New frog species discovered

BIOLOGISTS working for a British volunteer conservation organisation have found 15 new species of amphibians and a chameleon in Tanzania’s South Nguru Mountains.

The new species found by Frontier include a bizarre toad, which looks as though it has crawled straight from the pages of Marvel Comics and it is the largest forest toad ever discovered in the genus Nectophrynoides.Its size makes it distinct from known species and it appears in a variety of colours, including orange and black, yellow and green and red.Frontier says the species appears to be restricted to a few remote villages in South Nguru Forests but where it is found, it is the commonest amphibian, making its presence known with a distinctive echoing ‘drip’ or ‘plink’ call. ‘As soon as we saw this toad, we knew it was something special,’ Nisha Owen, who led Frontier’s research programme, was quoted by Travel Africa Magazine as saying.The organisation’s other discoveries include a new species of tree frog with red eyes, which was added to the genus Leptopelis, and a burrowing toad with a distinctive long snout of the genus Probreviceps.Conservation efforts for the new discoveries are underway in the area, as South Nguru is also home to more than 50 villages, many of them depending on agriculture, and as a result the local animals face severe threats as farming encroaches on the forests, says Frontier.Alex Kisingo, a lecturer at the College of African Wildlife Management located at Mweka village, says amphibians play a vital role in their ecosystems.’They are food for reptiles, such as snakes and monitor lizards, and wetland birds,’ said Kisingo. Amphibians also help reduce the burden of insects such as mosquitoes on humans.* Reporter Absalom Shigwedha is currently in Tanzania doing a four-month course in wildlife management at the College of African Wildlife Management.