Researchers from Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, Savitribai Phule Pune University, MES College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Bengaluru and the Centre for medicinal Plants Research, Kerala have described a new species of pipewort from the Western Ghats. They have named the new species Eriocaulon karaavalense, after the Kannada work karaavali (ಕರಾವಳಿ), which translates to ‘the coast’.

Researchers from NCBS, NHM, WII, Mizoram University, Pachunga University College, and IISc have documented a new genus and species of Natricine snake from Northeast India. 

Researchers from the Natural History Museum, London, Wayanad Wild, the Wildlife Institute of India, Nature, Environment and Wildlife Society, and the Zoological Survey of India discover a new species of vine snake Ahaetulla laudankia in Odisha, India.

The forests of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot of India, have been revealing several new species of amphibians and reptiles in the recent years. This time, however, amphibian researchers from the University of Delhi have discovered a new frog species which was hiding in plain sight in a roadside puddle in Southern India.

An international collaboration of researchers, including two from IISc Bengaluru, have described a new starry frog Astrobatrachus kurichiyana from the Western Ghats.

Over 8.7 million species are known to be found on Earth today, and many scientists believe that we have only scratched the surface.

After the Microhyla laterite that was described from Manipal in 2016, scientists have found another new narrow-mouthed frog from the city centre of Mangaluru, in coastal Karnataka. 

A new species of terrestrial ‘cricket frog’ from the highland plateaus of the Western Ghats adds to the biodiversity in this region  

The Western Ghats in India and Sri Lanka are well known biodiversity hotspots, with a rich diversity of amphibian species. Both these regions have high density of amphibian endemism, which means that many of the species of amphibians found here are found nowhere else on Earth. Over 85% of amphibian species found in Sri Lanka are endemic, making this island nation have the highest amphibian endemism in Asia.

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore have described a new species of plant in Coastal Karnataka. Here the team describes the morphological features that helped them identify the plants as a separate species. They find that Reissantia sessiliflora is endemic to the region and highlight the threats faced by the plant along with the actions the public can take for its conservation.