Purple Frog

Although local tribes in the Western Ghats of India were aware of the frog for generations, it was officially described by the scientific community in 2003. The formal description was published in the journal Nature by researchers S.D. Biju and Franky Bossuyt. Its discovery shocked herpetologists because it represented an entirely new amphibian family, Nasikabatrachidae.

The Purple Frog is a fossorial species, meaning it is adapted to living underground, where it feeds primarily on termites. It spends nearly the entire year buried deep beneath the soil, only emerging for a few days each year during the heavy monsoon rains to mate. This extreme lifestyle is why it went unnoticed by scientists for so long.

Genetic analysis revealed that the Purple Frog's lineage diverged from other frog species over 100 million years ago, making it a living fossil. Its closest living relatives are a family of frogs found only in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean. This connection provides strong evidence for the theory of continental drift and the ancient landmass of Gondwana.

The Purple Frog is endemic to the Western Ghats, a mountain range along the western coast of India. It is found specifically in the southern part of this range, in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Its habitat is highly threatened by deforestation and agricultural expansion.