As Nepal’s reptiles are one of the least studied among the country’s diverse flora and fauna, researchers have long been saying that it could be home to numerous species waiting to be discovered by science. Herpetologist Santosh Bhattarai, a PhD student at Federation University Australia, is one of the handful of scientists who have dedicated their careers to studying smaller herps such as lizards, geckos and frogs across Nepal. He has been actively involved in raising awareness about the dark sitana (Sitana fusca), a critically endangered lizard endemic to Nepal. Bhattarai and his team recently discovered three new-to-science species of bent-toed geckos (Cyrtodactylus genus). According to a study documenting the discovery published in the journal Zootaxa, the nocturnal lizards, known for their camouflaging abilities, were found in the forests and rocky terrains of the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape. The newly identified species have been named Cyrtodactylus chitwanensis (Chitwan bent-toed gecko), Cyrtodactylus annapurnaensis (Annapurna bent-toed gecko) and Cyrtodactylus karanshahi (Karan’s bent-toed gecko) — the last one in honor of Nepal’s renowned herpetologist Karan Bahadur Shah. Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi spoke with Bhattarai, who is currently based in Australia, over the phone to discuss the new findings and their implications. The following interview has been translated from Nepali and edited for clarity. Mongabay: Could you please tell us how you discovered these new species? Santosh Bhattarai: Well, we made the discovery during my PhD field research in the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape in Nepal. My research focuses on amphibians and reptiles in the landscape,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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