Nicobarese Narrow-mouthed Frog

About the Nicobarese Narrow-mouthed Frog

Microhyla nakkavaram is a species of narrow-mouthed frog in the family Microhylidae. It was described as a new species in 2022 from the Nicobar Islands of India. The species is known from the southern group of the Nicobar Islands, including Great Nicobar, Kondul, and Little Nicobar. It was previously confused with Microhyla heymonsi, but morphological and molecular evidence showed that the Nicobar population represents a distinct species.

The discovery of Microhyla nakkavaram resulted from a taxonomic study of the Microhyla heymonsi species complex in the Nicobar Islands of India. The Nicobar population had previously been identified as Microhyla cf. heymonsi, but researchers found significant differences between this population and typical M. heymonsi. Morphological examination and molecular analysis of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene demonstrated that the Nicobar population was both morphologically and genetically distinct from its close relatives. Based on this evidence, Sonali Garg and colleagues formally described the population as a new species, Microhyla nakkavaram, in 2022. The type series consisted of a holotype and five paratypes collected from Campbell Bay... Wikipedia →