New frog species ‘Chattgai ar gata bang’ discovered in Bangladesh

A new species of frog called “Chattgai ar gata bang” has been discovered in Chittagong.

The organism, whose name literally means puddle frog, from Chittagong was discovered by a combined group of researchers from Sweden and Bangladesh. The findings were later published in the PeerJ Chemistry Journal on August 19.

This frog is currently in the Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary of Chittagong and Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary at Cox’ Bazar, Creative Conservation Alliance CEO and co-author of the paper Shahriar Caesar Rahman told Dhaka Tribune.

“We first traced the frog back in 2017, when a Swedish biologist took some pictures of the frog, and upon seeing it we sensed maybe the frog is not officially discovered yet,” he said.

 “So, after a few years of extensive effort to examine through scientific procedures, finally it is official,” he added.  

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The discovery of a new frog can be determined in three ways. Firstly, morphological analysis, which means analysis of the form and structure of a specific organism, sound or calling of the frog and DNA analysis, which is also the most reliable one to discover a new species.

The official name of the small-sized stocky semi-aquatic frog is “Phrynoglossus swanbornorum” (Swanborn’s Puddle Frog), an endangered species in Bangladesh, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria.

“Frogs are not a politically important species in Bangladesh. We are not aware of conserving a species that belongs in the lower tier of ecology. We need to protect our forest and greenery in order to provide a safe space for these reptiles,” Shahriar said.