September 20th, 2011 
d-sector Team By P. VENUGOPAL, The Hindu
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, September 15, 2011
The Western Ghats region in the country, a global biodiversity hotspot, has opened up more of its secrets — this time a dozen species of night frogs hitherto unknown to science.
S.D. Biju of the University of Delhi and researchers from Bombay Natural History Society, Zoological Survey of India and …
Posted in News July 17th, 2011 d-sector Team Simit Bhagat, TNN Jul 10, 2011
MUMBAI: Two Andheri-based researchers have discovered two new species of a genus of trapdoor spiders from the southern Western Ghats.
The species—Scalidognathus nigriaraneus and Scalidognathus tigerinus—have been discovered from the Nilgiri and Coimbatore districts. The find by Rajesh Sanap and Zeeshan Mirza has been published in the latest edition of international …
Posted in News July 17th, 2011 d-sector Team B Sivakumar, TNN Jul 1, 2011
CHENNAI:The Western Ghats has failed to make it to the Unesco’s World Natural Heritage Sites list, with the World Heritage Committee, which met in Paris on Wednesday, rejecting India’s application in this regard for the time being.
While the committee included 25 sites on the list, including three natural properties, 21 …
Posted in News April 29th, 2011 d-sector Team Simit Bhagat, TNN | Apr 29, 2011
MUMBAI: Scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), in collaboration with researchers from Natural History Museum, London, have discovered a new species of caecilian (legless amphibian) from the Western Ghats.
The species—Gegeneophis pareshi—was discovered from a mixed small plantation garden by Varad Giri,David Gower, Kshamata Gaikwad and Mark Wilkinson. It is the 23rd caecilian species …
Posted in News April 29th, 2011 d-sector Team 
K. Raju
THENI. 24 A pril, 2011
The Western Ghats is home to many endangered species of flora. Continuous research in Megamalai and forest surrounding Mangaladevi Kannagi Temple in Theni district has proved that southern parts of Western Ghats is the origin for ‘matti’ bananas ( Musa Accuminata), a variety predominantly grown only in Kanyakumari district in …
Posted in News April 29th, 2011 d-sector Team Dipannita Das, TNN, Apr 25, 2011
PUNE: The Western Ghats ecology expert panel, set up by the Union ministry of environment and forests has called for sustainable and inclusive development, stress on public trust doctrine and ‘polluter pays’ principle.
Chairman of the panel Madhav Gadgil, at a recent meeting of the panel, highlighted that the present exclusion-based development …
Posted in News April 29th, 2011 d-sector Team 
Bangalore, Apr 19: The High Court of Karnataka has directed various hydel projects that have obtained permission from the state government to function in Western Ghats, not to go ahead with the execution of the projects until further orders.
The division bench of the High Court, comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice A S …
Posted in News August 23rd, 2010 d-sector Team Report by Nirmal Kulkarni
A rare instance of a Green vine snake (Ahaetulla nasuta) preying upon a Large scaled shieldtail (Uropeltis macrolepis macrolepis) was recorded by herpetologist Nirmal Kulkarni and his team in the Chorla Ghats forests of the Mhadei Bio region on the 15th of August 2010.
Interestingly, the Green Vine snake is a partially arboreal …
Posted in News June 22nd, 2010 d-sector Team 
Sirsi: Kudragod is a sleepy village with some 120 inhabitants, about 30 odd kilometers from the taluka town of Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka. Nestled inside tropical evergreen forests, the village has flat open space with househoolds fanned around the paddy fields. Nature seems to have bestowed its bountry on the Kharevokkaliga community of the village.
Posted in Projects May 6th, 2010 d-sector Team 
Scientists have discovered a new bright reddish-orange-coloured frog with multiple glands and extremely short limbs from the highest mountain peak of the Western Ghats. The newly discovered species, located in the Eravikulam National Park, is restricted to less than three sq. km on the summit of Anamudi and deserves immediate conservation priority, scientists said..
Posted in News