zoological Survey of India. 107 (4): 115–121. doi:10.26515/rzsi/v107/i4/2007/159116. S2CID 251728922.
  14. ^ Bittel, J. (2021, May 4). New purple pig-nose frog found in Remote Mountains. Animals. .
  15. ^ Marshall, Presented by Michael (17 October 2014). "Eight ugly animals we should save anyway". BBC Earth. Retrieved 3 January 2015. India's purple frog spends almost all the year underground, surfacing for around two weeks in the monsoon to breed in temporary ponds created by the torrential rain.
  16. ^ Das, Sandeep; Tapley, Benjamin; Gray, Claudia; Das, Jyoti; Divakar, Nithin (2019). "A Survival Blueprint for the conservation and management of the Purple Frog Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, in Kerala, India" (PDF). The EDGE of Existence Fellowship. Zoological Society of London.
  17. ^ Radhakrishnan, C.; Gopi, K. C.; Jafer Palot, Muhamed (2007). "Extension of range of distribution of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Biju & Bossuyt (Amphibia: Anura: Nasikabatrachidae) along Western Ghats, with some insights into its bionomics" (PDF). Current Science. 92 (2): 213–216.
  18. ^ a b c d Thomas, A.; Biju, S. D. (2015). . Salamandra. 51: 252–258. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015.
  19. ^ Thomas, Ashish; Das, Sandeep; Manish, Kumar (1 June 2019). "Influence of stream habitat variables on distribution and abundance of tadpoles of the endangered Purple frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis (Anura: Nasikabatrachidae)". Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity. 12 (2): 144–151. doi:10.1016/j.japb.2019.01.009. ISSN 2287-884X.

External links edit

  •   Media related to Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis at Wikimedia Commons
  • Edge of Existence page on Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis
  • Continental drift and the Sooglossidae 24 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  • AmphibiaWeb page on Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis

THOMAS, A., & BIJU, S. D. (2015). Tadpole consumption is a direct threat to the endangered purple frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis. Salamandra, 51(3), 252–258.

May 04, 2024
purple, frog, purple, frog, nasikabatrachus, sahyadrensis, indian, purple, frog, pignose, frog, frog, species, genus, nasikabatrachus, endemic, western, ghats, india, although, adult, frog, formally, described, october, 2003, juvenile, form, species, described. The purple frog Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Indian purple frog or pignose frog is a frog species of the genus Nasikabatrachus It is endemic to the Western Ghats in India Although the adult frog was formally described in October 2003 2 the juvenile form of the species was described earlier in 1917 3 Purple frog Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis source source Calls of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Conservation status Near Threatened IUCN 3 1 1 Scientific classification Domain Eukaryota Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Amphibia Order Anura Family Nasikabatrachidae Genus Nasikabatrachus Species N sahyadrensis Binomial name Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensisBiju amp Bossuyt 2003 Distribution range of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis in ORANGE Contents 1 History of the discovery 2 Name 3 Description 4 Distribution 5 Ecology 6 References 7 External linksHistory of the discovery editThe species was described from specimens collected in the Idukki district of Kerala by S D Biju from the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Palode India from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel Free University of Brussels in 2003 However it was already well known to the local people and several earlier documented specimens and publications had been ignored by the authors in the 2003 paper that describes the genus and species 4 Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis closest living relatives are considered to be the Sooglossidae only known in the Seychelles an island chain in the Indian Ocean 5 Name editThe scientific name Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis is a Latinized portmanteau of the Sanskrit nasika न स क for nose Greek batrachos batraxos for frog and Sahyadri the native name for the Western Ghats which forms the purple frog s natural habitat One of its common names the purple pig nosed frog also makes reference to the elongated morphology of its snout which is well adapted to the acquisition of fossorial termites Description edit source source source source source source Video recording of a vocalizing male The body of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis appears robust and bloated and is relatively rounded compared to other more dorsoventrally flattened frogs Their flattened body assists them to cling to submerged rocks and boulders which essentially helps them fight strong currents allowing them to remain near stream banks where they typically reside 6 Its arms and legs splay out in the standard anuran body form Compared to other frogs N sahyadrensis has a small head and an unusual pointed snout Adults are typically dark purplish grey in color Males are about a third of the length of females 7 The specimen with which the species was originally described was 7 0 cm 2 8 inches long from the tip of the snout to the vent Tadpoles of the species had been described in 1917 by Nelson Annandale and C R Narayan Rao as having oral suckers that allowed them to live in torrential streams 3 8 Suckers are also present in rheophilic fishes of genera such as Glyptothorax Travancoria Homaloptera and Bhavania adaptations that are the result of convergent evolution Some of these fishes co occur with Nasikabatrachus tadpoles in the hill streams 7 9 Its vocalization is a drawn out harsh call that sounds similar to a chicken clucking Males of this species exhibit the unique behavior of calling from under a thin layer of soil Some other burrowing frogs Myobatrachus gouldii and Arenophyrne rotunda are known to do this but these frogs have also been observed to call from the surface while N sahyadrensis has not 10 The frogs may switch to headfirst burrowing due to their wedge shaped skull and other shaped limbs 11 nbsp Purple frog tadpoleDistribution editEarlier thought to be restricted to the south of the Palghat Gap in the Western Ghats additional records have extended its known range farther north of the gap 12 13 The species is now known to be quite widely distributed in the Western Ghats ranging from the Camel s Hump Hill Range in the north all the way to the northernmost portions of the Agasthyamalai Hill Range in the south 7 Ecology editThe Indian purple frog is one of the many discovered frogs that have evolved over time allowing it to easily adapt to its underground environment 14 The frog spends most of its life underground and surfaces only during the monsoon for a period of two weeks for mating 15 With few field scientists out in the field during the rainy season the species was discovered and studied only in recent times Males emerge to call beside temporary rainwater streams They mount females and grip them amplexus along the vertebral column The females then carry the male frogs on their backs to the egg laying sites which are usually crevices along the fast flowing streams 16 Around 3000 eggs are laid in a rock pool and the tadpoles metamorphose after around 100 days 7 nbsp Purple frog juveniles nbsp Purple frogs mating Unlike many other burrowing species of frogs that emerge and feed above the ground this species has been found to forage underground feeding mainly on termites using its tongue and a special buccal groove 17 In 2015 tadpoles of the species were discovered to be traditionally consumed by tribal communities 18 The major threat to these amphibians in the Western Ghats of India is caused by the alteration of natural habitats by an ever increasing human population resulting in large areas being converted for settlement and agricultural use Recent studies have shown frog utilization to be one of the major threats which include the utilization of frogs for food traditional medicine such as a cure for burns asthma and other lung ailments 18 research purposes and pet trade has also been considered a major contributor to their decline Tadpole harvesting was prevalent in the monsoon season during July September every year The Nadukani Moolamattom Kulamaav tribal people have developed an indigenous method for collecting these uniquely adapted suctorial tadpoles Usually about 2 5 individuals would participate in each harvesting event 18 The Purple Frog growth also depends on the velocity of the water When the velocity of water increased there was a greater number of tadpoles than the lower velocity of water areas in both streams The tadpoles also had constant activity in the streams as well They also have a huge influence on the number of tadpoles in the environments they are in 18 Due to increasing population in India where the purple frogs are native to large open areas where purple frogs typically reside are being reconstructed for agricultural and settlement purposes This has led to almost 40 of all amphibians in the Western Ghats of India going extinct due to a lack of data the remaining amphibians are mostly unresearched with no knowledge of ecology biology defining characteristics threats faced Thomas amp Biju 2015 The building of dams during monsoon season is affecting the loss of microhabitat that is needed for survival of the Purple Frog The harvesting of tadpoles by indigenous communities is also a factor for their endangerment 19 References edit IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group 2022 Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022 e T58051A166098621 Biju S D Bossuyt F 2003 New frog family from India reveals an ancient biogeographical link with the Seychelles Nature 425 6959 711 714 Bibcode 2003Natur 425 711B doi 10 1038 nature02019 PMID 14562102 S2CID 4425593 a b Annandale N amp Rao C R N 1917 Indian tadpoles Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 13 185 186 Das Indraneil 2007 Some forgotten descriptions of Nasikabatrachus Anura Sooglossidae Herpetological Review 38 291 292 Biju SD Bossuyt F New frog family from India reveals an ancient biogeographical link with the Seychelles Nature 2003 Oct 16 425 6959 711 4 doi 10 1038 nature02019 PMID 14562102 Senevirathne G Thomas A Kerney R Hanken J Biju SD Meegaskumbura M From clinging to digging The postembryonic skeletal ontogeny of the indian purple frog Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis anura Nasikabatrachidae PLOS ONE 2016 11 3 e0151114 a b c d Zachariah A RK Abraham S Das KC Jayan amp R Altig 2012 A detailed account of the reproductive strategy and developmental stages of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Nasikabatrachidae the only extant member of an archaic frog lineage PDF Zootaxa 3510 53 64 doi 10 11646 zootaxa 3510 1 3 Annandale N 1918 Some undescribed tadpoles from the hills of southern India Records of the Indian Museum 15 17 23 Annandale N amp Hora S L 1922 Parallel evolution in the fish and tadpoles of mountains torrents Records of the Indian Museum 24 505 510 Thomas Ashish Suyesh Robin Biju S D Bee Mark A 7 February 2014 Vocal Behavior of the Elusive Purple Frog of India Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis a Fossorial Species Endemic to the Western Ghats PLOS ONE 9 2 e84809 Bibcode 2014PLoSO 984809T doi 10 1371 journal pone 0084809 ISSN 1932 6203 PMC 3917828 PMID 24516517 PLOS ONE 2016 Volume 11 Issue 3 Das K S 2006 Record of Nasikabatrachus from the Northern Western Ghats Zoos Print Journal 21 9 2410 Radhakrishnan C K C Gopi amp K P Dinesh 2007 Zoogeography of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Biju and Bossuyt Amphibia Anura Nasikabatrachidae in the Western Ghats India Records of the Zoological Survey of India 107 4 115 121 doi 10 26515 rzsi v107 i4 2007 159116 S2CID 251728922 Bittel J 2021 May 4 New purple pig nose frog found in Remote Mountains Animals 1 Marshall Presented by Michael 17 October 2014 Eight ugly animals we should save anyway BBC Earth Retrieved 3 January 2015 India s purple frog spends almost all the year underground surfacing for around two weeks in the monsoon to breed in temporary ponds created by the torrential rain Das Sandeep Tapley Benjamin Gray Claudia Das Jyoti Divakar Nithin 2019 A Survival Blueprint for the conservation and management of the Purple Frog Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis in Kerala India PDF The EDGE of Existence Fellowship Zoological Society of London Radhakrishnan C Gopi K C Jafer Palot Muhamed 2007 Extension of range of distribution of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Biju amp Bossuyt Amphibia Anura Nasikabatrachidae along Western Ghats with some insights into its bionomics PDF Current Science 92 2 213 216 a b c d Thomas A Biju S D 2015 Tadpole consumption is a direct threat to the endangered purple frog Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Salamandra 51 252 258 Archived from the original on 25 September 2015 Thomas Ashish Das Sandeep Manish Kumar 1 June 2019 Influence of stream habitat variables on distribution and abundance of tadpoles of the endangered Purple frog Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Anura Nasikabatrachidae Journal of Asia Pacific Biodiversity 12 2 144 151 doi 10 1016 j japb 2019 01 009 ISSN 2287 884X External links edit nbsp Media related to Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis at Wikimedia Commons Edge of Existence page on Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Continental drift and the Sooglossidae Archived 24 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine AmphibiaWeb page on Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis THOMAS A amp BIJU S D 2015 Tadpole consumption is a direct threat to the endangered purple frog Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Salamandra 51 3 252 258 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Purple frog amp oldid 1217941506, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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