The theraphosid spider genera Heterophrictus Pocock, 1900 and Neoheterophrictus Siliwal & Raven, 2012 are rediagnosed in this paper and a new genus, Sahydroaraneus gen. nov. is described from Southern Western Ghats. Four new species (two each of Heterophrictus and Neoheterophrictus) and one of Sahydroaraneus gen. nov. are described from the Western Ghats. Plesiophrictus mahabaleshwari Tikader, ...

background: a study on the migration characteristics of 238u, 210po, 232th and 40k within the soil to the wild plants in the western ghats were carried out. materials and methods: concentrations of these radionuclides were measured in different depths of soil and from different species by employing gamma ray spectrometer and alpha counter. results: the activity concentration of these radionucli...

background: a field study on the transfer of primordial radionuclides 238u, 232th, 40k and fallout radionuclides 210po in different plant species in tropical forest of western ghats environment is presented. material and methods: the top storey, second storey, shrubs and epiphytic plant species were chosen and concentration of these radionuclides in plant and soil were measured by employing gam...

High elevation montane areas are called "sky islands" when they occur as a series of high mountains separated by lowland valleys. Different climatic conditions at high elevations makes sky islands a specialized type of habitat, rendering them naturally fragmented compared to more continuous habitat at lower elevations. Species in sky islands face unsuitable climate in the intervening valleys wh...

Kyasanur Forest disease (KFD), a tick-borne viral hemorrhagic fever, is endemic in five districts of Karnataka state, India. Recent reports of the spread of disease to neighboring districts of the Western Ghats, namely Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka, Nilgiri district in Tamil Nadu, Wayanad and Malappuram districts in Kerala, and Pali village in Goa are a cause for concern. Besides vaccina...