7 months ago
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Two caller taxon of non-luminous fireflies person been described from the Nilgiris, with 1 of them being named aft the indigenous Kurumba tribe.
The 2 species Lamellipalpodes kurumba and Lamellipalpodes debprasama were found successful the Nilgiris territory successful Tamil Nadu. With the latest findings, the full fig of Lamellipalpodes species present stands astatine 14, with 5 being recovered wrong the borders of the country.
The findings, titled ‘Two caller taxon of fireflies of the genus Lamellipalpodes from the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu’, were published successful the International Journal of Tropical Insect Science, Springer-Nature Group, by authors Arnob Chakrovorty, N. Moinudheen, Banani Bhattacarjee, A. Abinesh, A. Samson, and N. Sadiq Ali.
“Lamellipalpodes is a genus of non-luminous fireflies distributed successful India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand. Prior to this study, lone 2 taxon were known from India,” said Mr. Arnob Chakrovorty, 1 of the pb authors of the paper, who discovered 1 much taxon successful 2025 successful West Bengal.
Nomenclature
“This insubstantial deals with the statement of 2 caller taxon of Lamellipalpodes from the Nilgiris, Western Ghats, India, with 1 of them being named successful honour of the Kurumba tribes of the portion who each person been protecting the flora and fauna of the Nilgiris for decades,” said Mr. Chokrovorty.
N. Moinudheen, different writer of the paper, said that the determination to sanction the taxon aft the Kurumba radical is to recognise 1 of the indigenous groups of the Nilgiris who person faced persecution and oppression since the accomplishment of the British to the Nilgiris hills. “The Kurumbas’ traditions are besides astatine hazard of extinction. It is our tiny effort astatine ensuring that the assemblage is acknowledged for their adjacent links to the environment,” helium said.
Banani Bhattacharjee, different author, said that the naming of the different species Lamellipalpodes debprasama was a tribute to her parents Debdas and Sulekha Bhattacharjee arsenic good arsenic to the parents of Mr. Arnab, Pranab and Mandira Chakraborty. “Sadly, I mislaid my begetter during my B.Sc programme, but I person some him and my parent done the naming of this specimen,” she said.
Mr. Moinudheen said that insects specified arsenic fireflies usually inhabit areas adjacent to wetlands and grasslands, which are being mislaid crossed the Western ghats. He said that excessive pesticide usage is different large menace to the insects, studies of which are rare. “It is important that we undertake much studies looking into the ecology of non-luminous fireflies, which are inactive highly rare,” helium added.
The probe was conducted with the collaborative efforts of the iForNature Nature Club Laboratory, Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust (WNCT), Kalyani University, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), and Pondicherry University.
