Great Nicobar project site hotbed of new species’ discovery

A caller taxon of snake with lone 4 records to date, and a perchance caller taxon of vertebrate photographed lone thrice successful implicit a decade, are among the latest finds from the tract of the Great Nicobar Island mega infrastructure project. Described successful November 2025, the 2 are among the astir 40 caller taxon reported from present since 2021. These see 2 taxon of frogs, 4 crabs, 2 geckos and a fig of insects including flies, moths and beetles. Nearly fractional of these person been described successful 2025 alone.

Named aft Steve Irwin

Named Lycodon irwini aft the renowned Australian zookeeper Steve Irwin, the caller wolf snake was described successful the diary Evolutionary Systematics by a squad of researchers that included R.S. Naveen and S.R. Chandramouli of Pondicherry University, Zeeshan A. Mirza of the Max Planck Institute for Biology, and naturalist Girish Choure. Given the snake’s rarity, its sharply restricted scope and imaginable threats, the researchers person recommended that it beryllium classified arsenic “Endangered” nether the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria.

A caller taxon of crake?

It is from the aforesaid eastbound seashore of Great Nicobar that birders Pia Sethi and Nitu Sethi from Delhi and Vikram Shil from Port Blair had precocious published a insubstantial connected the Great Nicobar Crake taxon Rallina. Writing successful the diary Indian Birds, the authors enactment that precise small is known of the “biology, distribution, oregon colonisation status” and suggest this could beryllium a caller taxon to subject fixed the “distinctive acceptable of [its] morphological features, including respective caller ones”.

Great Nicobar is reported to person 650 taxon of plants and implicit 1,800 taxon of fauna. The portion besides boasts of singular familial biodiversity, exhibiting astir 24% endemism among immoderate faunal groups. The regular find of caller species, including the latest finds, highlights the island’s affluent biodiversity.

“I americium delighted to perceive of the caller snake and of a caller taxon of crake that has been tentatively described from Great Nicobar,” said Asad Rahmani, salient ornithologist and erstwhile manager of the Bombay Natural History Society. “Great Nicobar has possibly the finest tropical rainfall wood near successful India and this calls for its full protection.”

(Pankaj Sekhsaria is author/editor of 7 books connected the A&N Islands, including The Great Nicobar Betrayal (The Hindu Group, 2024) and Island connected Edge - The Great Nicobar Crisis’ (Westland 2025). Views are personal)