From the cloud-kissed heights of Arunachal Pradesh comes the discovery of two new frogs, an announcement that adds to India’s rich amphibian universe. Both belong to the Slender Armed Frog genus, Leptobrachium. Of the 39 species known worldwide, four had previously been reported from India.
The announcement was made in PeerJ on January 9, 2026, in a paper authored by A.N. Dikshit Akalabya Sarmah, Sonali Garg, Tage Tajo, Radhakrishna Upadhyaya K., James Hanken and S.D. Biju.
The authors hail from the Systematics Lab, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, and the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. Biju is famous as the ‘Frogman of India,’ and Garg was featured in THE WEEK’s 2022 Women’s Day Special edition as the first Indian woman to describe 50 species of frogs.
The PeerJ paper says: “Of the 39 currently recognized species in the Slender Armed Frog genus Leptobrachium, four are reported from India, Leptobrachium aryatium, L. bompu, L. smithi, and L. sylheticum.” The authors said that the new species were discovered when they reviewed new collections of reported species “integrating molecular, morphological, and behavioural data”.
The new species—Leptobrachium mechuka and Leptobrachium somani—have been identified as “members of the L. bompu species group” with distinct divergence in DNA sequence. The individuals sampled came from the Lower Dibang Valley and Shi Yomi districts of Arunachal Pradesh.
While L. mechuka was named after the eponymous town in Arunachal Pradesh, L. somani honours veteran journalist E. Somanath, a former senior special correspondent of the Malayala Manorama.
Somanath—Soman to his friends—was known as much for his deep knowledge of Kerala’s political landscape as his commitment to conservation and environmental reporting. Soman and Biju saw their paths crossing quite early in their careers and remained close friends until the journalist’s passing in January 2022. With his wry humour, generous mentoring of young journalists, and unwavering commitment to friends, Somanath had endeared himself to people from all walks of life.
The Kerala Media Academy in Kochi had established the E. Somanath Chair for Science and Environmental Journalism in January 2024. That November, Biju delivered the first lecture in honour of his old friend and hinted that Somanath might soon be honoured in a special way.
Just about a year later, L. somani was announced to bear witness to a lasting friendship and the life of an inimitable journalist who loved all creatures great and small.