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		<title>Mongabay India</title>
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		<link>https://india.mongabay.com/list/new-species/</link>
		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:36:47 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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					<title>Scientists identify new deep-sea shark species from India’s southwest coast</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-identify-new-deep-sea-shark-species-from-indias-southwest-coast/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-identify-new-deep-sea-shark-species-from-indias-southwest-coast/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2026 12:15:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ananya Singh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bycatch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deep seas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fisheries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shark]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trawling]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/04130134/A_drona_holotype_image_male-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39826</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Kerala]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coast, Conservation, Ecology, Fish, Fishing, New species, Oceans, Overfishing, Positive Environmental, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A deep-sea catshark caught off Kerala’s coast has now been identified as a new species, highlighting the need for better understanding of deep-sea biodiversity. In 2022, a team of scientists sifting through the bycatch of deep-sea shrimp trawlers came across a black, slender-bodied fish with an angular, pointed snout and striking white eyes. This fish [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A deep-sea catshark caught off Kerala’s coast has now been identified as a new species, highlighting the need for better understanding of deep-sea biodiversity. In 2022, a team of scientists sifting through the bycatch of deep-sea shrimp trawlers came across a black, slender-bodied fish with an angular, pointed snout and striking white eyes. This fish had been caught at a depth of 400-650 metres at Kollam slope, a continental slope in the southeastern Arabian Sea off Kerala’s coast, designated as an Important Shark and Ray Area. The team confirmed that it belonged to the genus Apristurus — a group of deepwater catsharks — and brought it back to the lab for further examination. Two years later, the researchers collected three additional specimens at Sakthikulangara Fisheries Harbour, Kollam, during monitoring surveys. Through morphological and molecular analyses of the four specimens, the team found that this species was distinct from others within the genus and described it as a new species of deepwater catshark (Apristurus drona) in their paper published earlier this year in Zootaxa. The objective of the study, part of a larger project under the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ Deep Ocean Mission, was to explore the diversity of deep-sea chondrichthyans which are cartilaginous fish such as sharks (Selachimorpha), rays and skates (Batoidea) and chimaeras (Holocephali) and resolve some of the taxonomic confusion around them. “From biodiversity inventory surveys, we have realised that our understanding of deep-sea biodiversity is limited,” said Bineesh K.K., the study’s corresponding author and a scientist at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-identify-new-deep-sea-shark-species-from-indias-southwest-coast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-identify-new-deep-sea-shark-species-from-indias-southwest-coast/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>A newly-described fish sheds light on a biodiversity blind spot</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-newly-described-fish-sheds-light-on-a-biodiversity-blind-spot/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-newly-described-fish-sheds-light-on-a-biodiversity-blind-spot/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 10:42:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monish Upadhyay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freshwater]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/31003452/Image-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39744</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Nagaland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Fish, Forests, Himalayas, New species, Rivers, Water, Water Pollution, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new catfish species, Pseudecheneis likimroensis, has been described from India&#8217;s north-eastern state of Nagaland. The species, named after the fast-flowing Likimro river, from which specimens have been collected so far, was described in the Journal of Ichthyology. The discovery took place unexpectedly when a research team was in the region to survey fish fauna [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new catfish species, Pseudecheneis likimroensis, has been described from India&#8217;s north-eastern state of Nagaland. The species, named after the fast-flowing Likimro river, from which specimens have been collected so far, was described in the Journal of Ichthyology. The discovery took place unexpectedly when a research team was in the region to survey fish fauna in Nagaland’s Kiphire district, said Limatemjen, co-author of the paper on the new species. Kiphire is a remote district, situated in the eastern part of the state and lies along the India-Myanmar border. “First we had to travel from Kohima to Kiphire, covering a distance of around 100 km. However, the journey takes much longer due to difficult road conditions,” Limatemjen, a professor of Zoology and Dean of Sciences at Kohima Science College, told Mongabay-India. After reaching Kiphire, the team took another four-hour journey to Likimro river where they walked yet another hour to reach the designated sampling site. Characteristic of mountain streams, the sampling site is torrential in nature and is surrounded by steep valleys. Around five specimens of Pseudecheneis likimroensis were collected by the team during the survey in October 2024. Although initially surprised by the unusual catch, found at an elevation of 446 m above sea level, it was only after bringing the specimens to the laboratory and running detailed examinations did the team realise they had an undescribed species at hand. A Pseudecheneis likimroensis specimen found in the fast flowing Likimro river in Nagaland in 2024. The species was described in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-newly-described-fish-sheds-light-on-a-biodiversity-blind-spot/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-newly-described-fish-sheds-light-on-a-biodiversity-blind-spot/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>New-to-science spider highlights importance of open natural ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-to-science-spider-highlights-importance-of-open-natural-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-to-science-spider-highlights-importance-of-open-natural-ecosystems/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2026 11:30:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ananya Singh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[arthropods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[desert]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spiders]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/28094856/0E3A1302-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39669</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deccan