Herpetologists have discovered 13 new species of geckos this year, and expect to find more in the coming years.
The four species of newly-discovered tiger moths. Left to right: First row: O. suryamal rekhae, O. suryamal. Second row: O. zedesi and O. ghatmatha [Image credits: Aparna Kalawate]
Thus hath the candle sing'd the moth.
O, these deliberate fools! When they do choose,
They have the wisdom by their wit to lose.
(a) Shola reedtail (Protosticta sholai) [Image credits: K. A. Subramanian]; (b) blue-legged reedtail (Protosticta cyanofemora) [Image credits: Shantanu Joshi]; (c) Myristica reedtail (Protosticta myristicaensis) [Image credits: Shantanu Joshi]
Tetrastemma freyae [Image credits: Mohandhas S Vignesh]
In a recent study, researchers from Agharkar Research Institute, India, Harbin Normal University, China and the University of Colorado, USA, have described a new genus of diatoms called Kulikovskiyia. Diatoms belonging to this genus are currently found only in the Western Ghats of India and Hainan Province of China. The study, funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board, was published in the journal Phycological Research.
Researchers from the Natural History Museum, London, have uncovered the evolutionary links between the different species of centipedes dating back to Gondwana.
The team of researchers, from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru were attempting to study and classify snakes in the Western Ghats systematically. That's when they came across Proahaetulla antiqua, which is endemic to the southern Western Ghats. What's more interesting is that it is an ancient species, thought to have evolved around 26 million years ago during the mid-Oligocene.
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’.
The monsoon is here; humming with the pouring rain are the croaks of frogs, for it is the season of love for most of them. But not for Micryletta aishani, the newest of the frogs discovered from the state of Assam. Unlike most frogs that breed during the monsoon, this elusive frog breeds before the onset of monsoon and then goes into hiding for the rest of the year. The discovery is the result of six years of extensive fieldwork in the northeastern states of India by a team of researchers from the University of Delhi, Wildlife Institute of India, Indonesian Institute of Sciences and the University of Texas at Arlington, USA.
