\n
ITANAGAR, 2 Jul:<\/strong> In a major discovery, scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have identified a new species of horned frog, named\u00a0Xenophrys apatani, in the Tale Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) in Lower Subansiri district, a key area within the eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot.<\/p>\n Led by Bhaskar Saikia and Bikramjit Sinha of ZSI Shillong (Meghalaya), alongside their colleagues KP Dinesh and A Shabnam from ZSI Pune (Maharashtra), and Ilona Jacinta Kharkongkar from ZSI Itanagar, the team\u2019s study overturns a previous erroneous report of the Maoson horned-frog (Xenophrys maosonensis) in Arunachal Pradesh. Notably, in 2019, Saikia and his team had mistakenly identified the specimen now named Xenophrys apatani\u00a0as\u00a0Xenophrys maosonensisdue\u00a0to limited genetic data.<\/p>\n \u201cUpon closer examination and a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis involving 142 molecular sequence data, we found significant genetic and morphological differences between the specimen from Arunachal Pradesh and the true\u00a0Xenophrysmaosonensis,\u201d explained Saikia, who is an alumnus of the government higher secondary school Doimukh.<\/p>\n The research team employed a combination of genetic data from mitochondrial 16S rRNA and detailed morphological examinations to determine that the frog previously thought to be\u00a0Xenophrys maosonensisfrom Tale WLS is actually a distinct species. \u201cNamed\u00a0Xenophrys apatani, in honour of the Apatani tribe, known for their conservation efforts of wild flora and fauna, the new species exhibits unique genetic and physical characteristics,\u201d Saikia said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur findings highlight the importance of rigorous taxonomy and the use of integrative approaches in species identification,\u201d said Dr Bikramjit Sinha, who was the then in-charge of ZSI Itanagar, and had led the field survey team that made the collection of this species from the Tale WLS.<\/p>\n \u201cThis discovery not only expands our understanding of frog diversity in Northeast India but also underscores the need for accurate species delineation in biodiversity research,\u201d Saikia added.<\/p>\n Tale WLS is noted for its rich biodiversity, including diverse amphibian species. The discovery of\u00a0Xenophrys apatani\u00a0underscores the sanctuary\u2019s significance as a hotspot for amphibian conservation in the eastern Himalayas. Incidentally, this is the fifth new species of frogs discovered by Saikia and Bikramjit Sinha in recent times from Tale WLS. In 2017, they had made the discovery of\u00a0Odorrana arunachalensis, and in 2019 they had discovered three new species of Liurana frogs, and named them\u00a0Liurana himalayana,\u00a0Liurana indica\u00a0and\u00a0Liurana minuta\u00a0from this protected area.<\/p>\n Besides Tale, Saikia and Sinha and their colleagues from ZSI Pune had previously collaborated in 2022to discover three new species of cascade frogs from western Arunachal. These were\u00a0Amolops terraorchisand\u00a0Amolops chanakya\u00a0from Sessa and Dirang, respectively, in West Kameng district, and\u00a0Amolops tawang\u00a0from Jang-Mukto road in Tawang district.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current research finding is published in the latest issue of the\u00a0Records of the Zoological Survey of India\u00a0journal, contributing significantly to the ongoing efforts to catalogue and protect India\u2019s unique biodiversity,\u201d said Saikia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ITANAGAR, 2 Jul: In a major discovery, scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have identified a new species of horned frog, named\u00a0Xenophrys apatani, in the Tale Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) in Lower Subansiri district, a key area within the eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot. Led by Bhaskar Saikia and Bikramjit Sinha of ZSI Shillong (Meghalaya), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-243591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-state-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}