Three new leafhopper species described in India
During the monsoon season of 2011, H.M. Yeshwanth, a doctoral student studying insects, browsed the bushes of the thorny Acacia catechu plant in Hesaraghatta near Bengaluru, Karnataka and came across…
Editor’s review of 2020: Virus, controversies, wildlife, transitions and wetlands
The first case of COVID-19 infection was officially reported in India in January 2020 from Thrissur in Kerala. In December 2020, a 90-year-old Britisher became the world’s first person to…
Mysterious new bioluminescent mushroom glows in the forests of Meghalaya
During the monsoon season, a team of scientists from India and China embarked on a fungal foray in Assam. Over the course of two weeks, they were amazed by the…
New Aloe species discovered from a desert in northwestern India
Botanists have described a new Aloe species from the desert of India’s northwestern state of Rajasthan. The species, Aloe trinervis, is based on a distinct observation: the leaf-like structures beneath…
A brand new family of bony fishes from south India
With its long, scaly body and delicate, veil-like fins, the Gollum snakehead captured quite some attention when discovered last year in south India. Now, scientists have found that it is…
A new species of blind, underground ant from Goa
A new species of ant has emerged from the leaf litter at Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa. This underground-dwelling species turned up as part of a statewide survey of ants…
Discoveries and rediscoveries: Stoneflowers in northeast India
To anyone else, the dried herb pressed neatly into crisp white paper would have been just another herbarium specimen. But for scientists at the Indian Institute for Science Education and…
A new species of wood snake emerges in the Western Ghats, mottled in grey-brown
The sun beat down mercilessly. Being in the vicinity of south India's highest peak, in one of the coldest months – December – made no difference. After a tiring morning…
A new addition to the Walkerana genus
A newly discovered species of frog, endemic to the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats, is the first new addition to the genus Walkerana in more than a century. There are three previously…
New species remain hidden in the myristica swamps of the Western Ghats
It was a bright afternoon after two days of heavy rain in Kerala and Professor P. Manimohan’s two Ph.D. students K. P. Deepna Latha and K. N. Anil Raj were…