Plateau, Grasslands, New species, Positive Environmental, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[What began as a routine vegetation monitoring survey in Maharashtra&#8217;s semi-arid grasslands took an unexpected turn when researchers overturned a rock and stumbled upon a silk-lined burrow underneath. They recognised it as the burrow of a trapdoor spider — an ancient group of spiders, many species of which construct doors of silk and soil to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[What began as a routine vegetation monitoring survey in Maharashtra&#8217;s semi-arid grasslands took an unexpected turn when researchers overturned a rock and stumbled upon a silk-lined burrow underneath. They recognised it as the burrow of a trapdoor spider — an ancient group of spiders, many species of which construct doors of silk and soil to conceal their burrow openings and ambush passing prey. The team dug through the soil, following the burrow to its end where a female trapdoor spider of the genus Tigidia lay in a bulb-shaped chamber. A detailed examination of this specimen, collected in November 2025 near Nandeshwar Mahadev Temple in Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra, confirmed it as a new-to-science species. Researchers named it Tigidia singhal in their study published in the journal Arachnology, bringing the number of Tigidia species in India to eight. Until now, species of this genus were known from peninsular India’s tropical evergreen and deciduous forests, particularly the Western and Eastern Ghats. T. singhal is the first record of this genus from a semi-arid open natural ecosystem, significantly expanding its known range. “The species inhabits rocky hilltop grasslands of the Deccan Plateau, an ecosystem often overlooked despite supporting remarkable biodiversity,” wrote study authors Rishikesh Tripathi and Prasad Bolde in an email to Mongabay-India. “Finding a previously unknown trapdoor spider here highlights how little we still know about the biodiversity of these open natural ecosystems,” they added. A female of the newly described trapdoor spider, Tigidia singhal (left) and the silk-lined burrow (right) built by this&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-to-science-spider-highlights-importance-of-open-natural-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-to-science-spider-highlights-importance-of-open-natural-ecosystems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Researchers describe a new fanged frog species that builds mud nests on the forest floor</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/researchers-describe-a-new-fanged-frog-species-that-builds-mud-nests-on-the-forest-floor/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/researchers-describe-a-new-fanged-frog-species-that-builds-mud-nests-on-the-forest-floor/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2026 15:07:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ananya Singh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[frog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[namdapha]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/06/09141315/17473eff-f87c-46cc-a59b-a51c2b8ba454-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38578</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arunachal Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Biodiversity, Conservation, Forests, Frogs, New species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In April 2022, as pre-monsoon darkness descended over Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, a team of researchers winding their way along a forest trail heard an unusual call. “Quaaak&#8230;” To Abhijit Das, scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), it sounded like a frog calling from underground. He and his team began searching beneath [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In April 2022, as pre-monsoon darkness descended over Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, a team of researchers winding their way along a forest trail heard an unusual call. “Quaaak&#8230;” To Abhijit Das, scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), it sounded like a frog calling from underground. He and his team began searching beneath the thick layer of leaves covering the forest floor. “We are exactly on the call. But when we start moving the leaf litter, we don’t find it,” said Das. “The frog stops calling.” A year later, two of Das’ students, N.V. Rajiv and Sourav Dutta, lay on the ground deep within the rainforest, slowly picking up one leaf at a time as they followed the frog’s distinctive sound. Finally, they spotted the calling male hidden in a depression in the mud under leaf litter. The team would later describe this as a new species of fanged frog, Limnonectes motijheel, in their paper published in Zootaxa in April 2026. An adult male specimen of the newly-described species, Limnonectes motijheel, collected from Kamala Valley in Namdapha Tiger Reserve in May 2022. The males of this species are larger than the females and are named for the tooth-like projections on their lower jaw. Image by Abhijit Das. Detailed morphological and genetic analysis of specimens collected during surveys showed that this small, brown frog belongs to the Limnonectes genus, a group of fanged frogs whose males possess tooth-like projections on their lower jaw, giving them their name. “This is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/researchers-describe-a-new-fanged-frog-species-that-builds-mud-nests-on-the-forest-floor/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>New-to-science catfish sheds light on west-flowing rivers of the Western Ghats</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-to-science-catfish-sheds-light-on-west-flowing-rivers-of-the-western-ghats/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-to-science-catfish-sheds-light-on-west-flowing-rivers-of-the-western-ghats/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 May 2026 17:33:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lisann Dias]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aquatic life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bioindicators]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fishes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freshwater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[river]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/05/18113811/Amblyceps-vayavy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38217</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Ecology, Endemic species, Environment, Fish, New species, Rivers, Western Ghats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new species of freshwater catfish has been described from the northern Western Ghats in Maharashtra and Goa. The species, Amblyceps vayavy, was formally described in the journal Zootaxa and is likely endemic to west-flowing rivers of the northern Western Ghats. Amblyceps is a genus of freshwater catfish with 24 identified species found in moderate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new species of freshwater catfish has been described from the northern Western Ghats in Maharashtra and Goa. The species, Amblyceps vayavy, was formally described in the journal Zootaxa and is likely endemic to west-flowing rivers of the northern Western Ghats. Amblyceps is a genus of freshwater catfish with 24 identified species found in moderate to swift-flowing rivers in South and Southeast Asia. The only known congener, or closely related species, from the Western Ghats is A. accari, first described in 2016. The