This discovery marks the ninth known species in the Dravidogecko genus, all of which are endemic to the high-elevation regions of the southern Western Ghats. Like other genera in the same family, D. coonoor plays an essential role in local ecosystems – helping control insect populations and serving as prey for larger species.
Published Jun 26, 2025 | 4:42 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 26, 2025 | 4:42 PM
This discovery marks the ninth known species in the Dravidogecko genus, all of which are endemic to the high-elevation regions of the southern Western Ghats. (Supplied)
Synopsis: Six years ago, while stargazing one evening in Coonoor, a student spotted what he believed to be an entirely new species of gecko on his shoulder. Earlier this month, a team of researchers led by the very same student – working through setbacks and with meticulous rigour – succeeded in getting the species formally recognised. This is the story of how Dravidogecko coonoor found its name – and its place in science.
Abinesh recalled the night it all began. Back in 2019, he was doing his regular stargazing, music playing from his phone, when something suddenly landed on his shoulder.
“It was a gecko, and when I took it in my hand, I realised it was the same thing I saw in a research paper.”
Abinesh, then an MPhil student, rushed home and pulled up a 2019 paper by Chaitanya et al. on Dravidogecko – a genus of geckos, all endemic to the high-elevation regions of the southern Western Ghats.
The genus name combines “Dravido”, from the Sanskrit word dravidi, referring to a land surrounded by water on three sides – a nod to peninsular India.
Dravidogecko coonoor (Supplied)
The suffix “gecko” denotes the lizard group it belongs to.
He began comparing it with the gecko he had just found. Though he didn’t know it at the time, that night, he was holding the first species he would eventually go on to formally describe.
He was new to the world of geckos then.
“I wanted to know what kind of genus or species were already in the Nilgiris,” he said.
While going through the paper, one detail stood out: the surveyed map had no sightings from Coonoor – even though that’s where he had just spotted the gecko.
“That was the time I was so electrified,” he said. “I thought, okay, I’m going to have a chance to describe a species.”
But the journey ahead was long. The COVID-19 lockdowns shut down lab access. Around the same time, another team published a paper based on machine-learning models predicting species distribution.
“They had sequences, but they failed to do proper naming procedures,” Abinesh said.
Without real specimens and proper comparison of body features, the species could not be officially recognised.
For over a year, Abinesh waited, hoping corrections would follow. When they didn’t, he and his collaborators stepped in to do it right – from morphometric analysis to genetic deposits.
A Abinesh led the discovery.
Morphometric analysis involves measuring and analysing the shape and size of organisms or their parts to understand their differences and relationships.
Genetic deposits are stored collections of genetic material, such as DNA or seeds, used for research, breeding, or conservation.
“We wrote everything according to the literature behind it. We collated all the information and erected it as a valid species,” Abinesh explained.
Dravidogecko is India’s only gecko genus found entirely in the southern Western Ghats – unlike Cyrtodactylus and Hemidactylus, the two largest gecko genera globally, which occur across many countries.
Even though this gecko survives close to human settlements, in areas like tea plantations and village homes, it faces significant threats.
“These geckos are nocturnal and highly sensitive to artificial light at night (ALAN). Light pollution and habitat degradation due to monoculture plantations like tea estates pose serious threats to its survival,” said Abinesh.
Deforestation, climate change, and the expansion of single-crop plantations continue to disturb its natural habitat.
To properly describe the species, researchers measured various parts of its body – from head size and tail length to scale patterns and tiny details of its toes and jaw scales.
A special microscope was used to closely study these features. For individuals not collected, high-quality photographs were taken to document key traits.
Though it survives in altered landscapes, the gecko still needs care and conservation. Its story is a reminder of the fragile balance of life – even in familiar surroundings.
A team of Indian researchers, led by A Abinesh – now a PhD student at Pondicherry University’s Department of Ecology – and comprising RS Naveen, AN Srikanthan, S Babu, and SR Ganesh, formally described the gecko.
Abinesh measures Dravidogecko coonoor. (Supplied)
Their findings were published in the journal Bionomina International on 23 June 2025.
“It is every biologist’s dream to discover something of their own,” Abinesh wrote on his Medium blog two days ago.
The new species is native to the Coonoor Hills in the Upper Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu. The researchers gave it a fitting name.
“If you do not know the names of things, the knowledge of them is lost too,” said Carl Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy.
These words shaped how Abinesh and his team named Dravidogecko coonoor, giving the species a rightful place in science.
“We waited, studied, and finally described it properly after a previous attempt by another group was declared invalid due to not following the right taxonomic procedure,” he said.
He and his team knew the importance of naming. “There is no existence for a species without a name,” he added.
The name Dravidogecko coonoor was chosen carefully – with “coonoor” marking the site of its discovery in the Nilgiris.
This discovery marks the ninth known species in the Dravidogecko genus, all of which are endemic to the high-elevation regions of the southern Western Ghats.
Previously described species include Dravidogecko septentrionalis, D. anamallensis, D. tholpalli, D. janakiae, D. meghamalaiensis, D. beddomei, D. smithi, and D. douglasadamsi.
Like other genera in the same family, D. coonoor plays an essential role in local ecosystems – helping control insect populations and serving as prey for larger species.
Its presence supports a fragile but critical food web in this biodiversity hotspot.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
