Itanagar, March 05: A new frog species found in Arunachal Pradesh has been named after Chanakya of Maurya Empire.
Researchers from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and St. Anthony’s College, Shillong have discovered three new species of Cascade frogs from Arunachal Pradesh. One has been named after Tawang, the other one has been named Sessa Orchid Sanctuary and the third one after Chanakya of Maurya Empire.
The findings were published in the recent edition of the research journal, Records of the Zoological Survey of India.
Scientifically all three new species belong to the True Frog family Ranidae, and these cascade-dwelling frogs are classified under the genus Amolops.
These new species are named as Amolops Chanakya, Amolops Tawang, and Amolops terra orchis, and these three species were collected earlier from three different locations in Arunachal Pradesh between 2018 and 2019.
The team that made these discoveries include Bhaskar Saikia and Dr. Bikramjit Sinha of ZSI, Shillong; Dr. K. P. Dinesh and Shabnam Ansari of ZSI, Pune; and Dr. M. A. Laskar of St. Anthony’s College, Shillong.
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Wherein, Amolops Chanakya was collected from Dirang, Amolops Tawang was collected from Tawang, and Amolops terra orchis was collected from Sessa Orchid Sanctuary.
Scientists have also suggested the ‘Sessa cascade frog’ as a common English name for the species.
The frog was found after dusk hours from a small stream in Chakpa village in the Dirang administrative circle of West Kameng district. Scientists have suggested Chanakya’s cascade frog as the common English name and Chanakya jharna medak as a common Hindi name for the species.
