- With the outline of a brand new species of lizard, Agasthyagama edge, in Kerala, another species will get added to the genus Agasthyagama.
- Commonly referred to as kangaroo lizards, they derive their identify from their distinct behaviour of operating on their hindlimbs when threatened.
- Not very totally different from Agasthyagama beddomii in its look, the identification of the brand new lizard was ascertained after combing by means of specimens available in Indian and worldwide museums and conducting genetic and morphological analyses.
In a stroke of serendipity, a workforce of researchers stumbled upon a new-to-science species of lizard whereas conducting a survey of the panorama for the habitat of one other new discovery, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, generally referred to as the purple frog or the Mahabali frog. The frog which lives underground emerges solely as soon as yearly.
The diminutive lizard that the researchers noticed measures roughly 3 to 4.5 cm from head to tail. It was crawling alongside the roadside close to a stream within the Kulamavu space of Idukki district in 2014-2015.
This new lizard species has been named Agasthyagama edge in honour of the Edge of Existence programme by the Zoological Society of London devoted to conserving species which are evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered (EDGE) throughout numerous areas of the world. Furthermore, it supplies assist to conservation analysis tasks led by early-career researchers in international locations resembling India by means of their Edge Fellowship programme, which benefited two members on this analysis group — Sandeep Das and Rajkumar Ok.P.
An opportunity encounter
Sandeep Das from the Department of Zoology, University of Calicut, remembers that originally, the workforce didn’t pay a lot consideration to the lizard as a result of it resembled Agasthyagama beddomii, often known as the northern kangaroo lizard, discovered within the Agasthyamalai vary. “We recorded it but then forgot about it,” he says. It wasn’t till they determined to share the photographs with their colleague Deepak Veerappan, an Agamid specialist in Southeast Asia, that the narrative took a flip.
Veerappan identified that Idukki was a distant location for Agasthyagama beddomii, which is endemic to Agasthyamalai, over 100 kilometres away from the place the brand new species was found. “He suggested we investigate the genetic and morphological differences between the two species,” Das explains. Subsequent genetic and morphological analyses confirmed that the lizard in Idukki was certainly a brand new species inside the Agasthyagama genus, which till then was considered monotypic or a genus with just one species.
In a paper revealed within the journal Vertebrate Zoology, the authors describe the species as “superficially similar to Agasthyagama beddomii in overall shape, size and colour but can be distinguished by combination of characters.” The distinct morphological characters embody the variety of scales within the throat area which was discovered to be lesser in A. edge compared to A. beddomii. The color of the scales within the throat area of the breeding males had been additionally discovered to be totally different. Both species differed genetically as effectively. A. edge now joins A. beddomiias one other kangaroo lizard species in India.
Run like a kangaroo
Kangaroo lizards possess a number of distinguishing options and traits that set them aside from different Agamids. Unlike typical lizards, they aren’t arboreal however terrestrial, usually discovered dwelling in soil and amongst foliage. “This behaviour may have evolved as a form of resource partitioning with other Agamids,” suggests Das. Their frequent identify – kangaroo lizards, doubtless stems from their distinctive menace behaviour of sprinting on their hindlimbs at appreciable velocity. Additionally, they comply with a carnivorous weight loss program, with small animals and bugs comprising a good portion of their meals consumption.
In order to conduct a extra detailed examine of the species, the workforce returned to the placement in subsequent years and captured just a few people for evaluation. Additionally, they sought out museum specimens available in India, though these proved to be scarce. Recognising that the specimens of Agasthyagama beddomii collected in 1935 and the late Eighties are housed on the Chicago Field Museum and the Natural History Museum in London, the workforce patiently awaited a possibility for comparability. Veerappan undertook the difficult process of visiting the Field Museum in Chicago, the place a considerable assortment of Agasthyagama beddomii samples, gathered within the Eighties, was accessible. The entire course of took a decade, which the researchers consider was well worth the wait.
“Once we had this information our sample size increased and we were confident with the one morphological character which is species-specific. We did have a pretty convincing molecular difference to confirm that we had a new species, but one has to be thorough when naming species so we checked all possible diagnostic characters,” Veerappan informs Mongabay-India.
The discovery stands as yet one more testomony to the huge range of species current within the Western Ghats. Veerappan emphasises that the researchers’ prior assumption concerning the great documentation of reptile fauna within the Western Ghats was inaccurate. “The discovery and inclusion of genetic data for new species enable scientists worldwide to grasp the evolutionary patterns and diversification of different groups of organisms,” Veerappan concludes.
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Banner picture: Agasthyama edge is the brand new kangaroo lizard noticed in Kerala. It took a decade for the researchers to determine the identification of the brand new species because it was related in measurement, form and has many options of Agasthyagama beddomii. Photo by Sandeep Das.
