The newly discovered "Star Dwarf Frog" carries the Milky Way and hides in the dead leaves.

The newly described frog species Astrobatrachus kurichiyana (also known as the star-shaped dwarf frog) is about 1 inch long and has a layer of star spots on its back. This frog only lives on an isolated mountain in India, and may have no close relatives for tens of millions of years. (K.P.Dinesh) On a remote plateau in the Gaut Mountains in western India, an ancient frog family has been quietly hiding in the fallen leaves for millions of years to avoid being discovered by humans. These little frogs sleep during the day and hunt at night. They have a series of pale blue spots on their brown backs, which blend in with the dark world. Their nails are as wide as those of adults. Now, a research team has described this quiet little amphibian for the first time. The research team named this newly discovered amphibian "Astrobatrachus kurichiyana". According to the latest paper published by the research team in PeerJ magazine today (12mMarch), it is the only known species in a family that has never been described, and it may have been lurking alone in the branches of its frog family tree for centuries. 40 weird frog photos

"This is a strange frog-it may have no close relatives for tens of millions of years," David Blackburn, co-author of the study and deputy director of amphibians and reptiles at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said in a statement.

Is a very small part of star dwarfs. As the name implies, this frog is very small. The maximum length from the nose to the buttocks is 1. 14 inch (29 mm), which is slightly longer than the diameter in the United States. The striped back of the frog constellation blends perfectly with the folded leaves covering its forest habitat, providing a good hiding place for nocturnal amphibians during the day. The researchers wrote that when the research team saw some star-shaped dwarves appear at night, the frogs jumped back from under the leaves as soon as they met the bright light of the flashlight. This hobby of invisibility may be the key to frog's longevity, which is impressive considering that the star dwarf is the only known species that obviously belongs to an ancient family.

"these frogs are relics ... this lineage may be destroyed at any time. The lead author of this study, Seenapurampalaniswamyvijayakumar, a postdoctoral fellow at George Washington University, said in a statement that we should celebrate the fact that these things exist. There may be other "weird" frogs jumping in the Caucasus Mountains in western India-this mountain range is 1000 miles (1600 kilometers) long and consists of isolated plateaus along the southwest coast of the country. Like the Galapagos Islands, these plateaus have existed as factories of biodiversity for tens of millions of years, and each plateau is inhabited by new species of amphibians and reptiles that cannot be found anywhere else, the researchers wrote. Finding more such species may be as simple as turning over a new leaf.

Photo gallery of the strangest frogs, lizards and salamanders in nature: cute and colorful frogs Six strange species found in museums were first published in the journal of life science.