name vayavy (pronounced vah-yhav-yah) means ‘northwest’ in both Konkani and Marathi, derived from the species’ distribution in the northern Western Ghats. The first reports emerged in 2020, when a Mumbai-based citizen scientist, Neil Soares, found an Amblyceps specimen in the Kundalika River in Kolad, Maharashtra. It was previously unrecorded in the region, as the distribution of A. accari is restricted to the central Western Ghats. Balaji Vijaykrishnan, the lead author of the study and an independent researcher, said, “This genus was initially thought to be restricted to the northern parts of India. The discovery of A. accari in 2016 and A. crassioris in 2023 from the Western and Eastern Ghats, respectively, revealed that the genus is also present in both the south-western and eastern parts of the country. Amblyceps vayavy is the second species (of this genus) known from the Western Ghats.” Over five years, between 2020 and 2025, the team, which included Vijaykrishnan along with researchers Tejas Thackeray and Abhishek Shirke of the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-to-science-catfish-sheds-light-on-west-flowing-rivers-of-the-western-ghats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Scientists describe a new fishing spider species</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/scientists-describe-a-new-fishing-spider-species/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/scientists-describe-a-new-fishing-spider-species/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jan 2026 13:53:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rohini Karandikar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spiders]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/01/13112331/Adult-female-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=36445</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Kerala]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution, Forests, New species, Rainforests, Rivers, Water, Western Ghats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Arjun Cherukutty, a research intern, learned about fishing spiders — large, semi-aquatic arachnids — during a discussion with an expert. Cherukutty, who worked with entomologist Jithu Unni Krishnan at the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), saw these spiders, soon after, on a field trip to the evergreen rainforests of the Western Ghats near Wayanad, Kerala. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Arjun Cherukutty, a research intern, learned about fishing spiders — large, semi-aquatic arachnids — during a discussion with an expert. Cherukutty, who worked with entomologist Jithu Unni Krishnan at the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), saw these spiders, soon after, on a field trip to the evergreen rainforests of the Western Ghats near Wayanad, Kerala. At that time, the team did not have the permissions to collect specimens from the wild for research. But six months later the spiders were seen again in an ecotourism resort in Wayanad. At the resort, the general manager David Raju, a citizen scientist, naturalist, and author, helped the team collect specimens of the fishing spiders to study. While the spiders are solitary organisms, they were found in dozens near the stream. This could be because the fragmented habitat provided a microniche for all the spiders found in the region. It also indicates the effectiveness in conserving the ecotourism spot. Cherukutty collected the spiders from both sexes, and along with Krishnan, conducted a detailed study of the new species, which is now named Dolomedes indicus sp. nov. The spider had been observed in some parts of India previously; the present study marks the first formal taxonomic description from India. Adapted to fish and swim Fishing or raft spiders have stringent survival conditions. They are mostly found along pristine, slow-moving water streams, within a temperature range of 18-24℃. Unlike other spiders that weave a web, fishing spiders spin a single silk thread with which they keep&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/scientists-describe-a-new-fishing-spider-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>New species from the deep oceans and high mountains</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-species-from-the-deep-oceans-and-high-mountains/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-species-from-the-deep-oceans-and-high-mountains/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2025 09:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Team Mongabay-India]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/12/30010502/D.-strangulata-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=36290</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, New species, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2025 Mongabay-India reported about several new-to-science species. It takes several months or even years for researchers to confirm the new species description through morphological, DNA, taxonomic, environmental, phylogenetic assessments, and more. However, the stories we published this year about new species are small reminders that we have so much more to learn and understand [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2025 Mongabay-India reported about several new-to-science species. It takes several months or even years for researchers to confirm the new species description through morphological, DNA, taxonomic, environmental, phylogenetic assessments, and more. However, the stories we published this year about new species are small reminders that we have so much more to learn and understand about the biodiversity around us. Only by knowing more about them, can we learn how to protect and conserve them better. Here are some of the species that got the staff and our readers very curious about the creatures we live among! A fungus that can hold the weight of a person All fungi silently work to maintain our ecosystems. Without them our forests will be full of debris, logs and leaf litter left undecomposed. But we know so little about the fungal diversity in India. A recent discovery brings them to the spotlight as a ‘colossal’ new species has been described in Arunachal Pradesh. Arvind Parihar, a researcher with Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has been focusing on macro fungi for more than 15 years. When he and his team were exploring the forests in West Kameng district, they stumbled upon no less than 40 of the thick, leathery fruiting bodies of the new species (Bridgeoporus kanadii) growing on old growth Abies or fir trees. What makes the genus stand out is its sheer size – the smallest was nine centimetres in radius, and the largest grew wider than three metres. “It is so&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-species-from-the-deep-oceans-and-high-mountains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Scientists describe a new species of burrowing shieldtail snake</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-describe-a-new-species-of-burrowing-shieldtail-snake/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-describe-a-new-species-of-burrowing-shieldtail-snake/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2025 12:01:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vandana K.]