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Study Describes 13 New Bush-Frog Species in Northeast India

Extensive surveys paired with museum reappraisal reveal hidden diversity under growing habitat pressure.

Overview

  • Published in Vertebrate Zoology, the peer‑reviewed work by Bitupan Boruah, Abhijit Das and V. Deepak formalizes the discoveries after multi‑year field research.
  • Six species were documented in Arunachal Pradesh, three in Meghalaya, and one each in Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur.
  • The team assessed 204 specimens from 81 locations across eight states, including 25 protected areas, using genetics, morphology and acoustic data.
  • The study revises species distributions, re‑examines century‑old Indo‑Burma museum material, and synonymises four previously described names.
  • Researchers report this as the highest number of vertebrate species described in a single Indian publication in over a decade and warn of threats from shifting cultivation, cardamom farming, linear infrastructure and mega‑dams.