• A team of researchers from Delhi University has recently discovered a frog species from the Western Ghats and named it after former vice-chancellor professor Deepak Pental.

• The new species was discovered from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot that extends along the southwest coast of the Indian peninsula.

• The discovery was made during a comprehensive study on a considerably large, common, yet a confusing group of Indian frogs  genus Minerva (common name: Minervaryan frogs), carried out over a period of nearly 10 years.

• The new species, named Minerva pentali, is endemic to the southern Western Ghats.

• It was identified based on multiple criteria, such as external morphology, DNA and calling pattern.

• It was discovered from wayside vegetation at multiple localities in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, while surveying amphibians during the monsoon season. This species is also among the smallest known Minervaryan frogs, which is probably one of the reasons it was overlooked until now.

• The findings were published in the international journal Asian Herpetological Research as ‘DNA Barcoding and Systematic Review of Minervaryan Frogs (Dicroglossidae: Minervarya) of Peninsular India: Resolution of a Taxonomic Conundrum with Description of a New Species.’

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