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Snakes]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/12/09003606/Fig1_Rhinophis_siruvaniensis_1_Umesh_PK-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=35954</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Ecology, New species, Reptiles, Western Ghats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a monsoon day in 2015, as grey skies stretched overhead, tourist guide Basil P. Das and his father set out to tend to the plants in their coffee plantation in the village of Jellipara in Palakkad district in Kerala. As they began to till the soil in their three-and-a-half-acre farm, a small black and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a monsoon day in 2015, as grey skies stretched overhead, tourist guide Basil P. Das and his father set out to tend to the plants in their coffee plantation in the village of Jellipara in Palakkad district in Kerala. As they began to till the soil in their three-and-a-half-acre farm, a small black and cream-coloured snake wriggled loose from the earth. They had never seen it before. Das took a photo of the snake and sent it to his friend David V. Raju, a naturalist, who could not recognise the species. On Raju&#8217;s advice, Das handled the snake with a stick and put it in a flower pot with some soil. Over the next few days, he found a similar snake. The snake specimen was eventually handed over to Vivek Cyriac who runs the Shieldtail Mapping Project (SMP), a citizen science initiative to document shieldtail snakes. Now a decade later, it turns out that the Das family had found a new species of snake — Rhinophis siruvaniensis. &#8220;When I learnt it&#8217;s a new species, I was very happy because now I am a part of its history,” said Das. The description of R. siruvaniensis, a new species of shieldtail snake, was published in a research paper in the journal Evolutionary Systematics in October 2025, authored by scientists and researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Wayanad Wild, a rainforest lodge and non-profit Kalinga Foundation. This study is based on three specimens collected from the Siruvani Hills, located in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-describe-a-new-species-of-burrowing-shieldtail-snake/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Researchers identify four species of sea butterflies new to India</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/researchers-identify-four-species-of-sea-butterflies-new-to-india/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/researchers-identify-four-species-of-sea-butterflies-new-to-india/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Nov 2025 10:15:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vandana K.]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marine ecosystem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marine wildlife]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/11/26224244/collage-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=35788</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Coast, Conservation, Islands, New species, Oceans, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the fall of 2019, Kiran Shah was sorting through small bottles containing sand and rocks, which had been gathering dust for years in a lab located on a hilltop in Port Blair. These bottles with samples were collected by marine scientists in 2011. During this sorting exercise, Shah stumbled upon tiny brown shells, smooth [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the fall of 2019, Kiran Shah was sorting through small bottles containing sand and rocks, which had been gathering dust for years in a lab located on a hilltop in Port Blair. These bottles with samples were collected by marine scientists in 2011. During this sorting exercise, Shah stumbled upon tiny brown shells, smooth as glass, their size as small as the seeds of a guava, hidden in the sediment. Little did she know that she was about to find pteropods new to India. Pteropods are molluscs – invertebrates that do not have a backbone. There are two types of pteropods: sea angels (without shells) and sea butterflies (with shells). Shah’s description of four species of sea butterflies – Diacavolinia pteropods (D. deshayesi, D. grayi, D. mcgowani, and D. strangulata) discovered in Indian waters for the first time – was recently published in the journal Zoologischer Anzeiger. These species have been previously reported only from the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, and Banda Seas. Pteropods play a crucial role in the marine food web and carbon cycling, apart from being indicators of ocean acidification. This discovery increases India&#8217;s pteropod species count from 22 to 26 and comes at a critical time when pteropod populations are showing signs of decline globally because of warming oceans. “The availability of pteropods signifies that the region of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has a healthy ecosystem,” said Shah, a marine biologist. The research was the subject of her PhD dissertation at Pondicherry University, supervised by P.M.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/researchers-identify-four-species-of-sea-butterflies-new-to-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Scientists correct a century-old misidentified scorpion and describe a new species</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-correct-a-century-old-misidentified-scorpion-and-describe-a-new-species/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-correct-a-century-old-misidentified-scorpion-and-describe-a-new-species/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2025 12:28:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vandana K.]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[arachnids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scorpions]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/11/17105040/live-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=35589</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Tamil Nadu]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Endangered species, Environment, Evolution, and New species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 1915, when India was under British colonial rule, English arachnologist Stanley Hirst described a new scorpion species from Coimbatore — Charmus indicus. It was based on a single immature specimen he had found. The yellowing pages of a report by the British Museum in 1916 also include a notable mention of this species under [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 1915, when India was under British colonial rule, English arachnologist Stanley Hirst described a new scorpion species from Coimbatore — Charmus indicus. It was based on a single immature specimen he had found. The yellowing pages of a report by the British Museum in 1916 also include a notable mention of this species under the section Arachnida, which was presented to the museum, alongside parasitic mites from Calcutta and Colombo. For over a century, scientists assumed C. indicus is widespread across peninsular India, said Shauri Sulakhe, a naturalist who heads the Scorpion Systematics Laboratory (SSL) at InSearch Environmental Society in Pune. But through fieldwork and DNA analysis, Indian researchers have now revealed that C. indicus was a case of mistaken identity — it is actually the same species as Charmus laneus, first described from Sri Lanka in 1879 by German arachnologist Ferdinand Karsch. The researchers were able to establish this based on the lack of physical differences in the appearances and low genetic divergence between the two species. This finding is part of a research paper published in the journal Diversity in May 2025. The researchers include Shauri Sulakhe, Deshabushan Bastawade, a senior retired scientist from Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Shubhankar Deshpande and eight others. The research was a result of collaboration between SSL, the Natural History Museum of Geneva in Switzerland and Charles University in the Czech Republic. Both India and Sri Lanka are major biodiversity hotspots but many of their endemic species are poorly studied. