The Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot is in the spotlight once again, as scientists have discovered a new genus and six new species of freshwater crabs in these mountainous forests.
With the recent finding in Kerala, freshwater crab diversity in the State has risen to 34 species, the highest in the country. Nearly 50% of crabs in the Western Ghats (27 of 47 species) occur here.
All six species were discovered on the Kerala side. The researchers including S.K. Pati and P.M. Sureshan from Zoological Survey of India, L. Rajesh, Smrithy Raj and A. Biju Kumar of the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala and V.U. Sheeja, Holy Cross College, Nagercoil published the find in Journal of Natural History .
Karkata, which stands for crab in Sanskrit, has been given a separate genus, indicating a higher order of distinctive features. It is endemic to the Western Ghats.
One of its species, Karkata ghanarakta , was collected from the Thattekad bird sanctuary in Ernakulam district while the second, Karkata kusumbha was reported from Mankulam in Idukki district. The species name ghanarakta is derived from the Sanskrit for maroon, reflecting the colour of the crab. The word kusumbha (Sanskrit for safflower) refers to the orange-red colours of the creature that resemble the floral hues.
The researchers found two new species in the genus Pilarta . While Pilarta aroma inhabits cold water mountain streams in the Agasthyamala Reserve in Thiruvananthapuram, Pilarta punctatissima was collected from Ovumkal in the Thattekad sanctuary.
Paddy embankments
One new species, Cylindrotelphusa longiphallus, came from deep burrows along paddy fields at Kuzhikattusseri, Thrissur. The name is derived from the Latin ‘longi’ for long and the Greek ‘phallus’, a reference to long male gonopods of the animal. Another new discovery, Cylindrotelphusa breviphallus, is from Ponmudi in Thiruvananthapuram.
