Tejas Thackeray, team finds new gecko species in Western Ghats

In another finding that highlights the importance of protecting the Western ghats a team of researchers along with Tejas Thackeray discovered a new largebodied rupicolous Dwarf gecko from the Western Ghats of Karnataka Their study was published a few days ago in Zootaxa a scientific journalThe team of researchers includes Akshay Khandekar who is lead and corresponding author Tejas Thackeray second author Saunak Pal third author and Ishan Agarwal senior authorAkshay KhandekarTalking to midday Akshay Khandekar said Dwarf geckos belong to the Genus Cnemaspis and are the oldest Indian squamates snakes and lizards that originated around 50 million years ago from the Western Ghats These geckos can be easily distinguished from all other Indian geckos by their round pupil rest all gecko species found in the country have vertical pupil Unlike other Indian geckos which are nocturnal most of the geckos of genus Cnemaspis are diurnal active during the day and thats why they are also called as Day geckosIt may be noted that there are about 50 species reported under this genus and are inhabited in Western Ghats Mysore Plateau some parts of Eastern Ghats Assam and Andaman and Nicobar Islands Their main diet is insectsCnemaspis magnifica PicIshan AgarwalWe first saw this gecko in 2014 among the vertical rocks near Sakleshpur in Karnataka We thought it could be a new species to science but couldnt work on it because of lack of comparative material on already discovered and closely related species of this genus from the Western Ghats In June 2018 we conducted fieldwork across the Western Ghats targeting the type localities precise locality from where the species has been discovered and managed to collect topotypic samples specimens collected from respective type localities of species for comparative study for morphological and genetic comparisons When we finished our lab work which includes morphological and genetic studies we realised that the gecko species near Sakleshpur is in fact new to science added KhandekarIn February 2019 these researchers submitted a detailed manuscript on this new species to an international journal called Zootaxa and it was published a few days agoThe new species is named as Cnemaspis magnifica The name magnifica is derived from the Latin magnifico magnificent and is given to this species for its large size and conspicuous colour pattern The common English name for this gecko is Magnificent dwarf geckoIshan Agarwal Senior AuthorAccording to researchers the gecko is an endemic rockdwelling species and found only on vertical rock faces around Sakleshpur Interestingly unlike most of the other members of the genus this gecko is nocturnal It is one of the largest species 58 mm length of the dwarf gecko reported from India The new species can be easily distinguished from other species of the genus by its large size lack of spinelike tubercles on the flanks and a number of femoral pores in males The new species is 91 percent divergent in uncorrected ND2 sequences DNA data from its closely related species called Cnemaspis heteropholisIn the same paper the researchers also provided valuable data on morphology distribution and natural history of a poorly known species called Cnemaspis heteropholis which is only known from three localities lt 35 km in the Western Ghats of Karnataka and GoaAffiliationsAkshay and Ishan work for Thackeray Wildlife Foundation TWF Mumbai as well as National Centre for Biological Sciences NCBS BangaloreTejas Thackeray works for Thackeray Wildlife Foundation TWF MumbaiSaunak Pal works for Bombay Natural History Society BNHS MumbaiCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news