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-correct-a-century-old-misidentified-scorpion-and-describe-a-new-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>A new fungi species that’s larger than life</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/09/a-new-fungi-species-thats-larger-than-life/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/09/a-new-fungi-species-thats-larger-than-life/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2025 13:07:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Divya Kilikar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fungi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wild mushrooms]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/09/20230029/Image-__3_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=34710</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arunachal Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Forests, Himalayas, New species, Plants, Rainforests, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“They do strange things to time, because it is not easy to say where a fungus ends or begins, when it is born or when it dies,” wrote Robert Macfarlane in Underland. The rule-defying, yet understated kingdom of fungi has captivated scientists and writers globally in various landscapes, yielding impressive learnings. For example, the mutualistic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“They do strange things to time, because it is not easy to say where a fungus ends or begins, when it is born or when it dies,” wrote Robert Macfarlane in Underland. The rule-defying, yet understated kingdom of fungi has captivated scientists and writers globally in various landscapes, yielding impressive learnings. For example, the mutualistic relationship between fungi and plants is one that has been cultivated over millions of years. Fungi extract carbon stored in trees, and in return provide rich nutrients like nitrogen to the trees. Fungal networks in the soil act like a reliable public transport system for messages between trees. A dying tree may direct its remaining nutrients to others through fungi. A pest-ridden tree may send warnings to trees in the vicinity to shield themselves. While our understanding of fungal diversity in India remains under-studied, a recent discovery brings them to the spotlight as a ‘colossal’ new species has been described in Arunachal Pradesh. A fungus with a taste for timber Bridgeoporus was a previously monotypic genus, with only one species – Bridgeoporus nobilissimus – belonging to the genus for decades until B. sinensis was collected in China. “Taxonomy is an ever-evolving field, with scientists reclassifying species over time at their discretion. B. sinensis was eventually moved to another genus, Oxyporus. This made our finding in Arunachal the second species known in the genus – Bridgeoporus kanadii,” said Arvind Parihar, lead author of the study and a researcher with Botanical Survey of India (BSI) who has&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/09/a-new-fungi-species-thats-larger-than-life/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Retracing the route of a century-old biodiversity expedition</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/04/retracing-the-route-of-a-century-old-biodiversity-expedition/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/04/retracing-the-route-of-a-century-old-biodiversity-expedition/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2025 15:59:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[butterflies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/04/03112731/DSC00215-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=32050</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species and Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arunachal Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Birds, Himalayas, Insects, Mountains, New species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On July 16, 1912, the British Army published a notification announcing the success of its expedition into the heart of present-day Arunachal Pradesh. The upper reaches of the region had been a fortress for colonial forces until then, and the completion of the exercise was announced with much celebration. “Although it proved impossible to explore [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On July 16, 1912, the British Army published a notification announcing the success of its expedition into the heart of present-day Arunachal Pradesh. The upper reaches of the region had been a fortress for colonial forces until then, and the completion of the exercise was announced with much celebration. “Although it proved impossible to explore the valley of the Dihang (present-day Siang Valley), where it breaks through the main mountain range on the confines of Thibet… in spite of great physical difficulties the main objects of the expedition have been accomplished,” the notification reads. The expedition was a punitive mission prompted by the murder of a British officer, Noel Williamson, by the tribes living in the Siang valley, referred to as the “Abors” (translating to “unruly”). Williamson arrived in the village of Komsing expecting a night’s stay but was killed for humiliating the village head on another occasion. To avenge Williamson’s death, British forces decided to invade the valley with two objectives in mind: to gather as much information about the region as possible, and to “punish” those culpable in his murder. An almost-forgotten legacy of this brutal mission was an unusual catalogue of animals, plants, insects, and birds found in the valley. Little was known about the catalogue, which surfaced decades later while filmmaker Sandesh Kadur was researching for his book, Himalaya: Mountains of Life. “I found that many species were named and discovered around 1911 and 1913, and I thought, what was going on a hundred years ago?”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/04/retracing-the-route-of-a-century-old-biodiversity-expedition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>New tarantulas described from the Western Ghats</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/new-tarantulas-described-from-the-western-ghats/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/new-tarantulas-described-from-the-western-ghats/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jan 2025 12:34:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spiders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tarantula]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Western Ghats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife trade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife trafficking]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/01/08113355/Screenshot-2024-12-31-at-8-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=30992</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, New species, Pet Trade, Research, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A researcher described four new species of tarantulas, including one new genus, from India’s Western Ghats, a chain of mountains running along the country’s west coast. “Most people in India are not even aware that there are tarantulas in India when there are more than 60 species in the country,” Zeeshan Mirza, from the Max [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A researcher described four new species of tarantulas, including one new genus, from India’s Western Ghats, a chain of mountains running along the country’s west coast. “Most