Tejas Thackeray discovers new lizard species with his colleagues

Tejas Thackeray, younger son of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and his team have discovered a new lizard species from Sakleshpur in central-western ghats of neighbouring Karnataka.

Mumbai: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's son Tejas Thackeray and his teammate Akshay Khandekar have once again discovered a new species of lizard.

Tejas Thackeray discovers new lizard species with his colleagues

This rare lizard has been found in vertical rocks in the forest of Sakleshpur in Karnataka.

Akshay Khandekar, lead author of a paper prepared by the four-member team, said the new gecko species was discovered from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot.

Tejas Thackeray and his friend are both wildlife researchers

As per a statement, the large-bodied cnemaspis (a genus of diurnal geckos) they have discovered is a ''dwarf gecko'', adding the new species is allied to cnemaspis heteropholis bauer and differs in body size.

Fifty different species of lizards are found in India. In these, the new species of round large eyes are now attracting the attention of zoologists due to their distinct anatomy.

Tejas Thackeray, Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal and Sonak Pal were the four researchers who discovered some species of lizards in 2014.

Their paper have been published in the renowned peer-reviewed international scientific journal Zootaxa.