FaunaHub
ENEndangeredPartial review

Purple Frog

Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis

Purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), a bloated purplish frog with a pointed snout.

Purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), Kerala.

Image: Unnikrishnan Nair P.K., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

At a glance

IUCN category
EN · Endangered
Animal group
Reptiles & Amphibians
Population trend
Decreasing
Last verified

Conservation overview

The purple frog is a bloated, burrowing frog with a pointed snout that spends almost its whole life underground. It is assessed as Endangered.

It surfaces only briefly to breed during the monsoon and represents an ancient, distinct lineage.

Range & habitat

The Western Ghats of India.

Major threats

Threats below are drawn from the authoritative sources listed on this page. For the current, complete assessment, see the IUCN Red List.

  • Habitat loss to agriculture
  • Dams and land-use change
  • Collection of tadpoles in places

Why it matters

A 'living fossil' frog of the Western Ghats, the purple frog highlights the unique, ancient amphibian life of one of the world's biodiversity hotspots.

Gallery

A purple frog on the ground.

Purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis).

Image: Original uploader was Karthickbala at ta.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources

Sources for Purple Frog

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the purple frog so unusual?
It is a stout, burrowing frog that lives almost entirely underground, emerging only briefly to breed. It belongs to an ancient lineage with few living relatives, making it evolutionarily special.
Why is the purple frog Endangered?
Published assessments cite habitat loss to agriculture, dams and land-use change in the Western Ghats, and local collection. See the IUCN Red List.

Last updated: