NEW DELHI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- An Indian researcher claims to have discovered at least four new species of burrowing frogs in the country's Western Ghats region.
Sonali Garg, the doctoral student at the University of Delhi, has made the discovery after five years of explorations in the Western Ghat, a biodiversity hotspot in southern and western India.
Garg and her supervisor, Professor Biju Das, have described the four new species of frogs in a paper co-authored by them in Zootaxa magazine, published Tuesday.
The species belong to the Indian frog group or genus, Fejervarya.
"They are extremely shy. Sometimes we would find them and hear them calling but when you actually go closer and try to record their calls, they would stop," Garg told the media.
"More extensive studies are required to scientifically identify and describe Western Ghats frogs. These frogs are already facing extinction threats from various human activities," she said.
Professor Das has also called for further research on the frogs.
"We need to be concerned about the existence of these newly discovered frogs and conduct further studies to reassess their conservation status," he said.
A number of new frog species have been discovered in the Western Ghats in the past 10 years.
