All about real life version of 'Chocolate Frog' resembling the one from 'Harry Potter series' found

Chocolate Frog: Why in the News?

The fans of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books are beaming with pride over nature being so innovative as their favourite book series author. Chocolate Frog has been discovered in New Guinea similar to the ones described in Harry Potter. It strengthens the theory that Australia and New Guinea were linked through a land bridge thousands of years ago. 

The study was published in the Australian Journal of Zoology on May 20, 2021. 

Chocolate Frog: Interesting Details

1. Researchers at Australia's Queensland Museum have found a new frog species in the swampy, lowland forests of New Guinea.
2. It is called Litoria mira, inspired by the Latin adjective mirum. 
3. The species is said to have been discovered by Steve Richards and Paul Oliver from Queensland University in the year 2016.
4. The Chocolate frog has been discovered in New Guinea was dwelling in hot and humid rainforests whereas the species in Australia is adapted to Savannah
5. The species diverged during the Pliocene when the area started to separate and the land bridge vanished. 
6. The species has been named as the “chocolate frog”
7. The species has big, cartoonish eyes and its skin is the colour of milk chocolate.
8. It is closely related to the green tree frog that's common in Australia.
9. These are known for their jumping abilities and croaking sounds
10. The chocolate frog is different due to its unique webbing pattern on its limbs, short and robust limbs and a violet patch close to its eyes. 

How was the Chocolate frog discovered?

The researchers discovered the chocolate frog while they were trying to draw a clearer family picture of the lineage of the green tree frog on both islands.

This species was first described in a study published recently in the Australian Journal of Zoology. These researchers travelled to New Guinea and found the 'chocolate frog' in a hot swamp full of crocodiles.

How was the species named Chocolate Frog?

Paul Oliver, who is a biologist at Queensland Museum and Griffith University, informed the Queensland Museum Network about how the name of Chocolate frog was decided. He said that once the researchers saw the new species, due to its appearance they started calling it 'chocolate frog', and this very name got stuck. 

Chocolate Frog: Other Details

He also added, “What's a little surprising about this discovery is that the well-known and common green tree frog of Australia has a long-overlooked relative living in the lowland rainforests of New Guinea. Because of this, we named the new frog Litoria Mira because the word 'Mira' means surprised or strange in Latin."

As per Steve Richard’s statement published in the Journal, “While New Guinea is not a place most Australians know well, many animal groups are shared. So, understanding biodiversity in New Guinea helps us to understand the history and origins of Australia's unique fauna."

Chocolate frogs from New Guinea and the Australian green tree frog are similar as Australia and New Guinea used to be linked by land for much of the late Tertiary period (2.6 million years ago). They also share various biotic elements.

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