Meet India's starry dwarf frog, lone member of newly discovered ancient lineage
Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 09:00
in Biology & Nature
The starry dwarf frog is an expert hider. Plunging into leaf litter at the slightest disturbance, it has successfully evaded attention for millions of years -- until now. The thumbnail-sized species, now named Astrobatrachus kurichiyana, was discovered in India's Western Ghats. It's the sole member of an ancient lineage, a long branch on the frog tree of life that researchers have classified as a new subfamily, Astrobatrachinae.