GUWAHATI

A new species of toad recorded in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district has been named after Dhara, the traditional Khasi women’s attire.

A team of four researchers described Duttaphyrnus dhara during field surveys in the Mawphlang landscape at an altitude of 1,854 metres above the mean sea level. Mawphlang is better known for its sacred grove.

The researchers are Holiness Warjri of Assam Don Bosco University; A.A. Thasun Amarasinghe of Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency; and Madhurima Das and Jayaditya Purkayastha of Help Earth, a Guwahati-based biodiversity conservation group. Their study was published in the latest issue of Taprobanica, an international journal.

The bufonid (an amphibian belonging to the Bufonidae family) toads were found on the ground among low vegetation and leaf litter in fallow agricultural fields located close to the montane forest.

“This indicates that the species may prefer forest-edge and semi-natural habitats, unlike the common Asian toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus, which is usually abundant around villages and disturbed human settlements,” the researchers said.

Duttaphrynus dhara is a small, forest-associated toad, with adult males measuring only about 40-41.8 mm in snout-vent length. It can be identified from its compact body, its wider head, the absence of prominent cranial ridges, small but distinct tympanum, moderate toe webbing, and a rough dorsum covered with numerous pointed keratinised warts.

The toad has a brown body with irregular black patches, a narrow pale mid-dorsal line, dark fingers and toes, and a creamy white underside marked with black blotches.

The study followed an integrative taxonomic approach, combining external morphology, morphometric analysis and mitochondrial 16S rRNA genetic data. The genetic analysis showed that the Khasi Hills population forms a distinct and well-supported lineage within the genus Duttaphrynus.

“It is clearly different from its closest known relatives, Duttaphrynus stuarti and Duttaphrynus chandai, with genetic divergence ranging from 4.4 to 6.7%. Morphometric analysis also showed that the new species forms a separate cluster from these related species, further confirming its distinct identity,” the researchers said.

According to the authors, ‘Dhara’ reflects the deep cultural identity, heritage, and nature-linked traditions of the Khasi community. By naming the species after the attire, they sought to honour the community’s long-standing relationship with the forests, hills, and biodiversity of Meghalaya.

At present, Duttaphrynus dhara is known only from its type locality in Mawphlang. Its documentation has been deemed important from a conservation perspective, as species with restricted known distributions may be vulnerable to habitat change, land-use transformation and climate-related shifts in montane ecosystems.

The finding also highlights the Meghalaya plateau as an important centre of amphibian diversity and endemism within the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot.