New frog species in Dampa T.R.

• A group of scientists from India and the United Kingdom have discovered a new species of toads Bufoides bhupathyi.
• It has been found in the Dampa tiger reserve of Mizoram.
• It is the third of a genus found only in a very narrow area in northeast India.
• The two earlier known species from the genus ‘bufoides’ – Bufoides meghalayanus and Bufoides kempi – were found in Meghalaya.
• The new species from Mizoram is different from the co-generic (similar) species in interdigital webbing, colouration, skin tuberculation, and the presence of ovoid, tuberculated and depressed parotid glands.
• The new species has been named after S Bhupathy, a noted herpetologist who served as principal scientist at the Coimbatore-based Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History.

AABOUT DAMPA TIGER RESERVE

• It is located in the western flank (Lushai Hills) of Mizoram.
• It was declared as a tiger reserve under the Project Tiger in 1994.
• On the West, it is bound by the Chittagong hill tracts (Sazek hill range) of Bangladesh.
• Area- 500 sq km approx.
• The habitat is drained by the River Khawthlangtuipui in the West and the Teirei River to the East.
• Flora: ranges from tropical evergreen to semi-evergreen forests.
• Fauna: Hoolock Gibbon, Rhesus Macaque, Tiger, Leopard, Clouded Leopard, Golden Cat, Himalayan Black Bear etc.