Scientists have identified more than 12 new species of frogs inhabiting in the forests of Western Ghats, in a discovery that underscores our ignorance of the natural world's diversity.

A team of biologists led by Delhi University professor S D Biju and Franky Bossuyt of the Amphibian Evolution Lab in Brussels describes up to 12 new frog species they found in a survey of Western Ghats forests published in the latest issue of the Zoological Journal of Linnean Society, London.

The Journal is the first publication that describes a large number of vertebrate novelties in free India.

While commenting on this significant achievement, Biju said, “I am elated by the discovery of 12 tree frogs in the rapidly vanishing habitat of the Western Ghats that spans across Maharashtra to Kerala and includes a part of Gujarat.”

He said that the findings are the result of a decade of wide field study in the 1,600-km Western Ghats.

Biju said that on one rainy night in Bodinayakannur (a town on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border), he saw the Travancore bushfrog (Philautus travancoricus). It is believed that Travancore bushfrog had not been seen in over a century, and was considered extinct.

The new discoveries — all bright tree or shrub frogs — are Philautus chota, Philautus jayarami, Philautus marki, Philautus sushili, Philautus munnarensis, Philautus kani, Philautus kaikatti, Philautus chromasynchysi, Philautus chlorosomma, Philautus amboli and Philautus akroparallagi.

Since 1947 (Indian independence), 9 new Philautus species were described in India. Between 2005 and 2008, Biju and Bossuyt have added another 18 new species.

In recent years, herpetologists have monitored a dramatic global decline in amphibians – frogs, toads, newts and salamanders – so it has come as a surprise to many of them to discover a place where so many tree frogs have survived unnoticed.

Speaking on this, Indraneil Das of Sarawak University, Malaysia said, “It’s a big discovery. It doesn’t happen too often in India. The discovery helps understand biodiversity and the need for conservation.”