Adding to the record of roughly 12,000 species of reptiles on this planet, a brand new species has been found from Kerala. The research in regards to the new species was printed within the scientific journal, Vertebrate Zoology,’ of the Senckenberg Museum, based mostly in Germany, on January 25. The analysis crew contains Malayali researchers Dr Sandeep Das, Dr Rajkumar KP, Dr Muhammad Jafer Palot, Dr Subin Okay, together with Dr Deepak V from Tamil Nadu, Surya Narayanan, and Sounak Pal from Maharashtra.
The new species was found within the Kulamavu space of Idukki and is named the Northern Kangaroo lizard (Vadakkan Kangaroo Onthu). It is comparatively smaller and measures between 5.5 and eight cm in size. Unlike different lizards, these don’t climb timber; as a substitute, they inhabit the bottom, usually hiding amongst fallen leaves. They feed on small animals and are recognized to shortly flee on their hind legs into the leaves when threatened by predators, which is probably going why they had been initially named ‘kangaroo lizard’ in English.
The new species has been named Agasthyagama edge as a tribute to the Zoological Society of London’s EDGE of Existence program. This program helps young researchers in international locations like India who research and shield Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species. These are species with distinctive evolutionary traits which are additionally going through a world risk of extinction. The naming of the brand new species as Agasthyagama edge acknowledges the significance of conservation efforts for such distinctive and endangered species around the globe.
During a discipline journey in 2014-15, aimed toward finding out the tadpoles of the ‘Mahabali frog,’ the analysis crew first noticed the species by a roadside close to a forest stream in Idukki. However, at first look, they didn’t pay a lot consideration, assuming it may be the ‘Agasthyagama beddomii,’ a species beforehand found from the Agasthyamala area.
It was after discussions with Dr Deepak Veerappan, a world professional in lizard taxonomy, that the analysis crew started to contemplate the likelihood that the species they noticed may be distinct from these discovered within the Agasthyamala ranges. Meanwhile, Dr Subin famous a number of areas throughout his travels the place he regularly encountered these lizards, and he documented these places. This data prompted the crew to provoke a research and analyze available museum specimens in India, furthering their analysis into understanding and classifying this distinctive species.
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Genetic research revealed variations between these lizards, however morphological variations are essential in taxonomy. The comparability with specimens collected within the late 1800s and 1935, that are deposited within the London Natural History Museum and the Chicago Field Museum, was a big problem. Completing this comparability was important for the research to be complete. Dr Deepak V from the University of Wolverhampton identified that this comparative research took years to finish as a consequence of its complexity and the significance of thorough evaluation to precisely classify the species.
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In this research, details about different species within the Agasthyagama genus, corresponding to Agasthyagama beddomii, and their distribution was shared, together with knowledge from museum specimens. The naming of the brand new species additionally serves to carry consideration to EDGE species – these with distinctive evolutionary options however going through a world extinction risk. Despite quite a few research, researchers are nonetheless discovering new species within the Western Ghats, highlighting the area’s wealthy biodiversity and the potential for additional discoveries and analysis. Dr Sandeep Das, a National Post Doctoral Fellow within the Zoology Department on the University of Calicut, emphasised that these ongoing discoveries are proof of the huge quantity of biodiversity but to be explored and understood within the space.
The research concerned collaboration with a number of establishments, together with the Zoology Department of Calicut University, the Zoological Survey of India, the Kerala Forest Research Institute, the Bombay Natural History Society, ATREE Bangalore, the Senckenberg Museum in Germany, the London Natural History Society, and the Aranyakam Nature Foundation.
