Tiny New Toad Species Discovered on Herb Bush in India
Posted on January 28, 2016
A tiny new species of toad has been discovered on a herb bush in India. The toad is just 24 mm long from its snout tip to its cloaca. It has been given the common name of Andaman bush toad. A pair of the newly discovered toads are pictured above in a copulatory embrace.
The tiny toad also has its own genus. The genus has been named after Edward Blyth, the initiator of herpetological studies in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The species name was derived from beryet, which means "small frog" in Andamanese. The scientific name of the toad is Blythophryne beryet.
The scientists say in a statement, "We believe that the Great Andamanese knew of the existence of this small arboreal anuran. We hope the nomen we coin here will also raise awareness about the dwindling, indigenous tribal populations in the Andamans, their culture and extinction of their tribal languages."
The toad is found in evergreen forests on five of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, India. It is mostly active at night and hides under leaf litter on the forest floor during the day. It has a reddish brown coloration and two dark brown inverted 'V'-shaped markings.
A research paper on the new toad species can be found here in ZooKeys.
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