THOOTHUKUDI: The discoveries of two gecko species — Cnemaspis triedra from Alagarkovil in Madurai and one Cnemaspis sundara from Mekkarai Hills in Tenkasi — have been documented in the ‘Animal Discoveries 2023 - New Species and New Records’, jointly released by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Two siblings from Nagalapuram in Thoothukudi are part of the research group behind the discoveries. Ahamad Jerith (26), who has completed MSc (Wildlife Biology), and his brother Ahamad Fazil (21), who is pursuing MSc Zoology, said that while Cnemaspis triedra collected from Alagarkovil in Madurai was called ‘Painted Dwarf Gecko’, the Cnemaspis sundara will be called ‘Sundar Dwarf Gecko’.
These species were first exposed in a research article titled ‘Two new species of Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from southern India’ in a reputed journal Zootaxa.