About 150 years later, a new frog species is found in the mega city of Dhaka. An young promising Animal Scientist of the country Sajid Ali Hawlader discovered a new species of frogs recently and has named it Zakerana dhaka. PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal, published an article terming 'A New Species of Frog (Anura: Dicroglossidae) Discovered from the Mega City of Dhaka' on March 2.
The scientist names the new species the 'Zakerana' to pay respect to Dr Zaker Hossain who is the founder of Zoology Department of Dhaka University. Talking to the Asian Age Sajid Ali Hawlader said, I proposed the name of the new species name ' Dhakaiya Bang'. He said, "We describe a new species of frog of the genus Zakerana discovered from the urban core of Dhaka, Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Although the new species is morphologically similar to the geographically proximate congeners in the Bangladeshi cricket frog group, we show that it can be distinguished from all congeners on the basis of morphological characters, advertisement calls and variation in two mitochondrial DNA genes (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA)." "Apart from several diagnostic differences in body proportions, the new species differs from other Zakerana species in having a flattened snout (from ventral view) projecting over the lower jaw, and diagnostic trapezoid-shaped red markings on the vocal sac in males, he said. He also said, "Molecular genetic analyses show that the new species is highly divergent (3.1-20.1% sequence divergence) from all congeneric species, and forms a well-supported clade with its sister species, Zakerana asmati. The discovery of a new amphibian species from the urban core of Dhaka together with several recent descriptions of new amphibian species from Bangladesh may indicate that more amphibian species remain to be discovered from this country."
Sajid further said, " The preliminary results again prove that miracle can happen in the most densely populated cities
of the world. I find a new species of frog, whose identity was unknown to the whole world. Dhaka's road side frog's gets a new identity to the world."
"More interesting matter is that the frog is discovered from Ganabhaban and parliament building area. But the frogs are often seen in Dhaka University Area", he said. Describing his success, Nasimul Ahsan, former research assistant and media worker, said, "We build a horrible city by killing plants, wildlife. But discovery of 'Dhakaia Bang' helps us to remember our past history. Sajid still is figting to save our bio-diversity staying abroad. Government should step up to save the bio-diversity which is on decay." Sajid Ali Hawlader, a former student of the Chittagong University, is doing his PHD in Taxonomy at the University of Helsinki (Finland). Sajid will complete his PHD course in this year. He wants to back home with the vow of working for the country.