Pictures: Meowing Night Frog, Other New Species Found

"Unique" Mating

Photograph courtesy Biju Das

The newfound species Jog's night frog has an "extremely unique" parenting style, at least for frogs: Both mom and dad watch over their eggs until they hatch (pictured, a male on guard).

Named for their habitat of Jog Falls, the frogs live along fast-flowing streams. When courting a female, the male will sit on a leaf or a branch above the stream and make an "advertisement call," Das said.

When a female approaches, he'll grasp her with his front legs for about 20 minutes. When he dismounts, the female lays eggs, which the male promptly fertilizes and then covers with his body. (Related: "Weed Killer Makes Male Frogs Lay Eggs.")

Das has observed co-parenting in just six night-frog species, though he suspects it exists across the Nyctibatrachus genus.

Published September 16, 2011

Gavi Night Frog

Photograph courtesy Biju Das

Das and colleagues found the loud-singing Gavi night frog (pictured) in a cardamom plantation in India's Kerala state. It's named after Gavi, a village in the middle of the plantation.

Several of the 12 newly discovered species are very rare, existing only in small pockets of protected forests, Das noted.

Others, like the Gavi night frog, live outside reserves and need conservation attention, he said. (Read about vanishing amphibians in National Geographic magazine.)

Published September 16, 2011

Feisty Frog

Photograph courtesy Biju Das

With males measuring up to 3 inches (7.7 centimeters), the robust-bodied Wayanad night frog (pictured) is the now biggest of the Nyctibatrachus genus.

Unlike their brethren, which abandon their eggs when threatened, Wayanad frogs will stay and fight aggressors.

For example, "when the [egg] site was approached too closely by the investigator, the guarding animals … instantly inflated or raised the body, and did not hesitate to bite a twig or a finger," according to the study.

(See "Giant 'Frog From Hell' Fossil Found in Madagascar.")

Published September 16, 2011

Spinular Night Frog

Photograph courtesy Biju Das

Known from only a single area in Kerala state, the spinular night frog is also among the largest of its genus, reaching up to 2.6 inches (6.6 centimeters).

Its scientific name, Nyctibatrachus acanthodermis, derives from two Greek words—acanthos, meaning "spine" or "thorn," and dermis, meaning "skin"—a reference to the spiny skin on the frog's back.

(See "Why Human Penises Lost Their Spines.")

Published September 16, 2011

Coorg Night Frog

Photograph courtesy Biju Das

Rediscovered after 90 years, the Coorg night frog was originally described in 1920 by CR Narayana Rao, "the pioneer of Indian amphibian research," Das said. The species was discovered in Coorg—now Kodagu—an area in India's Karnataka state.

Das and colleagues found just one male frog in Mercara, a town near Kodagu.

(Watch video: "'Extinct' Toad Thrives in Lab.")

Published September 16, 2011