Meet India’s starry dwarf frog, lone member of newly discovered ancient lineage
The starry dwarf frog is an expert hider. Plunging into leaf litter at the slightest disturbance, it has successfully evaded attention for millions of years — until now. The thumbnail-sized species, now named Astrobatrachus kurichiyana, was discovered in India’s Western Ghats. It’s the sole member of an ancient lineage, a long branch on the frog tree of life that researchers have classified as a new subfamily, Astrobatrachinae. …read more
