The new species, Cnemasspis kolhapurensis is endemic to parts of India’s Western Ghats.
July 25, 2009
The new species, Cnemasspis kolhapurensis is endemic to parts of India’s Western Ghats.
One of the people assisting taxonomist Varad Giri (pictured above) in confirming this find was Aaron M. Bauer, discoverer of the giant gecko and a former board member of the now-defunct International Society of Cryptozoology (shown below).
Aaron M. Bauer, Ph.D. is a professor of biology and director of the graduate programs in biology at Villanova University.
Here are the highlights from the BBC News:
Scientists have discovered a new species of lizard in the lush Western Ghats mountain range in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
The small reptile is a form of gecko and was found by taxonomist Varad Giri in the Kolhapur district. It has been named Cnemasspis kolhapurensis.
Mr Giri and his co-workers published their findings in this month’s edition of the Zootaxa journal.
It is the third new species of lizard recently discovered in the area.
Mr Giri, a curator at the Bombay Natural History Society, told the BBC that the Western Ghats has never been surveyed for amphibians and reptiles.
“A gecko of this particular character has not been recognised elsewhere in the world,” he said.
…
Iridescence is commonly reported in a variety of reptiles – but not geckos.
Once Mr Giri and his co-workers had analysed the specimen, they realised it was a previously unknown species.
They then enlisted the help of Dr Aaron M. Bauer*, an expert on lizards based at Villanova University in the US, to confirm the discovery.
Cnemasspis kolhapurensis are mostly small in size and have a circular, rather than elliptical, pupil. They are generally found in forests although some have also been found in areas inhabited by humans.
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The Western Ghats mountain range is said to be one of the world’s “biodiversity hotspots”.
But analysts say that the area is at risk of a biodiversity crisis, because it has long been under threat from logging and human encroachment.
…
Other new species of lizard previously discovered in the area were Hemidactlyus sataraensis and Hemidactylus aaronbaueri.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Filed under Breaking News, CryptoZoo News, New Species