Sathyabhama Das Biju

For more than a century, two mysterious tree frog specimens collected by a British naturalist in 1870 and housed at the Natural History Museum in London were assumed to be part of a vanished species, never again found in the wild. Until now.

Scientists have discovered 14 new species of so-called dancing frogs in the jungle mountains of southern India - just in time, they fear, to watch them fade away.

For more than a century, two mysterious tree frog specimens collected by a British naturalist in 1870 and housed at the Natural History Museum in London were assumed to be part of a vanished species, never again found in the wild. Until now.

Scientists have discovered 14 new species of so-called dancing frogs in the jungle mountains of southern India - just in time, they fear, to watch them fade away.