- Science welcomed many new species this yr, most of them amphibians, reptiles and bugs.
- The Western Ghats and Northeast India proceed to shine as biodiversity hotspots in India with a number of discoveries of species from these areas.
- Each new discovery is critical because it takes us a step nearer to the understanding of biodiversity and its conservation and administration.
Among the many many biodiversity wealthy areas in India, the northeast India and the Western Ghats stand out as hotspots with many endemic species. It’s no shock then that many species which might be new to science found lately happen in these areas. Mongabay India has constantly knowledgeable our readers about these fascinating discoveries.
In 2024 too, a number of species had been newly described, most of them reptiles, amphibians or bugs. Listed here are among the species that acquired us curious and probably redefined the course of science too.
Not one, however 4
King cobra was lengthy believed to be a single species — Ophiophagus hannah. The longest venomous snake on the earth shouldn’t be thought of to have a lot conservation significance and is listed as weak on the IUCN Crimson Record of threatened taxa. That’s about to vary as a worldwide research led by the Western Ghats-based scientist P. Gowri Shankar has questioned the assumption by way of a brand new discovery that King Cobra shouldn’t be one species, however 4 distinct species separated by geographies. Among the many 4, two species are severely threatened, together with the Western Ghats species, now named Ophiophagus kaalinga.
This research is critical for a lot of causes: there’s lastly closure to over a century-old confusion across the taxonomy of the king cobra. This might additionally propel the antivenom analysis additional.
Speaking concerning the findings, famend wildlife biologist Romulus Whitaker advised Mongabay India, “I all the time suspected it was multiple species as a result of they appear and behave very otherwise from one another”. Gowri Shankar factors out that whereas the research was capable of clearly distinguish the 4 species, there could also be extra species but to be described. “King cobras might probably be 5 or 6 species. Extra analysis is required,” he says.
A brand new edge to science
It’s simple to confuse one species for an additional, particularly when the species in query is as frequent as a lizard. Amphibian researcher Sandeep Das almost missed figuring out a brand new species as a result of it carefully resembled the extensively recognized Agasthyagama bedomii, or northern kangaroo lizard. Nonetheless, after consulting with different specialists, he realised that the situation of the sighting — a hilly district in Idukki, Kerala — was too removed from the standard vary of A. bedomii. Additional research confirmed this discovering, resulting in the invention of a beforehand unrecognised species.
Named Agasthyagama edge, the authors describe the species as “superficially just like Agasthyagama beddomii in total form, dimension and color however could be distinguished by mixture 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. Each species differed genetically as effectively. A. edge now joins A. beddomii as one other kangaroo lizard species in India.
Species from the Northeast
The northeastern elements of India, as various in animal and plant species because the Western Ghats, are comparatively much less studied, primarily because of the largely hostile terrain and political turbulence the area has witnessed traditionally. Regardless of these challenges, many researchers have managed to do some intense species research within the area. For Mongabay India, the yr 2024 started with the information of three new frog species — Gracixalus patkaiensis, Alcalus fontinalis, and Nidirana noadihing — found from the biodiversity hotspot of Kamlang-Namdapha panorama in Arunachal Pradesh.
Tucked between Myanmar and India, Namdapha is taken into account the northernmost restrict of the tropical rainforest on the earth. Namdapha area, situated on the border, faces many anthropogenic pressures that pose conservation challenges. Another excuse why these discoveries are particular is as a result of these are usually not simply three new species however three new genera — a taxonomic class comprising species exhibiting comparable traits — recorded from India. The lead researcher Abhijit Das of the Wildlife Institute of India described the brand new frogs as uncommon with distinct appearances and calls.
Name from the wild
In one other fascinating discovery, area entomologist Vivek Sarkar and his assistant Tushar Sangma recognized a brand new cicada species throughout an acoustic survey in Balpakram Nationwide Park, situated in South Garo Hills, Meghalaya in 2017. Whereas Sarkar was observing the cicada with binoculars and a laser rangefinder, the insect fell to the bottom when a bat tried to seize it. Sarkar rapidly photographed the cicada, resulting in the identification of Becquartina bicolor, the bicolour butterfly cicada.
Unaware of this discovery, in 2020, Rodeson Thangkhiew — then a PhD scholar and now an assistant professor of zoology on the College of Science and Know-how in Meghalaya — was drawn to a novel cicada name coming from a tree subsequent to a small stream. Thangkhiew was foraging for wild edible vegetation in a neighborhood forest in Ri Bhoi district, roughly 150 kilometres away from South Garo Hills. His observations would later align with Sarkar’s findings.
The 2 groups printed their analysis in March 2024 in Zootaxa. Sarkar emphasised that the locals in South Garo Hills and Ri Bhoi had been already aware of the bicolour butterfly cicada, underscoring the significance of integrating conventional ecological data from native communities into scientific analysis.
Fairly lately, whereas reporting on the significance of dung beetles in sustaining environmental well being, we additionally knowledgeable the readers concerning the discovery of latest dung beetle species, two of that are from northeast India. One of many vital classes from these new discoveries is the extent of biodiversity the nation holds. These new findings have far-reaching impacts on conservation science: each new discovery is a step nearer to our understanding of biodiversity and its conservation and administration.
Banner picture: A Gracixalus patkaiensis with eggs listens to the calling males. Picture by Abhijit Das.
