Why is it in the news?
→ Zoological Survey of India scientists discovered a new species of Diplura in the eastern Himalayas.
→ Study also provided DNA barcode data and rediscovered a rare subspecies after decades.
Category: Environment
Important Points
- New species of Diplura discovered in Ravangla, Sikkim.
- Diplura are small, wingless, soil-dwelling arthropods.
- First time a species in this primitive hexapod group described by an Indian research team.
- Earlier 17 species in India were described by foreign researchers.
- Distinguished by unique body scale arrangement, chaetotaxy and specialized appendages.
- Diplurans are primitive blind hexapods important for soil health.
- They play a role in nutrient cycling and soil structure maintenance.
- Rediscovery of Lepidocampa juradii bengalensis after nearly 50 years.
- First-ever DNA barcode data globally for an Indian Lepidocampa species.
- Study bridges traditional morphology and modern molecular phylogenetics.