Guwahati: A new species of frog has been discovered deep inside a cave in South Garo Hills, Meghalaya by researchers from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).
The discovery, which has been published in an international journal, marks only the second time that a frog has been found inside a cave in India.
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The first such discovery was Micrixalus spelunca, made in 2014 in a cave in Tamil Nadu.
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The new frog species was discovered about 60-100 meters deep inside the 4 km long Siju cave system in January 2020, prior to the COVID-19 lockdown. The Siju cave is located in South Garo Hills of Meghalaya.
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The ZSI team named the frog Amolops siju after the cave where it was found.
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Tissue samples of the specimens were studied to identify their specific identity as compared to other known species of other cascade Amolops frogs due to their cryptic nature.
The discovery of the new species has been documented in the Journal of Animal Diversity.