New crab species found in Arunachal Pradesh

Itanagar: A new species of freshwater crab has been found at Namdapha National Park in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh in April this year, according to a research paper reported in the journal Zootaxa. The species known as Teretamon kem-pi, was found when a survey was conducted by scientists of Zoological Survey India (ZSI).

The crab has a round-shaped carapace and its surface is glossy and measures around 1.5 inches in size. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by a distinct combination of carapace and gonopod characters: a relatively high carapace with a bilobed frontal margin; subquadrate sixth abdominal somite with nearly parallel lateral margins; and a relatively small G1 terminal segment with a semicircular to bluntly triangular dorsal flap.

The crab found to be of brownish hue and generally resides under burrows in rocks or boulders or in streams and is found only at Namdapha.

The three-member team of ZSI who spotted it were Santanu Mitra, Arajush Payra and Kailash Chandra. The new crab species are found to breed only during monsoon season.

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