Nothing New

New species of lizard found in Kolhapur—News headlines from TOI

Navi Mumbai: A team of scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in association with the Villanova University, US, recently discovered a new species of lizard in Kolhapur district.

The new species, belonging to the genus Cnemaspis, has been named as Cnemaspis kolhapurensis after the place it was first spotted by BNHS scientists Varad B Giri and research fellow Kshma Gaikwad. They were assisited by Aaron M Bauer of Villanova University.

“The new species is ground-dwelling and can be found among dead leaves or under rocks. Its unique feature is the presence of shiny scales on the body,” Giri a curator with BNHS, said. During this survey, he was accompanied by the members of Greenguards, an NGO in Kolhapur.
Initially the lizard seemed like the common gecko found in that region, but close observations revealed iridescent sheen on its tail dorsum. Iridescence is found in a variety of burrowing reptiles like some snakes and skinks. However, this feature has not been previously reported in geckos. Apart from this, there were other taxonomic characters which were not found in other Indian species in this genus of lizards. The group’s research findings were recently published in the science journal, Zootaxa.
According to the recent findings, this species has been founding only one locality, which is close to human habitation. This and other species discovered earlier proves that the Western Ghats in Maharashtra have a diversity of amphibians and reptiles—I copied this report from the TOI--July-24-2009.

Why do they call it a new species of lizard? It is nothing new to me or in villages. It may be new for Mumbaikars. In this concrete jungle one can see only concrete buildings. From their description I guess it is a common ground lizard which I always see in our building compound. I used to see it crawling in the garden near the window of our flat. Now it is not seen because the building compound is laid with tiles. It would even climb on the window-grill. And it always crawls around our house in the village. In our village, they say it is highly poisonous and if bitten, instant death is possible.

PS: Sorry, I couldn’t get its picture.

This creature came again. I thought it has gone for ever. I spotted one lizard on the window-sill on 10th September mid-morning. It will not come into extinction when soil and greenery around there.