New toad species recorded in Meghalaya named after Khasi women’s attire

GUWAHATI

A caller taxon of toad recorded successful Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills territory has been named aft Dhara, the accepted Khasi women’s attire.

A squad of 4 researchers described Duttaphyrnus dhara during tract surveys successful the Mawphlang scenery astatine an altitude of 1,854 metres supra the mean oversea level. Mawphlang is amended known for its ineffable grove.

The researchers are Holiness Warjri of Assam Don Bosco University; A.A. Thasun Amarasinghe of Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency; and Madhurima Das and Jayaditya Purkayastha of Help Earth, a Guwahati-based biodiversity conservation group. Their survey was published successful the latest contented of Taprobanica, an planetary journal.

The bufonid (an amphibian belonging to the Bufonidae family) toads were recovered connected the crushed among debased vegetation and leafage litter successful fallow cultivation fields located adjacent to the montane forest.

“This indicates that the taxon whitethorn similar forest-edge and semi-natural habitats, dissimilar the communal Asian toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus, which is usually abundant astir villages and disturbed quality settlements,” the researchers said.

Duttaphrynus dhara is a small, forest-associated toad, with big males measuring lone astir 40-41.8 mm successful snout-vent length. It tin beryllium identified from its compact body, its wider head, the lack of salient cranial ridges, tiny but chiseled tympanum, mean toed webbing, and a unsmooth dorsum covered with galore pointed keratinised warts.

The toad has a brownish assemblage with irregular achromatic patches, a constrictive airy mid-dorsal line, acheronian fingers and toes, and a creamy achromatic underside marked with achromatic blotches.

The survey followed an integrative taxonomic approach, combining outer morphology, morphometric investigation and mitochondrial 16S rRNA familial data. The familial investigation showed that the Khasi Hills colonisation forms a chiseled and well-supported lineage wrong the genus Duttaphrynus.

“It is intelligibly antithetic from its closest known relatives, Duttaphrynus stuarti and Duttaphrynus chandai, with familial divergence ranging from 4.4 to 6.7%. Morphometric investigation besides showed that the caller taxon forms a abstracted clump from these related species, further confirming its chiseled identity,” the researchers said.

According to the authors, ‘Dhara’ reflects the heavy taste identity, heritage, and nature-linked traditions of the Khasi community. By naming the taxon aft the attire, they sought to honour the community’s long-standing narration with the forests, hills, and biodiversity of Meghalaya.

At present, Duttaphrynus dhara is known lone from its benignant locality successful Mawphlang. Its documentation has been deemed important from a conservation perspective, arsenic taxon with restricted known distributions whitethorn beryllium susceptible to situation change, land-use translation and climate-related shifts successful montane ecosystems.

The uncovering besides highlights the Meghalaya plateau arsenic an important centre of amphibian diverseness and endemism wrong the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot.