Goa University researchers discover new species of gecko on campus

The species of the Hemiphyllodactylus genus has now been given a scientific name, Hemiphyllodactylus goaensis, named after Goa in which it was found, and it has been suggested that it be commonly called the Goan slender gecko.

A team of researchers working at the Department of Zoology Goa University and the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation, Mumbai, have discovered a new species of gecko. It is the smallest known species of the genus with a maximum length of 32 mm. The species is believed to be endemic to the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats.

The species of the Hemiphyllodactylus genus has now been given a scientific name, Hemiphyllodactylus goaensis, named after Goa in which it was found, and it has been suggested that it be commonly called the Goan slender gecko.

One of the specimens was found within the Goa University campus and was collected from there, making it the first species to be discovered (figuratively speaking) at the Goa University. Specimens of Hemiphyllodactylus goaensis were found from two localities in Goa – two in north Goa at Goa University campus and one in south Goa at Chandor, which are about 30 km straight line distance apart.

“This indicates the richness of the university campus as well as the diversity of reptiles in Goa which has been poorly studied,” the researchers led by Akansh Khandekar of the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation and Dikansh Parmar studying at the Goa University, have said in their published paper.

All specimens of the newly discovered species were found in similar microhabitats, in human habitation dwelling on walls. Goa University is located on a flat, coastal, lateritic outcrop with seasonally dry grasslands with scattered vegetation with shrubs and trees while the Chandor location is a semi-urban residential area.

Besides its small size, the species is also differentiated by its 16–18 dorsal scales and 13 or 14 ventral scales at mid-body, contained within one longitudinal eye diameter, as well as subtle colour pattern differences.

The researchers confirmed that it was indeed a different species through mitochondrial gene sequencing establishing its distinctive identity, which is not closely allied to either the South Indian or Eastern Ghats clades of Indian Hemiphyllodactylus and appears to be a member of a third Indian Hemiphyllodactylus clade. A clade classifies a group of organisms believed to comprise all the evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor.

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