Three new species of the front-eyed trapdoor genus Idiops, viz., Idiops joida sp. nov. from the Western Ghats of Karnataka, I. mettupalayam sp. nov. from the foothills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and I. oriya sp. nov. from Odhisa, are described. Natural history information for all these species is provided as is an identification key to Idiops species from South and Southeast Asia.

A new butterfly taxon, Nacaduba sinhala ramaswamii ssp. nov. (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Polyommatini), is described from Agasthyamalais of southern Western Ghats in peninsular India. The taxa can be diagnosed all other India and N. Ormiston, 1924 Sri Lanka, by its distinct male genitalia. early stages, larval hostplants, flight periods, ecology the known distribution are discussed. revised keys ...

We examined the distribution pattern, across-site similarities and zoogeographic affinities of amphibians and reptiles in the montane zones (> 900 m a.s.l.) of the Southern Eastern Ghats mountains in peninsular India. We deployed long-term field surveys in four select massifs namely Jawadi, Shevaroys, Kolli and Sirumalai and generated herpetofaunal species lists. Based solely on our species occ...

A new species of indotyphlid caecilian amphibian, Gegeneophis tejaswini sp. nov., is described based on eight specimens from lowlands of the most northerly district of the state of Kerala in the southern part of the Western Ghats region, India. This species is distinguished from all other Gegeneophis in annulation characters and genetics (> 6% different from most similar nominal species for ...

Abstract The diving beetle genus Peschetius Guignot, 1942 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) in India is reviewed. Integrative taxonomic approach using morphology, multivariate morphometry and genetic analysis of cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 revealed the presence four species, two which are described here as new: bistroemi sp. nov. from southern Western Ghats (Kerala) differs all known congeners with dis...

WE READ WITH INTEREST THE REPORT “LOCAL endemism within the Western Ghats–Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot” by F. Bossuyt et al. (15 Oct. 2004, p. 479), which documents patterns of diversification in selected vertebrate and invertebrate lineages from Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats region of western India. Although these two areas have long been united as a single biogeographic unit (1), and more...

Studies of species distributions on elevational gradients are essential to understand principles of community organisation as well as to conserve species in montane regions. This study examined the patterns of species richness, abundance, composition, range sizes, and distribution of rainforest birds at 14 sites along an elevational gradient (500-1400 m) in the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserv...

Tropical evergreen forests of Indian subcontinent, especially of the Western Ghats, are known hot spots of amphibian diversity, where many new anuran species await to be identified. Here we describe from the Sharavathi River basin of central Western Ghats a new shrub-frog taxon related to the anuran family Rhacophoridae. The new frog possesses the characteristic features of rhacophorids (dilate...

Species co-occurrence in ecological communities is thought to be influenced by multiple ecological and evolutionary processes, especially colonization and competition. However, effects of other interspecific interactions and evolutionary relationships are less explored. We examined evolutionary histories of community members and roles of mutualistic and parasitic interactions (Müllerian and Bat...