people in India are not even aware that there are tarantulas in India when there are more than 60 species in the country,” Zeeshan Mirza, from the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Germany, who found and described the species, told Mongabay. Zeeshan Mirza with one of the new tarantula species from the Western Ghats. Mirza has discovered several species of reptiles in India as well. Image courtesy of Zeeshan Mirza. The large, fuzzy spiders live in tree hollows, along streams and forest paths, and in forest patches. They exhibit interesting behaviours, such as females carrying their egg sacs under their mouth parts (or chelicerae) or creating hammock-like web structures to protect their eggs. One of the new species, named Haploclastus bratocolonus (meaning “tree dweller”), makes its home in hollow trees along rivers. Another species, Haploclastus montanus, was found living at elevations higher than 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) in mountain forests, making it one of the highest-living tarantulas known from the region. Some of the new species were found in the rare small fragments of remaining shola forest surrounded by tea plantations. Among the species was an entirely new genus of tarantulas called Cilantica, named after the Tamil word for spider. They can be identified by the unique scattered pattern of curved bristles on their bodies, unlike the C-shaped arrangement of bristles found in other tarantulas. A female&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/new-tarantulas-described-from-the-western-ghats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Meet DiCaprio&#8217;s Himalayan serpent</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/an-instagram-photo-led-researchers-to-a-snake-discovery/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/an-instagram-photo-led-researchers-to-a-snake-discovery/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jan 2025 16:04:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Neha Jain]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[endemic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[endemic species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Himalayas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reptiles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Snakes]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/01/03113148/Banner-Image-of-the-new-snake-species-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=30925</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himachal Pradesh and Himalayas]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Endemic species, New species, Reptiles, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In June 2020, during the pandemic, Virender Bhardwaj, currently a doctoral student at Mizoram University, was exploring his backyard at his home in Himachal Pradesh in the western Himalayas, when he encountered an intriguing snake. He uploaded its photos on the social media app Instagram, and the images popped up on the feed of his [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In June 2020, during the pandemic, Virender Bhardwaj, currently a doctoral student at Mizoram University, was exploring his backyard at his home in Himachal Pradesh in the western Himalayas, when he encountered an intriguing snake. He uploaded its photos on the social media app Instagram, and the images popped up on the feed of his colleague, Zeeshan Mirza. This led to three years of detailed investigations to identify the snake. The team recently published a paper revealing the discovery of an entirely new snake genus and species. The snake resembled Liopeltis rappii, a species known to be distributed in the eastern Himalayas. However, the researchers noted that the population from Himachal Pradesh differed from the true Liopeltis rappii found in Sikkim with differences observed in the scales on the head and general colouration. The team confirmed this after examining specimens from natural history museums across Europe, the USA and India. After comparing the DNA sequences generated from this snake with those of known species from across Asia, the researchers concluded that the snake from Himachal Pradesh is related to Liopeltis rappii but differs in several aspects to be called a new species. Both species belong to a new genus, Anguiculus, endemic to the Himalayas. Anguiculus refers to a ‘small snake’ in Latin. In honour of American actor and environmentalist, Leonardo DiCaprio’s work in creating awareness about increased biodiversity loss and climate change, the team named the snake Anguiculus dicaprioi with the suggested common name, ‘DiCaprio’s Himalayan snake’. Compared to other members of its family,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/an-instagram-photo-led-researchers-to-a-snake-discovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Science welcomed multiple new species in 2024</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/12/science-welcomed-multiple-new-species-in-2024/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/12/science-welcomed-multiple-new-species-in-2024/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2024 09:30:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[discovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Northeast India]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Western Ghats]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2023/12/31135316/Egg-bound-female-listening-to-the-calling-males-of-Gracixalus-patkaiensis-scaled-e1734956225922-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=30830</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[New species, Research, and Western Ghats]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Among the many biodiversity rich regions in India, the northeast India and the Western Ghats stand out as hotspots with many endemic species. It is no surprise then that many species that are new to science discovered recently occur in these regions. Mongabay India has consistently informed our readers about these fascinating discoveries. In 2024 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Among the many biodiversity rich regions in India, the northeast India and the Western Ghats stand out as hotspots with many endemic species. It is no surprise then that many species that are new to science discovered recently occur in these regions. Mongabay India has consistently informed our readers about these fascinating discoveries. In 2024 too, multiple species were newly described, most of them reptiles, amphibians or insects. Here are some of the species that got us curious and potentially redefined the course of science too. Not one, but four King cobra was long believed to be a single species — Ophiophagus hannah. The longest venomous snake in the world is not considered to have much conservation significance and is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of threatened taxa. That is about to change as a global study led by the Western Ghats-based scientist P. Gowri Shankar has questioned the belief through a new discovery that King Cobra is not one species, but four distinct species separated by geographies. Among the four, two species are severely threatened, including the Western Ghats species, now named Ophiophagus kaalinga. Ophiphagus kaalinga in Agumbe, Karnataka. The latest study findings that king cobra is not one, but four distinct species have implications on both conservation and antivenom research. Image by P. Gowri Shankar. This study is significant for many reasons: there is finally closure to over a century-old confusion around the taxonomy of the king cobra. This could also propel the antivenom research&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2024/12/science-welcomed-multiple-new-species-in-2024/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>New king cobra study makes hisss…tory</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/new-king-cobra-study-makes-hissstory/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/new-king-cobra-study-makes-hissstory/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Nov 2024 13:13:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[habitat loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[king cobra]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Snakes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[study]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2024/11/15155721/Ophiophagus-hannah_-from-Thailand_Photo-by-P.