31-Dec-2017: Two new Ginger species found in the northeast

Scientists have discovered two new species of Ginger in easternmost districts, Ukhrul in Manipur and Tuensang in Nagaland, both bordering Myanmar.

Hedychium chingmeianum, the species discovered in Tuensang district, is an epiphytic plant and grows on tall trees, while Caulokaempferia dinabandhuensis was found growing in rock crevices, boulders and humus rich soil in the Shirui Hills, where the highest peak stands at an elevation of 2,938 metres.

Both the plants are from the family of Zingiberaceae, to which the commonly found Ginger (Zingiber officinale) belongs.

Hedychium chingmeianum, was found on tree trunks at Chingmei village in Tuensang district. The plant, with reddish stems and creamy white flowers, was brought to the regional centre of BSI, Shillong, and cultivated there.

Most of the species under the genus Hedychium have medicinal properties. It is yet to be ascertained whether the newly discovered species Hedychium chingmeianum has medicinal properties or not. Out of 44 taxa, 31 species and 13 varieties of genus Hedychium found in India, only five are reported in south India. The remaining species are all found in the northeast.

The species Caulokaempferia dinabandhuensis has beautiful oval-shaped pink flowers which appear in June-July. The scientists named the species after Mr. Dinabandhu Sahoo.

8-Jan-2017: New Ginger species with medicinal properties found in Andamans

Scientists of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have found a new species of Zingiber (commonly referred as Ginger) from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The species Zingiber pseudosquarrosum, new to science, belonging to genus Zingiber, was already used by the local Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups(PVTGs) of the Andamans for its medicinal values.

After collecting and systematically analysing the species, scientists found that the new species indeed possesses ethno-medicinal uses. The fresh extract [juice] of fleshy tuberous roots is used to treat abdominal pain and anti-helminthic troubles by Nicobarese and certain other tribal communities.

This pseudo stem of the new species is predominantly red in colour. Flowers have a vermilion tinge and dehisced fruit [fully mature fruits] are lotus shaped. Inflorescence buds are urceolate in shape. The species has got tuberous root. The morphological features of this species makes it distinct from other species belonging to the genus Zingiber.

Like other species of Gingers, this new species is edible and can be propagated vegetatively from the rhizome. The planted rhizomes were successfully vegetatively propagated at the BSI garden at Port Blair after transplantation.

Species belonging to genera Zingiber are monocotyledonous flowering plants whose rhizomes are widely used as a spice or a traditional medicine.

Commonly used species of Zingiber (Zingiber officinale) known for its aromatic smell is cultivated widely across India.

As per scientific information available, there are 141 species of genus Zingiber are distributed throughout tropical Asia, including China, Japan and tropical Australia. Of these, 20 are reported from India, which include seven (latest being Zingiber pseudosquarrosum) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Most of the species of these Gingers are endemic to India.

The tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have interesting usage of other species of Zingibers. For instance, Shompen and Nicobaric tribes use various plant parts of another species of Zingiber (Hornstedia fenzlii ) as bee repellent and, tranquilizer. Rhizome extracts and leaf pest are applied on body during extracting honey from honeycomb.

30-Dec-2017: Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi, a new species of night frog from Western Ghats

Scientists have discovered a new night frog species "Mewa Singh’s Night frog", belonging to a genus endemic to the Western Ghats, from Kozhikode’s Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary.

The new night frog Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi is light brown in colour with an off-white underside, and sports faintly wrinkled skin with prominent granular projections.

Since many frogs in the genus Nyctibatrachus look similar, scientists from institutes, including the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (Pune, Maharashtra) and the Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) used both physical characteristics as well as genetic methods to confirm the frog as a new species. Using tissue samples of 10 collected specimens, the scientists analysed portions of two genes and found that it varied enough from other closely-related species to make the Mewa Singh’s night frog a different species. They also found that the frog’s genetically closest relatives are the Athirappilly night frog (found south of the Palakkad Gap in Thrissur and Idukki) and the Kempholey night frog (found in the northern Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka).

Morphologically, the Mewa Singh’s night frog can be distinguished from these similar-looking and genetically close relatives by several physical characteristics, including the pattern of its webbed fingers and toes. The frog has been named after wildlife scientist Mewa Singh, in honour of his contributions to behavioural ecology and primate studies.

The new frog is currently known only from Peruvannamuzhi in the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, where the scientists found it in a small stream running along the Peruvannamuzhi dam.

