Musical call heard echoing across swamp came from newly discovered creature in China
Walking through a mountain swamp in southern China, scientists heard a musical call echoing in the night air. The call came from a “hard to find” creature discovered as a new species.
Researchers were surveying a district in Chongqing when something in the foliage caught their attention, according to a study published May 10 in the Biodiversity Data Journal. The small animal blended in with its surroundings, but researchers caught three specimens.
Based on the animal’s body shape, researchers quickly identified it as a music frog. Only after analyzing the frog’s DNA did they realize it was a new species, the study said.
The new species was named Nidirana chongqingensis or the Chongqing music frog, researchers said. The name refers to the Chongqing city area where the frog was discovered.
The Chongqing music frog is small, reaching about 1.6 inches in size, the study said. Photos show the brown frog. It has darker coloring with a few dots on its back and lighter cream coloring on its stomach.
The animal has multi-colored irises with the upper portion of the eye being “bright yellow” and lower portion being “brown-red,” the study said.
The Chongqing music frog lives in “mountain swamps, ponds, aquatic grassland and nearby weed thickets,” researchers said. “Due to the dense weeds, the frog is hard to find while it is hiding in them.”
Photos show how well the creature blends in with its habitat. From above, the frog’s brown coloring and slight pattern appears to mimic the surrounding soil.
Researchers heard male Chongqing music frogs calling at night, but much of the animal’s behavior remains unknown.
The new species had a 2.5% genetic divergence from other frog species, the study said. This genetic distance is comparable to the genetic divergences of several other species recognized as distinct.
Researchers noted the need to further study the Chongqing area’s frog populations.
Chongqing is China’s fourth-largest city and directly administered by the central government. The city is about 1,080 miles west of Shanghai.
This story was originally published May 23, 2023 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Musical call heard echoing across swamp came from newly discovered creature in China."
