New Delhi: A new species of limbless lizard has been located by group of zoologists in Orissa. "It is an important discovery and preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus sepsophis", Prof Sushil Kumar Dutta of the North Orissa University, Baripada told PTI.
Dutta, who led a research team to the Khandadhar hills in Sundargarh district found the limbless lizard during a survey.
The lizard, which belongs to the family 'scincidae', is new to science and is an important discovery from the bio-geographic point of view, Dutta said.
Another species of the same genus was reported in 1870 from the Golconda hills in Andhra Pradesh. This is the first time that this limbless lizard had been found which bears significance from the biodiversity point of view, Dutta said.
"The new species will be scientifically described at a later stage after accumulation of more scientific data", Dutta observed.
The other limbless lizards recorded from India were of the family 'dibamidae' which was found in South East Asia and Nicobar island, 'anguidae', recorded from North East India and South East India and the genus 'barkudia' (scincidae) discovered in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, he said.
With inputs from PTI
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