Newly discovered Slender Arm Frogs

Soman’s Slender Arm Frog

Mechuka Slender Arm Frog

Scientific name

Leptobrachium somani

Leptobrachium mechuka

Discovered in

Tiwarigaon and named after Somanath in honour of the late journalist E. Somanath.

It was first collected near Mechuka town in Arunachal Pradesh

Morphology

It is about ~55 mm, with a greyish-brown body with irregular light-grey markings and silver-grey to light-blue eyes.

It is about ~60 mm, with a uniformly brown body with a reddish tinge, and silvery-white eyes.

Family

Megophryidae

Genus

 Leptobrachium

Habitat

• The Evergreen forests, adjoining grasslands, and stream banks.
• Both species were observed in isolated mountain regions over multiple years.

Endemism

• It is restricted to the Northern side of the Brahmaputra River in Arunachal Pradesh.

Behaviour

• The Males call from stream banks during breeding.
• Populations form along streams and grasslands.

Conservation Status

• It has not yet been assessed or assigned a conservation category.