"Taxonomic Studies on Anuran Amphibians of North East India Present in the Unidentified Collection of NERC/ZSI, Shillong"

North East India comprises of eight hilly states. These are Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Assam. This region is bordered by five countries viz. China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. The topography of the entire region consists of tall, snow clad mountains of Arunachal to the floodplains of the mighty Brahmaputra River in Assam to the rain lashed hills of Meghalaya. The region varies not only in topography but in tribes, customs and wildlife. At the centre of a major biodiversity region, North East India is also known for its varied amphibian diversity. In fact, North East India falls under two biodiversity hotspots: Himalaya & Indo-Burma (http://www. conservation.org). Altogether, 119 species of amphibians were reported from the region recently (Mathew & Sen, 2010), which is increasing year after year.