Mumbai: Maharashtra has a new Thackeray that can climb and crawl by bending its spine.
A team of biodiversity researchers have discovered a new species of cat snake in Maharashtra’s Western Ghats — making it the first such discovery in 125 years.
The species has been named Boiga thackerayi or Thackeray’s Cat Snake after the surname of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray’s younger son Tejas Thackeray, who was part of the research team.
“This new species is from a group of snakes commonly called cat snakes and belong to the genus Boiga. Although snakes belong to this genus are widely distributed in India, a few species are endemic to the Western Ghats,” said Dr Varad Giri, director, Foundation for Biodiversity Conservation.
“This new species, Thackeray’s Cat Snake, is named after researcher Mr Tejas Thackeray for his contributions towards the studies on freshwater crabs in India, especially northern Western Ghats, and his strong and unconditional support towards taxonomy of less charismatic species,” Dr Giri said, adding the last snake discovered from the Western Ghats in this genus was in 1894.
What is a Boiga thackerayi?
Dr Giri said the Boiga thackerayi is non-venomous and arboreal that mostly stay near forest streams. The species, which can grow to approximately three feet in length, is active at night and is known to feed on the eggs of Humayun’s Night Frog, a species endemic to the Western Ghats.
“This behaviour was never reported in cat snakes from the Western Ghats before. Interestingly, this snake also favours only arboreal frogs, which is again a unique behaviour. This new species is presently only known in a few localities near Koyna in Satara district, Maharashtra, but could be widely distributed,” Dr Giri said.
He added that scientists from various institutes collaborated in making this discovery. While Dr Giri is the first author of the study, snake taxonomist Ashok Captain, Dr V. Deepak of London’s Natural History Museum, Kolhapur-based naturalist Swapnil Pawar and Dr Frank Tillack from Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde also contributed to the research.
The paper was published Thursday in The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
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Previous discoveries by Tejas
Shiv Sena leader and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, Tejas’ older brother, Thursday tweeted a photo of the newly discovered species, saying, “Thackeray’s cat snake, a new species with Tiger like stripes on it’s body from the Sahyadri tiger reserve in Maharashtra!”
My brother, Tejas discovered this beautiful species of the snake in the Western Ghats! Hence the name
— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) September 26, 2019
He added, “My brother, Tejas, discovered this beautiful species of the snake in the Western Ghats! Hence the name.”
Unlike his brother Aaditya, father Uddhav and grandfather Balasaheb Thackeray, Tejas has not walked the familial path of politics, but has been pursuing his keen interest in wildlife research.
The youngest Thackeray has helped discover crab and gecko species in the past too — the most recent being in May this year in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu. The species was named as ‘Hemidactylus thackerayi’, commonly known as ‘Thackeray’s Dwarf Gecko’.
Last year, Tejas had discovered 11 new species and one new genus of freshwater crabs in the Western Ghats.
In 2016, Tejas was part of a team that discovered five new species of freshwater crabs in Maharashtra’s Sahyadris. One of these was also named after his surname — the Gubernatoriana thackerayi.
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