-Gowri-Shankar-1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=30307</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Endangered species, Habitat Loss, New species, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study has revealed that the world’s longest venomous snake, the king cobra, is not a single species, as previously thought, but rather four genetically distinct species. Led by wildlife biologist P. Gowri Shankar, the research involved collaboration between scientists from the U.K., Sweden, Malaysia, and India. The study challenges the long-held belief that, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study has revealed that the world’s longest venomous snake, the king cobra, is not a single species, as previously thought, but rather four genetically distinct species. Led by wildlife biologist P. Gowri Shankar, the research involved collaboration between scientists from the U.K., Sweden, Malaysia, and India. The study challenges the long-held belief that, despite visual differences in king cobras across their wide geographic range, they all belong to the same species, Ophiophagus hannah. King cobra was first described by Danish researcher Theodore Edward Cantor, in 1836 as Hamadryas hannah. In the following year, another species from Southeast Asia’s Sunda region, was proposed by Hermann Schlegel as Naja bungarus which was later renamed after validation in 2024 as Ophiophagus bungarus. From 1836, till as late as 1961, many scientists tried unsuccessfully to classify king cobra. Following confusion regarding the species distinction, it was later decided, in 1945, that the king cobra was a monotypic species (with no sub-species), and was named Ophiophagus hannah, explains Gowri Shankar. Now, after 185 years of uncertainty around its taxonomy, the new study finds both genetic and morphological evidence to prove there is not one, but four distinct species of king cobras, two of which have been named for the first time by the team. The king cobra is widely distributed across the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia, spanning from India to the Philippines. The four species are: O. hannah (Northern king cobra), O. bungarus (Sunda king cobra), O. kaalinga (Western Ghats&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/new-king-cobra-study-makes-hissstory/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>[Explainer] How are species named?</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/06/explainer-how-are-species-named/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/06/explainer-how-are-species-named/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jun 2024 14:20:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anusha Krishnan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taxonomy]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2024/06/04140759/night-frog-733x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=28032</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species and Environment Explained]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Endemic species, New species, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The science of biology would be nothing without names. One of the first steps in studies involving living organisms is taxonomy – the process of discovering an organism&#8217;s scientific name or naming it, if it is newly discovered. Without taxonomy, every subfield of biology would descend into chaos. Although several systems of taxonomy have been [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The science of biology would be nothing without names. One of the first steps in studies involving living organisms is taxonomy – the process of discovering an organism&#8217;s scientific name or naming it, if it is newly discovered. Without taxonomy, every subfield of biology would descend into chaos. Although several systems of taxonomy have been created and modified, the one that persists today, over 200 years after it was first developed, is Linnaeus&#8217; binomial system of nomenclature, developed by Carl Linnaeus, famous for his work in taxonomy or the science of identifying, naming and classifying organisms. This system standardises the naming of species to classify them according to their characteristics and relationships with each other and is the cornerstone of taxonomy. What is the binomial system of nomenclature? The binomial system of nomenclature is where names assigned to organisms use a combination of two Latin words – one denoting the genus and the other for the species, similar to the usage of a name and a surname to identify a person. In biological classification, genus refers to a group of organisms with similar characteristics which is composed of species, that refers to similar individuals that are capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. “Taxonomy is critically important in helping [to] understand and conserve biodiversity. I like to think Linnaeus faced the first bioinformatics crisis: the problem of organising information about the increasing number of species that were being discovered in the eighteenth century, and he developed solutions using the best&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2024/06/explainer-how-are-species-named/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>With a new discovery, lizard studies get an edge</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/04/with-a-new-discovery-lizard-studies-gain-an-edge/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/04/with-a-new-discovery-lizard-studies-gain-an-edge/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Apr 2024 11:37:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[discovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kangaroo lizard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lizard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New species]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2024/04/04161934/DSC_2525-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=27213</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species and Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community based conservation, Conservation, Endemic species, New species, and Western Ghats]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a stroke of serendipity, a team of researchers stumbled upon a new-to-science species of lizard while conducting a survey of the landscape for the habitat of another new discovery, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, commonly known as the purple frog or the Mahabali frog. The frog which lives underground emerges only once annually. The diminutive lizard that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a stroke of serendipity, a team of researchers stumbled upon a new-to-science species of lizard while conducting a survey of the landscape for the habitat of another new