Purple frog

About Purple frog:

• Purple frog lives almost its entire life in underground tunnels, comes out to the surface for a single day in a year to breed and lays its eggs, and returns to the earth’s deepest layers.
  • The frog is compared with the Maveli and known as ‘Maveli frog’ in kerala
  • Maveli is a mythological king who ruled over the region of Kerala.
• It is designated as Kerala’s state amphibian.

Distribution:

• Earlier thought to be restricted to the south of the Palghat Gap in the Western Ghats, the species is now known to be quite widely distributed in the Western Ghats.

History:

• Herpetologists believe that the species should be rightly called a ‘living fossil’ as it’s evolutionary roots suggest it could have shared space with dinosaurs going back almost 70 million years ago.

Conservation Status:

• It listed as endangered on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

PRACTICE QUESTION

With reference to ‘Purple frog’, consider the following statements:

1. It is endemic to Western Ghats

2. It listed as endangered on the red list of the IUCN

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer