A team of scientists from Delhi University and the Wildlife Institute of India, in collaboration with researchers from Indonesia and the US, have discovered a new species of ‘paddy frog’ from Northeast India, primarily Assam. The frog belongs to the microhylid genus Micryletta, a “group of narrow-mouthed frogs that is …
amphibians are fast disappearing and at least one-third of the known species of frogs, toads, salamanders and caecilians, are endangered. Though climate change, pollution and disease have been usually blamed, strong evidence has emerged implicating pesticides for threatening reproduction and development in amphibians. Now, a team of scientists in the …
longest core: A core measuring more than 1.5 kilometres long has been recovered under the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater Deep Drilling Project in the US. The impact crater was formed about 35 million years ago when a rock from space struck the Earth. The drilling project was a major success, …
a team of biotechnologists in Canada has chanced upon a new use for the skin secretions of a rainforest frog: protecting potatoes against pathogens. Endemic to Brazilian and Peruvian forests, the Giant Waxy Monkey Tree Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolour) secretes chemicals called dermaseptins (most potent being the one called b1) from …
wildlife ecology debates always wildly swing from doomsday oracles of decimation of species to the exotica of the never-before-found species. The discovery of yet another frog in the Western Ghats has again brought to the fore the controversy about the constant pressure on ecologists to find new species. The new …
only mother's son: Japanese and Korean scientists have created a mouse without using a sperm. The feat is akin to the birth of Dolly, the world's first cloned mammal. Bees, ants, aphids, some fish and reptiles reproduce without having sex in a process called parthenogenesis. But creating a living mammal …
biologists have discovered a frog whose ancestors hopped around the feet of dinosaurs, more than 65 million years ago. The purple, small-headed creature with tiny eyes, protruding snout and a bloated appearance belongs to a family of frogs, which scientists thought had disappeared millions of years ago. Franky Bossuyt, an …
The organisation Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (cats) has sued the state's department of pesticide regulation (dpr) for not following the California Environmental Quality Act. The petitioner alleges that dpr has not reviewed the impacts of pesticides widely used in the Sierra Nevada amphibian habitats. This, it contends, has led …
a widely used herbicide is making male frogs grow female gonads in the us midwest, according to a recent field study conducted by researchers from the University of California, usa. The finding could fuel the controversy over whether or not the chemical is one of the many possible reasons for …
Around 140 new frog species have been discovered in Sri Lanka's rainforest, catapulting the island to an amphibian hotspot of global significance. A team of US, Belgian and Lankan scientists recorded the findings as they surveyed the island's disappearing wildlife. The researchers, led by Madhava Meegaskumbura, called for the preservation …
parasite infection combined with a weakened immune system caused by pesticide exposure are causing deformities in frogs in the us state of Pennsylvania, indicates a recent research. The research, jointly administered by Virginia-based National Science Foundation (nsf) and Maryland-based National Institutes of Health (nih), includes the first experimental studies of …
new Zealand's four unique frog species are under threat. A notorious toxic fungus called chytrid, blamed for decimating amphibian populations around the world has been found in the country. The four native frog species are living fossil frogs, believed to be more than 200 million years old, morphologically older than …
The recent decision of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to ban animal dissection has boosted the morale of animal lovers on one hand, and on the other has created a flutter in the science fraternity. After several hearings, and a favourable resolution from the Committee for the Purpose of …
The Himalayan newt, also called the Indian salamander, takes shelter among bamboo stumps in and around the hills of Darjeeling. It lives close to calm and still waters. During the monsoons, it feeds on algae, water beetles and bugs. After the showers, it leaps down on insect larvae, snails, slugs …
An example of how little we know of the amphibians world in India is the recent discovery of three frog species in the Barbara forests, located around 30 km north of Balugaon in district Khurda of Orissa. In a survey undertaken on the April 14 and 15, S K Chaddha, …
Cane toads (Bufo marinus) introduced in Australia in the 1930s to control the sugarcane beetle are poised to invade the Australian Kakadu National Park, a world heritage site. The toads are poisonous to the native animals found in the region. They have spread across north-eastern Australia and could reach Kakadu …
the frogs aren't leaping in the us anymore; they have been overfed on a cocktail of pesticides. Scientists at the us Geological Survey and us Department of Agriculture say the use of organophosphorus pesticides has led to a fall in amphibian populations breeding in mountain ponds and streams in California, …
Half the watershed area of the world's freshwater systems is estimated to have been lost in the twentieth century, as land was converted to agriculture and urban use, or levelled to combat diseases such as malaria. Physical alteration, habitat loss and degradation, water withdrawal, overexploitation, pollution, all contribute to declines …
Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT and its metabolites (DDTs), HCH isomers (HCHs), chlordane compounds (CHLs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were determined in sediment, soil, whole body homogenates of resident and migratory birds and their prey items (including fish, green mussel, snail, earthworm, crabs, prawn, lizard and frogs), bird eggs and …
the international focus on vanishing and deformed amphibians like frogs, toads and salamanders has masked the problems of another group of wildlife: reptiles. A new report says that reptiles
The Casade frog ( Rana cascade ) and the Western toad ( Bufo boreas ) are dying, so is the Pacific tree frog. But there is probably no single cause for the dwindling population of these sentinel creatures, says zoologist Andrew Blaustein of the Oregon State University, USA. Increased ultraviolet …
