Weirdest Endangered Animals

Purple Frog

Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis is a frog species belonging to the family Sooglossidae. It can be found in the Western Ghats India. NAMES IN English that have been used for this species are purple frog.

                Indian purple frog or pig nose frog. Although the adult frog was formally described in October 2003, the taxon was recognized much earlier by its tadpole, which had been described in 1918.

                Earlier thought to be restricted to the south of the Palghat Gap in the Western Ghats, additional records have extended its known range further north of the gap. The species is now known to be quite widely distributed in the Western Ghats, ranging from the Camel’s hump hill range in the north, all the way to the northernmost portions of the Agasthyamalai hill range in the south.

              

  The species was described from specimens collected in the Idukki District of Kerala by S.D. biju from the tropical Botanic garden and Research institute in Palode, India and Franky Bossuyt from the Vrije universiteit BrusseL, in 2003

                The body of nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis appears robust and bloated and is relatively rounded compared to other more dorsoventrally-flattened flogs. Its arms and legs splay out in the standard anuran body form. Compared to other flogs, N. sahyadrensis has a small head and an unusual, pointed snout.

                Adults are typically dark purplish-gray in color. Males are about a third of the length of females. The specimen with which the species was seven centimeters long from the tip of the snout to the vent.

                Unlike many other burrowing species of frogs that emerge and feed above the ground, this species has been found to forage underground their tongue and a special buccal groove.