THE 'CRACY FROG' FROM COCHIN
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Amphibia
Order : Anura
Family : Ranidae
Subfamily: Raninae
Genus : Hylarana
Species : Hylarana urbis
Scientists caught this Golden-backed frog (Hylarana urbis) from a weed-choked lake, surrounded by a concrete jungle of factories, hotels, and businesses in the city of Cochin, Kerala, India. But that doesn't mean H. urbis is cut out for city life, says Sathyabhama Das Biju, whose numerous past finds in India include the extraordinary purple frog.
Hylarana, commonly known as golden-backed frogs, is a widespread genus of true frogs found in tropical Africa, Asia, and Australia. It includes around 84 to 96 valid species.The generic name Hylarana derives from New Latin hyle ('wood' or 'forest') and rana ('frog'). Hylarana was previously considered to be a subgenus of the genus Rana.
The frog's discovery comes from a ten-year survey of golden-backed frogs in the Western Ghats, a biologically rich mountain range that runs down the western side of India and the whole island of Sri Lanka. The findings, however suggest that golden-backed frogs, with a range that stretches from Africa to Australia, are much more diverse than had been thought.
The study found that populations in the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka had erroneously been lumped together by scientists and that they actually represent six new species for India and one for Sri Lanka. That increases the known species of golden-backed frogs from 84 to 91. The study is published in the journal Contributions to Zoology.
Original Paper: http://www.contributionstozoology.nl
News Courtesy: http://news.nationalgeographic.com
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