Scientists Discover New Frog Family

Scientific American ^ | October 16, 2003 | Sarah Graham

[PatrickHenry]

Scientists have discovered a bright purple, bloated frog in southern India that is so unique it merits the establishment of not only a new species but also a new family. The creature, described today in the journal Nature, diverged from its closest relatives during the heydey of the dinosaurs.

The approximately 4,800 currently known species of frogs belong to 29 families, most of which were named by the mid-1800s. Franky Bossuyt and S. D. Biju of the Free University of Brussels in Belgium discovered a novel purple frog in India's Western Ghats Mountains that has a bulbous body and a pointy snout (see image). The researchers analyzed the animal's DNA and demonstrated that its closest living relatives are the so-called sooglossids frogs of the Seychelles, an archipelago between India and Africa. The newly discovered species, dubbed Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, diverged from the sooglossids about 130 million years ago, prior to the break up of India and the Seychelles around 65 million years ago.

The strange looking animal, which is a burrowing frog, lives in one of the hottest of the so-called hotspots of biodiversity left on the planet. S. Blair Hedges of the Pennsylvania State University notes in an accompanying commentary that "extraordinary discoveries such as this frog show that there is an urgent need for more biotic surveys." Indeed, he notes that the classification of the frog as a new family--the first since 1926--is "a once-in-a-century find."

[PatrickHenry]

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The Ultimate Creation vs. Evolution Resource [ver 21].

[PatrickHenry]

PING. [This ping list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. FReepmail me to be added or dropped.]

[Consort]

Is this another French thread?

[tallhappy]

Sacre bleu!

[manic4organic]

Purple, bloated...Ted Kennedy?

[nmh]

And people like you will unabashedly continue to believe in evolution. LOL!

[DeFault User]

I've never seen a purple frog,
I never hope to see one,
But I'd rather see one than be one.

[Consort]

More Frog

[steplock]

HERE be da FROG!

Cousin of "Grape-Ape" ???

[milan]

This frog is purple becuse some hooligans painted it purple.

Nothing about evolution here folks...keep moving.

Sorry, had to hit this atleast once. I will go away now. Enjoy your thread.

[Pharmboy]

Wait just a guldurn minute here...I thought the SUVs had already wiped out all the frogs. There must be some mistake.

[Long Cut]

Well, until scientific evidence emerges which supports a better theory explaining the development of the Earth's various lifeforms, yes.

To date, none has.

[Lazamataz]

Scientists Discover New Frog Family

Meet.... the HENDERSONS!



In today's whacky episode, Chip gets Mom mad
by storing Moon Pies in her hair-dryer while Dad
smiles and chuckles to himself. What'll those Whacky Hendersons
get themselves into next!
Stay tuned for MAYHEM on... the HENDERSONS!!

[BSunday]

Insert gratuitous French joke here.

[PatrickHenry]

Darn. I searched on "frog" and found nothing.

Moderator: I guess this thread is a duplicate, or nearly so. Do what you gotta go.

[Bluntpoint]

Rare frog... the other white meat!

[tubebender]

Looks like he has been hitting the Burgandy a little too much...

[BSunday]

Scientists have discovered a bright purple, bloated frog in southern India that is so unique it merits the establishment of not only a new species but also a new family.

There are some creatures in the ocean which I have never seen. Therefore, when I see them, they must have just evolved. Same exact line of reasoning.

[new cruelty]

ROTFLOL... say it again.

[Admin Moderator]

Nothing to do here.