New Amphibian Family Discovered Older Than The Dinosaurs

This is not a poisonous snake, as assumed by the Indian farmers, but a legless amphibian.

Even before the time of the dinosaurs lived in the Lurch from the monsoon-soaked soil of northern India. Previously, he was unknown to science and peasants considered him a kind of poisonous snake. In fact, however, it is a legless amphibian. A research team has now brought the animal into the spotlight of science.

The biology professor at the University of Sathyabhama The Biju New Delhi led the team that dug for over five years in the rain through the wet soil to get the new amphibian family on the ropes. The amphibian called Chikilidae is widespread in northern India and has distant relatives in Africa.

His discovery was officially announced on Wednesday in the journal “Journal of the Royal Society.” It is further proof that India is home to amphibious life whose habitat is threatened by the economic upturn and the sprawling industry.

Hotbed of biodiversity

“This is a major hotbed of biodiversity, but is one of the least explored,” Biju said in an interview. “We hope that this new family underlines the importance of funding for such research projects. We need to know what we have, so we know what needs to be protected. “

The first step in protecting amphibians is to give the family a name in the local Garo language. The Chikilidae Schleichenlurch is one of the most primitive of three groups of amphibians, which include frogs and salamanders.

“We hope that when the local population perceives the name and the name spread around the world in their language is, she understands the importance of this animal. Then the people could “contribute to its protection, said Biju. “The biodiversity of India is in rapid decline. We are destroying their living rooms without mercy. “

Destruction of home

The long time home of natural tropical Chikilidae is now subject to rapid change. The tropical timber is harvested to rice growing, to build roads and factories to settle. More pollutants, pesticides and a growing population could make difficult the primordial essence of life.

The earlier botanists Biju is celebrated in India as the “frogman”. He has made it his life’s work to make new species identified and cataloged. There are too many cases of “nameless extinction”: cases in which species become extinct before man ever will notice that they existed. “We have no idea what we lose,” says Biju.

Amphibians are particularly sensitive and have been decimated in recent decades. The qualities that make them important barometers of the condition of habitats, they also make it difficult to survive. They are the first to die when an ecosystem is falling apart.

Terrifying beast

Biju works against this trend. Since 2001 he has discovered 76 unknown plants, amphibians and frogs. These are by far more than can show each other scholars of the subcontinent. Biju is estimated that 30 to 40 percent of India’s amphibians are still undiscovered.

The discovery of the Biju Chikilidae made together with scientists at the London Museum of Natural History and the Vrije University in Brussels. Thus the number of known families of Caecilian increased to ten. Three of them live in India, the others are spread across Southeast Asia, Africa and South America.

Because they live underground and flee at the slightest vibration, much less is known about them than about their amphibious relatives, the frogs. Even the people in northern India know little about the Lurch.

Its rare sightings provide fear. Villagers and farmers often chop the amphibians simply broken, because they considered them poisonous snakes. In fact, the Chikilidae harmless and volunteers of the farmers, because they loosen up the soil of the fields and destroyed worms and insects.