Tura: A research team from South India in Meghalaya for over two months in the early part of 2022 has found three previously undiscovered species of jumping spiders in the state during their recent research.
Interestingly, the discoveries were made in the remote corners of the state, with two species being found in South Garo Hills (SGH) and another in the district of South West Khasi Hills (SWKH) – two districts with huge forest cover.
The findings of the research team have recently been published in a scientific journal dedicated to the findings of a new genus of jumping spiders.
Of the 4 new species of jumping spiders discovered in Meghalaya one is named after the Garo freedom fighter Togan Nengminza Sangma (habrocestum togansangmai).
This species was discovered in the SWKH district and is said to inhabit the riverine areas of both SWKH and SGH. This spider genus was discovered in the village of Nongnah in the district of SWKH.
Further, the team discovered another species of the same jumping spider from the village of Eman Asakgre and named it habrocestum emanasakgrensis and the last one was discovered below the Imilchang waterfall, again in SGH and named after the waterfall where it was discovered, habrocestum imilchang. Both the above-mentioned spiders are endemic to only South Garo Hills as per the findings of the research team.
These were discovered by Gautam Kadam, a biologist from Karnataka.
Another genus of spider discovered by the research team was the selenopid spider, Siamspinops garoensis which was named after Garo hills. It was published in an international journal Zootaxa by researchers Pradeep Sankaran, Gautam Kadam, Ambalaparambil V. Sudhikumar and Rishikesh Tripathi.
Speaking on the discovery and their publication of their findings, biologist Gautam Kadam said that Meghalaya was one of the least explored for spider fauna and there was scope for more genus discoveries in the future if more research was undertaken.
“The new species of jumping spider, habrocestum togansangmai has been named after a heroic Garo leader who fought against the British Empire for India’s independence Togan Nengminza Sangma. Another two species were named after their location; habrocestum emanasakgrensis named after Eman Asakgre village and one is dedicated to a beautiful Imilchang waterfall in the same village in the SGH district,” said Kadam.
The jumping spiders were discovered during a spider survey conducted in Garo and Khasi hills. All the newly discovered species inhabits evergreen forests near riverine areas and small streams.
“All these species are ground dwellers mainly found in leaf letters. It is the first report of this genus from the Northeast of India. Presently Habrocestum includes 55 species with a largely Afroeurasian distribution. With the discovery of the 3 new species, the number of such jumping spiders found in India has risen to 7,” added the biologist.
The Discovery of these three new species from Meghalaya has been published in the latest volume of PECKHAMIA, an international scientific journal dedicated to jumping spiders.
Description of all the species have been given in the scientific article.
The selenopid spider Siamspinops garoensis was named after the Garo hills. It was published in an international journal Zootaxa by researchers Pradeep Sankaran, Gautam Kadam, Ambalaparambil V. Sudhikumar and Rishikesh Tripathi.
As per Kadam, the spider fauna of Meghalaya has not yet been studied and remains largely untouched, with only a few scattered checklists published to date, indicating the scope of more studies.
The research team selected Meghalaya for prospects regarding biodiversity and biogeographic study.
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The team comprised Rishikesh Tripathi who is doing his PhD on Thar Desert spiders at Christ College, Irinjalakuda, Kerala, Dr Ambalaparambil V. Sudhikumar who is working as a professor and Gautam, independent researcher on spiders of Northeast India and Western Ghats.
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