One of the two newest additions to the fan-throated lizards, Sitana thondalu. ©V Deepak
Two new species of Indian lizard described by Museum scientist
New species of fan-throated lizard from India join a new genus described by a Museum scientist who was investigating how the Asian climate changed 18 million years ago.
About 50 million years ago, Asia's climate was transformed by landmasses colliding, the birth of the Himalaya mountain range and the planet cooling.
Over time, these large geological changes caused the heavy seasonal rainfall, known as monsoons, to develop in India. But as the monsoons
Deepak Veerappan, Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Museum, has been investigating the effect the development of this dynamic weather system might have had on the diversity of animals evolving at the time.
Deepak was at the Centre for Ecological Science in Bangalore, India, until 2016 investigating a group of reptiles known as
He says, 'I was surprised about the underestimated diversity of this group, and how researchers in the past had decided to classify the lizards as just a few species.'
The second new species, Sitana
The latest finds
A few years on from this startling discovery and Deepak has just published another paper in Zootaxa describing his seventh and eighth new species of
Both of the new species come from dry environments and - despite looking almost identical - are separated by over 500 kilometres. By testing their DNA, Deepak could confirm that they are separate species and are endemic (found nowhere else in the world).
What is most surprising is that the
'This landscape has been long underrated in terms of biodiversity and it's about time that it gets the due credit,' says Deepak. 'It is not just a barren and unproductive land.'
This region of India is traditionally thought of as having relatively low biodiversity. © V Deepak
Key players
These small, ground-living lizards might not look like much as they scamper across rocks and among vegetation, but they are vital to the challenging environments in which they live.
'They play a key role in the ecosystem as a potential predator. They are known to feed on insects and in certain seasons molluscs,' explains Deepak. 'On the other
As if describing a new genus and eight new species of lizard were not enough, Deepak plans on describing even more in the future, highlighting the impressive diversity in regions of India that often get overlooked.
Related information
- Read Deepak's earlier study describing an entirely new genus of fan-throated lizard
- Follow Deepak Veerappan on Twitter