New species of frog found in New York and New Jersey

A yet unnamed species of a frog has recently been discovered by scientists. They say that the frog looked like a common leopard frog but it totally different from it

The yet unnamed amphibian was discovered by a team of researchers in the ponds and marshes of Staten Island, mainland New York, and New Jersey. Using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data, the researchers compared the new frog to all other leopard frog species
in the region and determined that it is an entirely new species, which they will name in the near futu

Amidst some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world, scientists have discovered a new species of frog. Discovering a new species in rainforests that are pretty remote is common, finding one in mainland New York and New Jersey is a big surprise for the scientists
of Rutgers University, UCLA, UC Davis and the University of Alabama.

The yet unnamed frog species – which biologists historically mistook for a more widespread variety of the leopard frog — may even extend into parts of Connecticut and extreme northeastern Pennsylvania. Researchers believe that these are likely the same leopard
frogs that completely disappeared from Long Island and other parts of the area over the last few decades.

“It is very surprising for a new species like this to have been unrecognized in this area until now,” said Rutgers doctoral candidate and guest researcher at Brookhaven National Laboratory Jeremy Feinberg, who made the initial discovery. “Their naturally
limited range coupled with recent unexplained disapperances from places like Long Island underscores the importance of this discovery and the value that conservation efforts might have in the long-term survival of this urban species.”

Feinberg, co-author of the study, is working on his doctoral thesis in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. He was doing research on the alarming decline of leopard frogs in the wetlands
of New York and New Jersey when he noticed that the regional leopard frogs displayed unusual behaviors and peculiar croaks. Instead of the “long snore” or “rapid chuckle” he heard from other leopard frogs, this frog had a short, repetitive croak.

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Posted by Taimoor Tariq on Mar 15 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry