YELLAPUR (UTTARA KANNADA): A new species of crab, ‘Dwivarna’, has been discovered in Uttara Kannada district and it is endemic to Yellapur. Coincidentally, the scientific acceptance of Dwivarna, the 75th crab species in the country, came on August 15, the day the country celebrated 75 years of Independence.
Gopal Krishna Hegde, a wildlife enthusiast and photographer from a tiny village near Yellapur, and Forest Guard Parashuram Bhajantri, based in Kadra, did not know what they had discovered when they bumped into a freshwater crab with unique, attractive colours in the forests of Bhare.
A year after the discovery, the dual-toned crab, with white head and purple body, has been named Ghatiana Dwivarna (dichromatic). According to local experts, the crab lives in the rocky crust of Western Ghats amid water bodies. “It is one of the unique crabs,” Hegde told TNIE, while the Geological Survey of India too confirmed it as a unique species. Hegde and Bhajantri have been conferred with the title ‘Citizen Scientists.’
Dwivarna, which is around 3 inches long and 2 inches wide, is not edible and thrives on moss and lichens. Hegde and Bhajantri said they saw the crab for the first time on June 30, 2021. “ We were surprised as we had never seen such a colourful crab before. We thought it was interesting and immediately took a few photographs and videos. When we started looking, we did not find anything similar on Google or any books,” said Hegde.
The two then started thinking that this could be a new crab species. “We wanted confirmation and contacted Dr Varadagiri, a senior scientist who heads the Reliance Foundation and had earlier worked with the Bombay Natural History Society. He said this might be a new species and asked us to contact Tejas Thakre of Thakre Foundation and Sameer Kumar Pathi of Zoological Survey of India -- a scientist specialising on crabs. Pathi was surprised and personally came down to Yellapur to confirm the finding. He found it and established the finding. He wrote a scientific paper and got it published with our names mentioned as the ones who discovered it,” Hegde said.