Tejas Thackeray, younger son of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and his team have discovered a new lizard species from Sakleshwar in central-western ghats of neighbouring Karnataka.
As per a statement issued here, the large-bodied cnemaspis (a genus of diurnal geckos) they have discovered is a 'dwarf gecko', adding the new species is alliedto cnemaspis heteropholis bauer and differs in bodysize.
Akshay Khandekar, lead author of a paper prepared by the four member team, said the new gecko species was discovered from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot.
The paper was published in renowned peer-reviewed international scientific journal Zootaxa, he said.
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