discovery, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, commonly known as the purple frog or the Mahabali frog. The frog which lives underground emerges only once annually. The diminutive lizard that the researchers spotted measures approximately 3 to 4.5 cm from head to tail. It was crawling along the roadside near a stream in the Kulamavu area of Idukki district in 2014-2015. Agasthyagama edge is the new species of lizard in the genus Agasthyagama that was spotted in Kerala a decade ago. Photo by Sandeep Das. This new lizard species has been named Agasthyagama edge in honour of the Edge of Existence programme by the Zoological Society of London dedicated to conserving species that are evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered (EDGE) across various regions of the world. Furthermore, it provides support to conservation research projects led by early-career researchers in countries such as India through their Edge Fellowship programme, which benefited two members in this research group &#8212; Sandeep Das and Rajkumar K.P. A chance encounter Sandeep Das from the Department of Zoology, University of Calicut, recalls that initially, the team didn&#8217;t pay much attention to the lizard because it resembled Agasthyagama beddomii, also known as the northern kangaroo lizard, found in the Agasthyamalai range. “We recorded it but then forgot about it,” he says. It wasn&#8217;t until they decided to share the photos with their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2024/04/with-a-new-discovery-lizard-studies-gain-an-edge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Scientists leap beyond Latin to give local flair to species names</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/03/scientists-leap-beyond-latin-to-give-local-flair-to-species-names/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/03/scientists-leap-beyond-latin-to-give-local-flair-to-species-names/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Mar 2024 10:38:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laasya Shekhar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taxonomy]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2024/03/06110728/Striped-with-Azure_-Elegant-Female-Cloudforest-Silverline-Butterfly.-Pic_-Ramasamy-SRK-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=26807</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species and Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[New species and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A decade ago, scientist Gururaja K.V., who has discovered 23 species of frog from the Western Ghats, and his team unearthed a frog species in the ancient swamp forest of Kathalekan in Karnataka. Departing from the customary practice within the scientific community to name a species in Latin, they christened it Kumbara night frog (Nyctibatrachus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A decade ago, scientist Gururaja K.V., who has discovered 23 species of frog from the Western Ghats, and his team unearthed a frog species in the ancient swamp forest of Kathalekan in Karnataka. Departing from the customary practice within the scientific community to name a species in Latin, they christened it Kumbara night frog (Nyctibatrachus kumbara). Kumbara is the Kannada term for potter. The frog got its name due to its distinctive breeding pattern wherein the male frog covers the eggs with mud to shield them from predators. Following courtship, the male and female frog assume an upright stance, with the female commencing a handstand with the male astride her back. She deposits six to eight eggs on a twig before withdrawing. &#8220;The eggs are pigmented and susceptible to predation by crabs. The male frog adeptly encases them in mud from the stream, rendering the clutch indistinguishable from the surrounding muddy detritus,&#8221; Gururaja elucidates in his field notes. Kumbara night frog discovered from the ancient swamp forest of Kathalekan in Karnataka. In a departure from the conventional practice of giving Latin names to species, Indian scientists are naming new species after locations they are found, in a bid to augment community participation in conservation. Photo by Gururaja K.V. Later in 2016, Gururaja’s team discovered another species from the coastal plains of Kumta, Karnataka. They christened the frog whose call bore resemblance to that of a white-throated kingfisher, Karaavali skittering frog (Euphlyctis karaavali), in honour of Karaavali, the coastal region of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2024/03/scientists-leap-beyond-latin-to-give-local-flair-to-species-names/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Newly identified shorebird species in Sri Lanka named after Hanuman</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/01/newly-identified-shorebird-species-in-sri-lanka-named-after-hanuman/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/01/newly-identified-shorebird-species-in-sri-lanka-named-after-hanuman/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jan 2024 13:52:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Island]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2024/01/31114157/5.-Male-Hanuman-Plover-in-Vankalei-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=26273</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Coast, and New species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The mighty ape god Hanuman marshalled an army to build a bridge linking northern Sri Lanka’s Mannar region with Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram, according to the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana. Centuries later, a small bird species, new to science, which lives and was found in the vicinity of the mythical bridge is named as the Hanuman [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The mighty ape god Hanuman marshalled an army to build a bridge linking northern Sri Lanka’s Mannar region with Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram, according to the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana. Centuries later, a small bird species, new to science, which lives and was found in the vicinity of the mythical bridge is named as the Hanuman plover. It’s the first specimen to help distinguish the plover from other shorebirds. “We selected Hanuman plover as the bird’s common name to celebrate the mythology linked to the native land of this plover,” says Sampath Seneviratne, a professor in zoology attached to the University of Colombo who conceptualised the study. The bird is scientifically categorised as Charadrius seebohmi honouring Henry Seebohm, the British ornithologist who, as far back as 1887, first suggested the Sri Lankan breeding population could be a possible distinct species, Seneviratne told Mongabay. The Hanuman plover was initially thought to be a subspecies of the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus), hence scientifically categorised as Charadrius alexandrinus seebohmi, in 1848. The Kentish plover is a common shorebird found in Eurasia and North Africa, and those that breed north of 40° latitude are the winter migrants. Kentish plovers migrate to Sri Lanka in large numbers and fly back to breeding grounds after the migratory season — except one population that chooses to remain in the Indian Ocean island throughout the year. Some migratory birds, known as the “loiterers,” do not go back for a season or two, but this Sri Lankan and South Indian&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2024/01/newly-identified-shorebird-species-in-sri-lanka-named-after-hanuman/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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