TINY FROG SURFACES AFTER 100YEARS
A group of researchers from the Peradeniya University have rediscovered a species of tiny frog from a forest reserve close to the Horton Plains that was thought to have been extinct for nearly a hundred years.
The researchers that included Madhava Meegaskumbura, Kelum Manamendra Arachchi, Gayan Bowatte and Suyama Meegaskumbura had revealed this rediscovery in the March 2012 issue of the journal ZOOTAXA.
Accordiong to the amphibians.org website Pseudophilautus semiruber (Tiny-red shrubfrog) is one of the smallest frog species in the world. These species are so small that they can rest comfortably on the tip of your small finger. With the new discovery, Sri Lanka has three such extant species (P. simba and P. tanu, in addition to P. semiruber).
N. Annandale in 1911, found a 12 mm long individual, of a nondescript sex, from Pattipola, at an elevation of 1850 m above the sea level. It was formerly described i n 1913, using only this single specimen.
For t he next 95 years nobody ever saw this species again. But in 2005, a single f emale was discovered by Madhava Meegaskumbura and Mohomed Bahir, from amongst the wet leaf litter, under the cover of a misty montane forest canopy, f rom a small forest reserve (Agra-bopath) close to the Horton Plains National Park.
This specimen was subjected to rigorous scrutiny, using both morphology and molecular techniques to determine its systematic relationships.
Its morphology was compared to P. simba, from Rakwana Hills (Morningside Estate) and the Knuckles Forest Reserve, and to the 1913 description of Annandale.
The rediscovery was announced and a new description was presented in the March 2012 issue of the journal ZOOTAXA.
With the new discovery, Sri Lanka has three such extant species (P. simba and P. tanu, in addition to P. semiruber). N. Annandale in 1911, found a 12 mm long individual, of a nondescript sex, from Pattipola, at an elevation of 1850 m above the sea level. It was formerly described in 1913, using only this single specimen