Unique species discovered from NE

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Limbless Amphibians found

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Indian Researcher, Dr. S D Biju has discovered three species of limbless amphibians from the forests of Manipur and Nagaland. The species discovered are unique as they as two of them have moustache-like stripes on the upper lip not found in caecilians reported from any part of the world before.

The three of them are named as Icthyophis moustakius,  I. sendenyu and I. khumzhi respectively. The finding holds special significance as it discovered from North eastern region of India which is facing grim situation of dwindling biodiversity despite of being a biodiversity hotspot. Moreover the three species have been found from the place which have been cleared off the forest cover for agriculture. So it further reminds of protecting the forests for conserving the biodiversity.

[q url="http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/21/stories/2009102157962200.htm"]

Three new species of legless amphibians have been discovered from forests in Manipur and Nagaland by researchers led by Delhi University Associate Professor S.D. Biju.

The team’s find, published in the latest issue of Zootaxa (an international journal of zoological taxonomy), is unique as two of the new species have moustache-like stripes on the upper lip not found in caecilians reported from any part of the world before, a university release said on Tuesday.

Worldwide more than 170 species of caecilians (which are one among the three orders of amphibians known as Gymnophiona) have been reported so far. In northeast India, only four of these species were known to exist. The new find takes the number of known legless amphibians in this region to seven.

Rachunliu G. Kamei, Dr. Biju’s Ph.D student and lecturer in St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, spearheaded the research article. The research team had two collaborators from the Natural History Museum, London — David Gower and Mark Wilkinson.

Dr. Biju, an amphibian researcher who has come out with a string of discoveries of new species and even a new family of frogs over the past five years from India, told The Hindu that the latest find was another indication of the yet-to-be fully understood biodiversity of the country. The team named one of the three species Ichthyophis moustakius, meaning an Ichthyophis with moustache.

The northeast is at the junction of the Indo- Myanmar-Himalaya global biodiversity hotspot. However, according to Dr. Biju, the biodiversity of this region is dwindling rapidly due to human intervention. All the three species came from an area where forests were being converted into agricultural land, he said.[/q]