New species of frog found in New York
Image - Brian Curry/Rutgers
A new species of leopard frog has been discovered in New York City after a researcher from Rutgers University in New Jersey noticed that specimens he was studying in Staten Island made a different kind of call than the distinctive 'snore' that he was expecting. Although visually identical to other leopard frog species, genetic analysis subsequently determined that the specimens were a new species that is found in Staten Island, the Mainland of the City of New York and sometimes across State Lines into New Jersey.
Research into the new species was undertaken by a group of scientists from Rutgers University, the University of Alabama, UC Davis and the University of California. It has been published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, and can be found online here.
Commenting, Professor Brad Shaffer of UCLA said "For a new species to go unrecognised for all this time in this area is amazing. Many amphibians are secretive and can be very hard to find, but these frogs are pretty obvious, out-there animals. This shows that even in the largest city in the US there are still new and important species waiting to be discovered that could be lost without conservation."
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