New species of bent-toed gecko learned from Agasthyamalai hills | Life style News

Scientists have learned a new species of bent-toed gecko Cyrtodactylus aravindi from the Agasthyamalai hills in Western Ghats. Bent-toed geckos are located throughout south and southeast Asia with 330 species and about 42 species are regarded from India. Formerly, only three species of Bent-toed gecko are identified from Tamil Nadu and this new addition tends to make it the fourth species. The new species is described based on its distinctness in the morphological and molecular DNA information. Morphologically, centered on the colour pattern, Aravind’s bent-toed gecko is extra similar to a gecko that is acknowledged only from Sri Lanka Cyrtodactylus yakhuna but from which the new species has a considerable variation in the genetic info.

The new species is named following Indian malacologist Dr N. A. Aravind from ATREE, Bengaluru and the frequent identify is proposed as Aravind’s floor gecko. He is doing work on the systematics and evolution of Indian snails for in excess of two decades.