Suckers are also present in rheophilic fishes of genera such as Glyptothorax, Travancoria, Homaloptera, and Bhavania, adaptations that are the result of convergent evolution. Narayan Rao as having oral suckers that allowed them to live in torrential streams. Tadpoles of the species had been described in 1917 by Nelson Annandale and C. The specimen with which the species was originally described was 7.0 cm (2.8 inches) long from the tip of the snout to the vent. Males are about a third of the length of females. Adults are typically dark purplish-grey in color. sahyadrensis has a small head and an unusual pointed snout. Its arms and legs splay out in the standard anuran body form. Their flattened body assists them to cling to submerged rocks and boulders which essentially helps them fight strong currents, allowing them to remain near stream banks where they typically reside. The body of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis appears robust and bloated and is relatively rounded compared to other more dorsoventrally flattened frogs. One of its common names, the purple pig-nosed frog, also makes reference to the elongated morphology of its snout, which is well adapted to the acquisition of fossorial termites.ĭescription Video recording of a vocalizing male. The scientific name Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis is a Latinized portmanteau of the Sanskrit nāsikā ( नासिका) for 'nose', Greek batrachos ( βάτραχος) for 'frog', and Sahyadri, the native name for the Western Ghats which forms the purple frog's natural habitat. Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis closest living relatives are considered to be the Sooglossidae, only known in the Seychelles, an island chain in the Indian Ocean. However, it was already well known to the local people and several earlier documented specimens and publications had been ignored by the authors in the 2003 paper that describes the genus and species.

Biju from the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Palode, India, from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels), in 2003. The species was described from specimens collected in the Idukki district of Kerala by S.D. Although the adult frog was formally described in October 2003, the juvenile form of the species was described earlier in 1917. It is endemic to the Western Ghats in India. The purple frog ( Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), Indian purple frog, or pignose frog is a frog species of the genus Nasikabatrachus. Distribution range of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis (in ORANGE)

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