Astrobatrachus is a genus of frogs in the family Nyctibatrachidae that is endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It is the only member of the subfamily Astrobatrachinae and is represented by a single species, Astrobatrachus kurichiyana, commonly known as the starry dwarf frog.
| Astrobatrachus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Astrobatrachus kurichiyana | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Nyctibatrachidae |
| Subfamily: | Astrobatrachinae Vijayakumar et al., 2019 |
| Genus: | Astrobatrachus Vijayakumar et al., 2019 |
| Species: | A. kurichiyana
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| Binomial name | |
| Astrobatrachus kurichiyana Vijayakumar et al., 2019
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It was discovered in the shola cloud forests of the Wayanad Plateau, and is considered a relict species due to its very small range restricted to certain refugia habitats. It is genetically highly different from both Nyctibatrachus and Lankanectes, with their last common sister species hypothesized to have existed several millions of years ago.[1] It can physically be distinguished by its brown coloration with an orange belly and bluish-white spots. This species is threatened by its very small distribution which completely falls outside protected areas, making it vulnerable to habitat degradation.[2][3]
References
edit- ^ Katz, Brigit. "Newly Discovered Starry Dwarf Frogs Are Lone Species of an Ancient Lineage". Smithsonian. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- ^ Shanker, Kartik; Blackburn, David C.; Stanley, Edward L.; Swamy, Priyanka; Srikanthan, Achyuthan N.; Torsekar, Varun R.; Dinesh, K. P.; Pyron, Robert Alexander; Vijayakumar, Seenapuram Palaniswamy (12 March 2019). "A new ancient lineage of frog (Anura: Nyctibatrachidae: Astrobatrachinae subfam. nov.) endemic to the Western Ghats of Peninsular India". PeerJ. 7: e6457. doi:10.7717/peerj.6457. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 6419720. PMID 30881763.
- ^ "Meet India's starry dwarf frog, lone member of newly discovered ancient lineage". #FloridaMuseumScience. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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