With $120,000 in grant funding from CEPF, Biju and his team at the University of Delhi are producing a comprehensive guide for amphibians in the Western Ghats Region of India. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is supporting Biju and the University of Delhi’s endeavors. I have, at least, got people talking about frogs.' “We neglect our extraordinarily diverse biodiversity. The discovery vindicated Biju’s controversial paper published in 2001 that claimed up to 200 frog species were still undiscovered in India. It made me what I am today,” Biju told the BBC. According to the Arkive, “The sole surviving member of an ancient group of amphibians that evolved some 13 million years ago, the discovery of the purple frog has been described as a ‘once-in-a-century find.’” Purple Frogs live in close proximity to their regular termite prey as this provides easy hunting and is also beneficial to the Purple Frog as the conditioned soil around a termite mound provides a better habitat for the Purple Frog then that of regular soil.Biju gained notoriety in conservation circles in 2003 when he discovered the Endangered purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis). Purple Frogs do not emerge to hunt, all hunting takes place underground and the Purple Frog most likely rely on smell for hunting as they have very poor eyesight. The pronounced snout of the Purple Frog works as a kind of ‘battering ram’ which they use to break their way into underground termite mounds. The diet of the Purple Frog is almost exclusively termites with the exception of the occasional worms and ants. At this time both male and female Purple Frogs can be observed collection in ponds or the banks of streams (although there have only been 3 recorded females observed) where they will breed and the larger female will lay her eggs in the pond or stream. The only time the Purple Frog emerges from underground is in the monsoon season where they emerge to mate. Purple Frog in monsoon season Purple Frog in monsoon season As the Purple Frog spends most of its life underground it is an expert burrower making use of growths on its hind limbs to aid in burrowing. The head of the Purple Frog is very small compared to its body an the same is true with its limbs. Reaching around 7 centimeters in length the Purple Frog has a mixed coloration of purple and gray and is somewhat bloated in appearance. It is believed that the Purple Frog and its closest relative the Sooglossidae family’s ancestors shared that earth with dinosaurs for around 70 million years before splitting down two distinct evolutionary paths all before the firt human ancestors even emerged.Īlthough you would have to be extremely lucky to come across a Purple Frog (as only 135 have been recorded), the Purple Frog should be easy to identify due to its unique characteristics. This family is endemic to the Western Ghats of India and has been evolving independently for around 100 million years.

The purple frog is one of only two species in the family Nasikabatrachidae. Currently the Purple frog is listed as endangered because the growth of deforestation is destroying its habitat. The purple frog (or pig-nosed frog) spends much of its life underground, emerging briefly for a few days each year at the start of the monsoons to breed. Evolving from the amphibian family Nasikabatrachidae, the Purple Frog is a very recent discovery, having being discovered in India in 2003 making the Purple Frog the first new family of frogs to be discovered since 1926. The Purple Frog is a product of isolated evolution that has been taking place for over 130 million years.

Purple tree frog species