Context

The purple frog, one of the rarest frog species endemic to the Western Ghats, would soon be declared as Kerala’s official amphibian. 

About

About Mahabali or Maveli Frog:

• The purple frog (or pig-nosed frog) spends much of its life underground, emerging briefly for a few days each year at the start of the monsoons to breed.
• The purple frog is one of only two species in the family
• This family is endemic to the Western Ghats of India and has been evolving independently for around 100 million years.
• Molecular evidence has found the purple frogs to be most closely related to a family of tiny frogs only found on the Seychelles.
• It is thought the two families shared a common ancestor that was subsequently isolated on different landmasses following the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana.
• As it is a fossorial (burrowing) species, the purple frog was long overlooked by science, being formally described in only 2003, despite already having a number of local names.
• The tadpoles are adapted to living in torrents and have specialised sucker-like mouthparts which they use to cling onto the algae covered rocks where they feed.
• The purple frog is listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List, and is threatened by deforestation from expanding cultivation, in addition to consumption and harvesting by local communities.