Seychelles Frogs: Sooglossidae

Seychelles frogs live only in the country called Seychelles, which is a group of islands in the western Indian Ocean about 580 miles (930 kilometers) northeast of Madagascar. Scientists believe that these islands may have been part of India far in the past, but about 55 to 65 million years ago, India began to slowly move away to its current location, about 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) north and now part of Asia. Like many other islands, the Seychelles islands are actually the tops of mountains that are mostly underwater. Scientists believe that the common ancestor of the Seychelles frogs and the new species of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, lived more than 130 million years ago when Seychelles and India were still connected. As of yet, they have found no fossils of any of the four Seychelles frogs or of the new purple species.