New Bent-toed Gecko species discovered in Meghalaya, named after Indian Army.

Why in news?

• A team of researchers recently discovered a new species of bent-toed gecko or lizard, from Umroi Military station in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya.
• The new species of Gecko or lizard belongs to the family of Cyrtodactylus exercitus (‘exercitus’ means army, in Latin).
• It has been named to honour the valour of Indian Army for their services to India.
• These new species was discovered as part of efforts of research team, to uncover herpetofaunal diversity of North East India.
• Bent-toe geckos are scientifically known as Cyrtodactylus. It is a diverse genus of Asian geckos. This genus has about 300 described species as of 2020. Thus, it is the largest of all gecko genera.
• Genus Cyrtodactylus
• The genus Cyrtodactylus is represented by about 320 species across the world. It is the third most speciose vertebrate genus worldwide. Members of the genus range from South Asia to Melanesia. There is high diversity of the species in south Asia. North East India has now become home to 16 species of bent-toed gecko.