Hyderabad: For the first time, researchers from Osmania University (OU) have documented as many as 98 species of herpetofauna-frogs, toads, lizards and snakes, asserting the fact that Telangana is home to a rich diversity of amphibians and reptiles.
The 98 species include 16 species of frogs and toads belonging to four families, one species of crocodile, six species of turtles and tortoises, 35 species of lizards, and 40 species of snakes. This research report was recently published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
“This work for the first time documents the herpetofauna in total and provides the baseline database on this important group of animals,” said Osmania University College of Science Associate Professor of Zoology, Dr C. Srinivasulu, the lead author of the research paper.
According to Dr. Srinivasulu, who heads the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Studies at OU, for the ease of understanding, along with the scientific names of the species, the accepted English and the Telugu names were provided beside the IUCN status, whether or not the species was included in the Indian Wildlife Protection Act and CITES, and endemicity.
“Among the 98 species of herpetofauna documented from the State, three species of lizards, namely, Hemidactylus flavicaudus, Hemidactylus xericolus, and Hemidactylus aemulus, were endemic to Telangana,” Dr. Srinivasulu shared.
There was a greater need for conducting research on amphibians as they were the indicators of ecosystem health and pollution level., he said.
“Indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture fields, dumping of industrial wastes in water bodies, encroachment and conversion of water bodies into human settlements are the reasons for the drastic decline in the populations of amphibians in the State,” he added.
The research paper was co-authored by Dr. G Chethan Kumar, who worked for his PhD on endemic large-bodied Hemidactylus lizards under the supervision of Dr. Srinivasulu.
