Hello all,

The ballooning male of the bush frog, Raorchestes jayarami, announced a very happy news today: there is now an Amphibians of India website that promises to be another resounding success in citizen science. Following the successful Facebook group, Reptiles and Amphibians of India, and inspired by the powerful online platform of the Butterflies of India website, we hope that this website will provide a critical resource on amphibian diversity that has been sorely missing in India. The Amphibians of India website has three main objectives: (1) consolidate available information on diversity and distribution, (2) actively collect new information on all aspects of Indian amphibians through research, and (3) communicate this information with policy makers and work with various governing bodies so that the information is used to conserve amphibians and their habitats in India. Most of this work will be done as a collaborative scientific enterprise involving both professional and citizen scientists.

We also hope that our highly integrated community of amateur naturalists, professional scientists, educators and conservationists will both build this online platform and use the information generated here for effective conservation of Indian amphibians. Please email us if you have any comments or wish to contribute to this website in various ways.

- Varad Giri, Sandeep Das, Akshay Khandekar, Purnendu Roy, and Krushnamegh Kunte, editors, Amphibians of India. 11 September 2017.