Nature enthusiasts discover new insect species in Singanallur lake; named as ‘Asphondylia singanallurensis’
Coimbatore: As part of the World Wetlands day celebration, the new insect species discovered by Nature enthusiasts at Singanallur lake in Coimbatore was named as ‘Asphondylia singanallurensis’
According to the researchers, a study was carried on the newly discovered insect between 2015-18. And, the insect was dissected and a detailed DNA study was done to make sure, the species is not classified among the already existing 6,300 insect species of order-Diptera across the globe.
Asphondylia singanallurensis
The researchers also browsed through the journals published in the past decades on Diptera to go ahead with the Gene sequencing. Following which, the species was named "Asphondylia singanallurensis".
In a comprehensive study carried out by Vasanthakumar, Researcher in Western Regional Centre of Zological Survey of India (ZSI) in Pune with co-authors Senthilkumar and Vinny R Peter from SRM institute of Science and Technology and CUBE along with retired scientist of ZSI Radheshyam M Sharma, the paneldocumented the life cycles of Asphondylia singanallurensis -- eggs, larva and pupa.
On March, 2020, Zoological Survey of India and Centre for urban Biodiversity Conservation and Education (CUBE) in Coimbatore, comprehensively published the discovery of new insect species in the peer-reviewed Zootaxa journal.
Wetland day celebration
Marking the "World Wetlands Day" celebrations at Singanallur lake in the city, Coimbatore District Forest Officer D. Venkatesh jointly with the Director of Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding C Kunhikannan unveiled the characteristics of new species.