Scientists have discovered a new and unusual species of frog in the Western Ghats mountain range in India. The frog has shiny purple skin, light blue rings around its eyes, and a pointed pig nose.

Scientists named the new species the Bhupathy purple frog ( Nasikabatrachus bhupathi ), in honor of their colleague Dr. Subramaniam Bhupathy, a respected herpetologist who died in the Western Ghats in 2014.

Although the new amphibians may seem odd, each of the purple frog’s anatomical features is the result of countless years of evolution. Small eyes, long snouts, and short limbs armed with sturdy ‘spade’ — each helps the frog spend nearly its entire life underground.

In fact, amphibians don’t even surface to eat. Instead, the Indian purple frog uses its long, curved tongue to slurp up ants and termites underground, said Elizabeth Prendini, a herpetologist at the American Museum of Natural History and co-author of the paper describing the species. This in the latest issue of Alytes magazine, says .

Bhupathy’s purple frog is closely related to another purple frog ( N. sahyadrensis ) found in the region in 2003. Together the two form the only known members of their family. The discovery is part of an Indian government-sponsored effort to sample DNA from every species of frog and toad across the country.

“This frog lineage is very ancient and has very low diversity, so this discovery is very special and unusual,” Prendini said.

Singing in the rain

There is one thing that can coax purple frogs out of their underground burrows—rain.

Ramesh Aggarwal, senior author of the new study and a molecular geneticist at the Center for Molecular and Cellular Biology in Hyderabad, India, said when the monsoon season begins, male frogs start calling loudly from the sand in mountain streams.

The males then mate with the females in streams, where they lay fertilized eggs. After a day or two, the eggs hatch into tadpoles.

But unlike the tadpoles of many frog species that spend their days swimming around puddles and ponds, Bhupathy’s purple frog tadpoles developed mouths more like those of a lamprey fish. Tadpoles use these strange holes to cling to rocks behind waterfalls created by heavy rains, where they graze with their small teeth.

The cliff-hanging tadpoles spent about 120 days in floodwaters, said Karthikeyan Vasudevan, co-author, biologist and Aggarwal’s colleague at CCMB.

“This is the longest occurrence of this species on the ground during its lifetime,” Vasudevan said. After the larval stage, Bhupathy’s purple frogs say goodbye to the outside world and begin their secret lives underground.

The wonderful world of frogs

“Frogs have amazing adaptability and this frog is proof,” said Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum and National Geographic Explorer, who was not involved in the new study. for this”.

Rowley said there are many species of frogs around the world that can burrow to escape dry periods, but Bhupathy’s purple frog takes this lifestyle to the extreme by finding a way to live underground almost permanently. .

The discovery is also especially interesting because Bhupathy purple frogs are far from their closest relatives, Rowley said.

“Both purple frog species evolved independently of other frog species over a very long period of time,” she said. “Their closest relatives are not in India but the Seychelles, which is closer to Africa than India.”

Overall, this new species shows how little we still know about frogs in general.

“Despite being one of the most threatened animal groups on the planet, with 42% of all known species at risk of extinction, we still don’t even know how many species of frogs and animals there are,” Rowley said. other amphibians”.

In fact, she said more than 100 new species of frogs are described in scientific journals each year. (Many other species have been discovered, but it will take time and effort to formally describe them.) And perhaps this strange pig-nosed species will inspire the next generation of young biologists.

“It’s an amazing world out there with amazing creatures and so I think we need to celebrate this good news,” Rowley said.