New frog species found in Arunachal Pradesh

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<strong>A team consisting of biologists from Delhi University, Wildlife Institute of India and North Carolina Museum of Natural Science in United States have found a new species of frog. This new species has been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh’s Adi hills.</strong></p>
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The Cascade Frog's new species has been named Adi Cascade (Amolops adicola) after the Adi hills. These hills are home to Adi tribes, an indigenous group of people from the Himalayan regions in the State.</p>
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Adi means hill or mountain top and in fact this region was also called Abor Hills historically.</p>
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The team’s findings were published in a scientific article titled “Phylogenetic position of the poorly known montane cascade frog Amolops monticola (Ranidae)” along with a description of a new closely related species from Northeast India in the Journal of Natural History, London, according to a statement.</p>
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The find came about when the biologists were investigating a group of medium to large sized Cascade Frogs from Northeast India for more than five years.</p>
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According to Dr. Abhijit Das of Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, the new species was discovered while revisiting the century-old Adi expedition in 2018. The species was named after the land of Adi tribe in Arunachal Pradesh where this species dwells particularly during the post-monsoon season.</p>
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Cascade Frogs are so named since they prefer small waterfalls or cascades in flowing hill streams as habitat. The identity of the new species is based on multiple criteria, like external morphology, DNA, and calling pattern.</p>
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Talking about this new discovery Professor S.D. Biju of Delhi University said northeast India is a treasure house of unknown species and these need to be studied.</p>