KOLHAPUR: Researchers from Maharashtra have, for the first time, spotted
minervarya goemchi
, a cricket frog endemic to Goa, at Patne village in Satara district recently.
Zoology professors
Omkar Yadav, Tejas Patil and Amrut Bhosale carried out the research on this large cricket frog species.
Yadav, head of zoology department at Amdar Shashikant Shinde College, said, “Minervarya goemchi was first spotted by me in 2015 but I couldn’t make a record of it as the molecular DNA analysis was not completed. In 2017, this frog species was first described from Surla village in Goa state and now, this has been recorded by us for the first time in Maharashtra.”
The frog genus 'Minervarya' is currently represented by 37 valid species. These are commonly called as cricket frogs and are divided into four distinguishable species groups based on phylogenetic studies which are
Minervarya
Nilagiraca, Minervarya rufescens,
Minervarya sahyadris
and Minervarya syhadrensis.
Minervarya Goemchi fits in M. Nilagiraca as per its characteristics. This large-sized frog species is native to Surla village in Goa and has now been recorded at 155km distance at Patne village in Shahuwadi.
“Our research paper got published in the journal published on 29th December by Bombay Natural History Society. A detailed study of the frog species is required to find out more scientific details,” added Yadav.
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