THIS bizarre burrowing frog has just been discovered in southern India – and it belongs to an ancient lineage that dates back to the time of the dinosaurs. The new species could resolve a long-standing debate about the origins of another group of “living fossil” frogs found in the Seychelles.
Franky Bossuyt of the Free University in Brussels (VUB) and S. D. Biju of the Tropical and Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Kerala, India, say the frog represents a new family, which they have dubbed Nasikabatrachidae – from the Sanskrit for “nose” and “frog”. Phylogenetic DNA analyses suggest its closest…
