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Scientists discover new species all the time—on the order of 15,000 a year. One of the latest additions to the tree of life is a new type of leopard frog. Which might sound unremarkable, except for where it was found: New York City.
科學家時時刻刻在發現新物種——每年大約能發現15000種。這次發現的是一種新型豹蛙。除了這種青蛙被發現的地方紐約市引人矚目之外，它們似乎毫不起眼。
But how does a frog go unnoticed in the Big Apple? Well even experts have a hard time telling this new species from its northern and southern cousins on looks alone. But the new guy has a different croak, which raised ecologists' suspicions. So they tracked down four leopard frog populations with the unique call—including one within view of the Statue of Liberty—and took DNA samples.
但是，為什么青蛙在大蘋果城會被忽視呢？單就外形而言，即使專家也很難指出這個新物種同它的北部和南部的堂兄弟之間到底存在什么區別。但是這個新家伙叫聲很奇特，這令生態學家很疑惑。因此，他們研究了四種具有不同叫聲的青蛙種類——其中包括自由女神區域的青蛙種類，并提取了它們的DNA樣本。
As they suspected, the odd croakers weren't southern or northern leopard frogs, or even a mix. They had a genetic ancestry of their own—earning them new species status. Those results appear in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
正如他們所懷疑的那樣，這種青蛙既不是南方豹蛙也不是北方豹蛙——甚至也不是二者的結合體。它們有自己的遺傳祖先——給予它們獨有的物種特征。這項研究成果發表在《分子系統發育和進化》雜志上。
The frogs are tough New Yorkers—the center of their range appears to be Yankee Stadium. But the researchers say that the urban amphibians face threats like pesticides and infectious diseases. Not to mention real-life games of Frogger.
這群青蛙是艱難生活的紐約客——他們活動區域的中心似乎是在洋基球場。但研究人員說，這種城市兩棲動物面臨著諸如農藥和傳染病的威脅，更別說現實版青蛙過河游戲中的種種危險了。
