A group of researchers has discovered a new species of bent-toed gecko from Agasthyamalai hills in the Western Ghats. The species has been given the common name Aravind’s ground gecko after noted malacologist N.A. Aravind.
The new species, which has been given the scientific name Cyrtodactylus aravindi, has been described based on its distinctness in the morphological and molecular DNA data, according to a communication from the researchers.
The research team led by Surya Narayanan had Sandeep Das, Nithin Divakar, K.P. Rajkumar, Roshin Tom, Hopeland, Amirtha Balan, and V. Deepak as its members.
Aravind’s ground gecko has so far been found only at two locations, Muppanddal and Thuckalay, in Kanyakumari district falling within the Agasthyamalai biosphere reserve in Tamil Nadu. The details of the new species were described in the journal, Vertebrate Zoology.
