Report by Shuchi Giridhar
Back in the year 2017, in Visakhapatnam, a gecko was found.
The gecko was earlier mistaken to be a known species – the East Indian Leopard Gecko or the Eublepharis hardwickii. But recently, scientists have declared that it was a new species.
The species has been named the Eublepharis pictus or the painted leopard gecko.
The gecko was initially identified by the researchers, Zeeshan A Mirza from National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru ,and C Gnaneswar of Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. Mistaking the gecko for an East Indian leopard gecko, the researchers recorded it as an East Indian leopard gecko.
After morphological comparisions and a study, the mistake has been rectified.
Though the gecko is common in the forests of Andhra and Odisha, the fact that it is a distinct species has only been established now.
The newly discovered Eublepharis pictus measures 11.7 cm in length, which is more than the average length of leopard geckos. The Brahmani River, which runs through the Eastern Ghats, separates the new species geographically from the East Indian Leopard Gecko, with which it was initially confused.
The researchers have published their discovery in the open-access scientific journal Evolutionary Systematics.
With the E. Pictus, the genus Eublepharus now has seven species in it.
Image Credit: The original research paper
