Two Mumbai researchers have discovered two new species of lizards in the Western Ghats — Cnemaspis Girii and Hemidactylus Acanthopholis.
Working with National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), researchers Zeeshan Mirza and Rajesh Sanap keep visiting unknown corners of Indian forests with the aim to dig up more information about the flora and fauna.
In order to confirm their discovery from Tirunelveli in southern Tamil Nadu, the duo visited National History Museum, London, where they found the gecko in the collection but after comparing the specimens the pair decided that their find is distinct and should be given a title. Thus, they decided to name the gecko Hemidactylus Acanthopholis.
Mirza said, "The gecko belongs to the Hemidactylus Maculatus species complex which are large rock-dwelling species mostly found on large boulders, cavers and forts, said to be distributed throughout Western Ghats. The present find in addition to some recent work by other researchers hint on presence of more undescribed species in this species complex in India."
"India is rich in its reptilian diversity, a majority of it still remains undocumented and, hence, extensive countrywide surveys must be undertaken," Sanap said.
The other discovery — Cnemaspis Girii — was found at Kaas plateau during their visit in July 2010.
"After searching for a while, Rajesh shouted 'Cnemaspis' and we all rushed to the spot to examine the lizard. This gecko looked different from the only two members of the genus Cnemaspis known to occur in Maharashtra. However, knowing that the taxonomy of these geckos was unstable, we released the animal and continued our search to look for some other reptiles and amphibians. Within an hour, we had already seen several more individuals of the Cnemaspis and a caecilian Indotyphlus maharashtraensis. After finishing the search, we all got back and had almost forgotten about the gecko until February 2013, when I started planning to visit the area again," Mirza said.
They decided to name it after herpetologist Dr Varad Giri of Bombay Natural History Society and their paper got published in an international journal in June 2014, thereby adding yet another species to the Indian list of reptiles.
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