A new member of the grasshopper world, which has been identified from Tamil Nadu, is named after the Dravidian landscape. The newly described pygmy unicorn grasshopper Dravidacris annamalaica is restricted to the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu.
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A specimen collected by a team comprising Dhaneesh Bhaskar, H. Sankararaman and Niko Kasalo from Annamalai Nagar near Chidambaram in Cuddalore district in December 2020 was later described as a new genus Dravidacris Bhaskar et al. 2022, and its single species as Dravidacris annamalaica.
A paper on the new addition to the grasshopper world was peer reviewed and published in the Zootaxa journal on Thursday. As per the paper, the new genus was named Dravidacris in honour of Dravidians (linguistic group), a term collectively representing people who live in the southern States of India. The ending – acris – is the Greek word for grasshopper, locust and is of feminine gender.
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The epitheton annamalaicas refers to Annamalai Nagar near Chidambaram. Dravidacris annamalaica is now in the checklist of Indian orthoptera and among the 500-odd species under 89 genera of Metrodorinae grasshopper subfamily in the world.
“The newly described grasshopper genus Dravidacris Bhaskar et al. 2022 represents the rare horned grasshoppers within the grasshopper subfamily Metrodorinae. Their unique morphology with long and dorsally extended head portions is not typical among other grasshoppers genera around the globe.
The Dravidacris annamalaica was collected from the eastern dry plane ecoregions of Tamil Nadu. Their body colour morphology enables them to get camouflaged to their surroundings,” said Dr. Bhaskar, lead author and regional vice-chair for Asia to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Species Survival Commission, Grasshopper Specialist Group.
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Grasshoppers, according to Dr. Bhaskar, are significant contributors to the food chain as they induce the nutrient cycle.
“Their role in the system is not well studied in the Indian scenario. The IUCN SSC Grasshopper Specialist Group is now assessing the conservation status of endemic grasshoppers in India with the financial support of Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund,” said Dr. Bhaskar, who also represents the Care Earth Trust, Chennai, as research consultant.
‘Unique to habitats’
As the name suggests, pygmy grasshoppers are smaller ones and are unique to specific micro-habitats. Based on the restricted distribution and unique habitat preference, the newly described Dravidacris annamalaica will also be assessed for its conservation status, he added.