Frogs in the genus Nyctibatrachus, commonly known as night frogs, are found only in the Western Ghats mountain range. The addition of the Mewa Singh’s night frog to this group brings the total number of night frogs to 36.

22-Feb-2017: Four new miniature frog species discovered in Western Ghats.
“Frogman of India” professor SD Biju from Delhi University (DU) and his team discovered four new miniature species in Western Ghats. The scientists were surprised by the relative abundance of these new miniature species.

Mr. Biju’s team have discovered seven new frog species in total belonging to the genus Nyctibatrachus, commonly known as Night Frogs. Four out of seven of the new species are miniature-sized frogs (12.2–15.4 mm), which can comfortably sit on a coin or a thumbnail. These are among the smallest known frogs in the world.

Unlike other frogs in the genus that are predominantly stream dwelling, the new miniature frogs were found under damp forest leaf litter or marsh vegetation.

In the lab, the newly sampled frogs were confirmed as new species by using an integrated taxonomic approach that included DNA studies, detailed morphological comparisons and bioacoustics. Evidence from these multiple sources confirmed that the diversity of Night frogs is higher than previously known and particularly remarkably for the miniaturized forms. Previously, the Night Frog genus comprised of 28 recognized species of which only three were miniature-sized (<18mm) Now the total number of known Nyctibatrachus species has increased to 35, of which 20% are diminutive in size. This frog genus is endemic to the Western Ghats of India and represents an ancient group of frogs that diversified on the Indian landmass approximately 70–80 million years ago.

The discovery of several new species of ancient origin can provide useful insights into the evolution of endemic frog lineages in the Western Ghats, which is a leading amphibian hotspot. The past decade has witnessed an exponential increase in the number of new amphibian species described from this region. Of the total new species of amphibians (1581) described globally between the years 2006–2015, the highest number were from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (approximately 182) followed by the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot (approximately 159), with 103 species described alone from the Western Ghats region.

When asked about the evolutionary significance of this finding and as to why these frogs have evolved to be so small when most other Night frogs are relatively large-sized, professor David Wake, evolutionary biologist, University of California, Berkeley said: “I was quite surprised by this paper because I think of Nyctibatrachus frogs as relatively large organisms that live in rapidly flowing streams. Among the new species are four true miniatures, between 10 and 15 mm body length, among the smallest of frogs. These seem to be common locally and they probably were overlooked because of their small size. They occur more terrestrially, in leaf litter. I work on miniaturized salamanders, which also are turning out to have previously unrecognized diversity. A general phenomenon among amphibians is that we have overlooked or not recognized the diversity of tiny forms, maybe just thinking of them as juveniles of other species. Because they are so small they are often seen as similar, but we just have to magnify them to see their distinctive traits. Many miniaturized species of other families in India and Sri Lanka have direct terrestrial development, with no tadpole stage. I infer from this report that there are tadpoles but they are not described. This makes them different from radiations of miniaturized frogs in other parts of the world. I infer tadpoles because the authors report pigmented ova, whereas direct developing forms usually have unpigmented ova.”

However, the future of many of the new species may be bleak. All the newly described species are currently known only from single localities in the southern Western Ghats, and some lie outside protected areas. Researchers found the Radcliffe’s Night frog and the Kadalar Night Frog inside private or state-owned plantation areas facing threats such as habitat disturbance, modification and fragmentation. The Athirappilly Night Frog was found in close vicinity to the Athirappilly waterfalls and the Sabarimala Night Frog near the Sabarimala pilgrimage centre, both of which are disturbed by anthropogenic activities.

“Over 32%, that is one-third of the Western Ghats frogs are already threatened with extinction. Out of the seven new species, five are facing considerable anthropogenic threats and require immediate conservation prioritization,” said Biju, who led the new study and has also formally described over 80 new species of amphibians from India.

Many of these new species are facing anthropogenic threats. When asked what conservation measures should be taken to protect these species, Dr Ariadne Angulo, Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Amphibian Specialist Group said: “The first immediate priority for these newly described species after being formally recognized as such would be to assess their global extinction risk. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species documents not only species’ extinction risk, but also supporting documentation relating to the species’ geographic range, population, ecology, threats and conservation. Because several of the species have been identified as being range-restricted and impacted by threats, it is very important to conduct these assessments to have a better understanding of the level of extinction risk for each species. Once the extinction risk is assessed and we can better understand the realities of each species, this would allow for the tailoring of both research and conservation actions accordingly.”