Particle.news
Download on the App Store

ZSI Scientists Describe First India-Authored Diplura Species ‘Lepidocampa sikkimensis’

The Zootaxa paper integrates morphology with the first Indian Lepidocampa DNA barcode to close a five-decade research lull.

Overview

  • Specimens were first identified near Ravangla in Sikkim, with later finds in Kurseong indicating a broader Eastern Himalayan range.
  • The Zoological Survey of India team was led by Surajit Kar with co-authors Souvik Mazumdar, Pritha Mandal, Guru Pada Mandal and Kusumendra Kumar Suman.
  • The species shows distinctive body scales, chaetotaxy patterns and specialised appendage structures that set it apart from known taxa.
  • Researchers also relocated the rare subspecies Lepidocampa juradii bengalensis, which had not been recorded for nearly 50 years.
  • Diplurans are blind, soil-dwelling hexapods that aid nutrient cycling and soil structure, underscoring the conservation value of new records from the Eastern Himalaya.