The five new reptile species discovered by the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation team.
Credit: Instagram/thackeraywildlifefoundation
Mumbai: In a groundbreaking study, a team from the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation (TWF) have discovered the first-ever viviparous skink genus and five new species belonging to it from peninsular India.
The viviparous skinks - a reptile that gives birth to young ones - has been found in the forests of Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Maharashtra.
The team behind the discovery consisted of Ishan Agarwal, Tejas Thackeray and Akshay Khandekar.
Tejas is the son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray, and the younger brother of Yuva Sena President and former state Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray.
The findings - “A non-adaptive radiation of viviparous skinks from the seasonal tropics of India: Systematics of Subdoluseps (Squamata: Scincidae), with description of a new genus and five cryptic new species” - have been published in international scientific journal, Vertebrate Zoology.
The researchers have named the new genus as 'Dravidoseps', a combination of the Sanskrit words 'Dravid' and ‘Seps'.
This genus ‘Dravidoseps’ is distinct from the genus ‘Subdoluseps’, as it gives birth to its young—instead of laying eggs. Besides, other differences have been noted.
All the five newly discovered species are from the state of Tamil Nadu, and have been christened as: ‘Dravidoseps gingeeensis’ (from the Gingee Hills), ‘Dravidoseps jawadhuensis’ (Jawadhu Hills), ‘Dravidoseps kalakadensis’ (Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve), ‘Dravidoseps srivilliputhurensis’ (Srivilliputhur Megamalai Tiger Reserve) and ‘Dravidoseps tamilnaduensis’ (Kolli, Pachaimalai and Yercaud Hills).
The species ‘Dravidoseps gouensis, included in the new genus, has been recorded from Utsum in North Goa as well as Sindhudurg (Amboli) and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra.
"Discovered through TWF’s lizard project in Tamil Nadu, Dravidoseps is now the most diverse endemic skink genus in the region, with seven species in Tamil Nadu and one in Goa and southern Maharashtra. This discovery is significant, considering that only five skink species were described from India in the last around 40 years, including just two from peninsular India!,” the Thackeray Research Foundation said.