India’s new species of ground dwelling lizard!
Q. What is the name of the ground dwelling lizard discovered in Aarey Colony and Badlapur in Maharashtra?- Published on 28 Sep 16a. Cyrtodactylus Varadgirii
b. Giri's Geckoella
c. Both of the above
d. Neither of the above
ANSWER: Both of the above
A novel species of a ground-dwelling lizard has been discovered in Goregaon's Aarey Colony and Thane's Badlapur forested belts.
- The species has been named after a Bengaluru-based scientist Varad Giri and is found in Sanjay Gandhi National Park in north Mumbai, the Aarey Colony, a few localities in Nanded, Chandrapur and Amaravati districts and a few localities in Gujarat.
- Species was discovered 130 years after the last such gecko was found
- The species, of the genus Cyrtodactylus known in Southeast Asia, India and Sri Lanka, is a member of the subgenus Geckoella.
- Earlier, this new species was considered as Geckoella Collegalensis. However, based on morphological characters and DNA data, it has been described as a new species.
- This uncommon species is mostly seen moving among the leaf litter on the forest floor.
- Active during the night, they take refuge during the day under rocks and logs and grow to the length of 6 cm
- The new species are a widely distributed species in India- they live in human dominated landscapes
