Rachunliu G. Kamei digging for the elusive caecilians.
‘North East is a biological treasure trove’
Dimapur, June 4 (MExN): In 2012, Rachunliu G. Kamei and her team led by ‘the frog man of India’, Sathyabama Das Biju had discovered a new family of caecilian family, Chikilidae (legless amphibians) in the North East region.
The Chikilidae, derived from the Garo word Chikgil, is the closest linguistic equal to caecilians in the region. Chikilidae comprises a group of caecilians that are believed to be of ancient lineage (about 140 million years old), with its closest relatives in Africa; and so far known to be restricted to only Northeast India. In addition to the Chikilidae, the team discovered more than 40 new species of amphibians; scientifically described three new species of caecilians, three species of frogs, and one new genus of caecilians (Chikila).
Following this, Rachunliu, who is more popularly known as Chun informed that the latest findings were published today in the International journal ZOOTAXA- ‘Discovery of three new blind-legless amphibians from northeast India’. ZOOTAXA is an International Journal of Zoological Taxonomy.
The three new species have been named as Chikila alcocki, Chikila darlong and Chikila gaiduwani. Chun has named one of the new species ‘Chikila Gaiduwani’ after her father Gaiduwan Gaipuizei Kammei. She acknowledged the tremendous support to her research team in amphibian research of the North East region.
Meanwhile, ZOOTAXA highlighted in their publication that the present discovery highlights that northeast India is a biological treasure trove yet to be more fully unraveled.
