Good News, BRIN Researchers Successfully Identify 2 New Species Of Horned Frogs On The Island Of Sumatra

JAKARTA - Herpetology researcher from the Biological Research Center of the Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Amir Hamidy and his team managed to identify two new types of frogs from Sumatra, namely the Sumatran-southern horn frog (Megophrys southensis) and the Aceh horned frog (Megophrys acehensis).

"Each species of Megophrys in Sumatra may have a limited distribution," he said in a written statement received by ANTARA in Jakarta, Monday, November 15.

Amir said, of the five species found in Sumatra, four of them are endemic species. In addition to being endemic, the Megophrys genus is found in highland and lowland forests.

According to him, the change in habitat from forest to agricultural land and oil palm plantations is the biggest threat to the preservation of this type of frog.

In addition, frogs of the genus Megophrys have a faint morphological diversity.

The two new species of Megophrys from Sumatra were identified based on the evaluation of their taxonomic status using molecular and morphological data.

When conducting a herpetofauna survey throughout the Bukit Barisan Mountains range in Sumatra, researchers found a population of southern Sumatran Megophrys with smooth dorsal skin that is morphologically similar to M. montana from Java and a population resembling the dorsal skin of M. parallela from northern Sumatra.

Amir worked closely with his collaborators Kanto Nishikawa from Kyoto University, Japan and Eric N Smith from the University of Texas at Arlington, USA in identifying the new species.

One of the team members who identified the species, Misbahul Munir, who is also the first author of the discovery, said the horned frogs, which are often known by the scientific name of the genus Megophrys, have a unique character, in which the tips of their snouts and eyelids are modified into pointed protrusions (resembling the shape of the snout). Horn).

The doctoral student at Kyoto University in Japan said the tadpoles from the Megophrys clan also have a unique character in which their mouths are modified into the shape of a widening funnel.

Currently, 13 species of Megophrys are known to exist in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, and the Philippines.

Borneo holds the record high because six of these species are found on the island.

In 2018 Amir and his team succeeded in identifying the sharp horned latak (Megophrys lancip) from Sumatra, and in 2019 the Borneo horned frog (Megophrys kalimantanensis).