Maharashtra: Four new species of dwarf geckos discovered from western ghats

New species of dwarf geckos discovered from western ghats. Pic/Akshay Khandekar

A recent study underscores the significance of the Western Ghats and its rich biodiversity. A team of researchers including Tejas Thackeray have discovered four new species of dwarf geckos from the north western ghats of Maharashtra. These geckos have been named after prominent landmarks such as the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, Chandoli National Park, the state of Maharashtra, and the Sahyadri mountain ranges.

Tejas Thackeray - the son of Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray told this newspaper that 114 pages long descriptions were published as monograph in the renowned taxonomic journal Zootaxa. The leader Researcher of the Paper is Akshay Khandekar and the co-author on the paper are Sunil M Gaikwad, Tejas Thackeray, Satpal Gangalmale and Ishan Agarwal.

The lead researcher of the scientific paper and Scientist Akshay Khandekar from the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation said, "I am excited to share the second publication from my PhD research, which focuses on the preliminary taxonomic revision of the Cnemaspis girii clade from Maharashtra. In this comprehensive monograph, we've provided an updated diagnosis and comparisons for the girii clade as well as for nine out of ten previously described species of the clade by examining their types, topotypes and material from additional localities. We also provided ND2 sequence data for all the species (except C. fortis) and described four divergent lineages as new species using an integrative taxonomic framework."

It may not noted that, additionally, the researchers have found and talked about the major inconsistencies in the girii clade literature, including inconsistencies in morphological data and methodology, genetic data, character selections, diagnoses with overlapping characters, incorrect GPS co-ordinates of the type and paratype localities, conflicting natural history data, taxonomic keys, and incorrect references.

"We have named one of the four new species Cnemaspis barkiensis, after the type locality, Barki Reserve Forest in Kolhapur District. The remaining three new species were found in the Chandoli National Park in Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, and we have named them Cnemaspis chandoliensis (after the Chandoli National Park), Cnemaspis maharashtraensis (after the Maharashtra State), and Cnemaspis sahyadriensis (after the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve and Sahyadri Mountain Range)." added Khandekar

It may not noted that all four new species are endemic similar to other members of their genus, and are currently known only from around their respective type localities.