Biologists in the United States of America have discovered three new species of toads living in Nevada's Great Basin in an expansive survey of the 190,000 square miles ancient lake bottom.
The discoveries which are extremely rare in the United States were recently published in Science Journal.
Dick Tracy, lead scientist on the project, said in a statement;
"We've found the toads in small, wet habitats surrounded by high-desert completely cut off from other populations,"
According to a renowned biology professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, the species discovered are absolutely new and true species that have been separated from other populations for 650,000 years.
Since 1985, only three new frog species have been discovered. And toad species are even more rare, with the last species discovered north of Mexico, the now extinct Wyoming toad, in 1968.
The three new discovered species, the Dixie Valley toad, Railroad Valley toad and Hot Creek toad are not connected geographically.
They were found in Tracy's 10-year long survey of the desert-dominated Great Basin.
Labels: Educative Article
