New caecilian species find in Western Ghats puts spotlight on Goa’s gegeneophis tally

Panaji: The discovery of a new species of caecilian, gegeneophis valmiki at Paneri, Palashi, in Maharashtra’s Satara district has cheered wildlifers, as the Western Ghats tally of gegeneophis group rises to 11–four of them being documented in Goa.The new species, which was recently discovered, is named after Maharshi Valmiki Mandir on the Valmiki plateau in the north Western Ghats.With their eyes hidden beneath the bony cranium, caecilians of genus gegeneophis are known as blind caecilians. The invertebrates are limbless amphibians living below the soil and humus-rich organic matter.In Goa, of six caecilian species documented so far, four of them, gegeneophis goaensis, gegeneophis mhadeiensis, gegeneophis danieli and gegeneophis pareshi, belong to this group.

Two others are ichthyophis bombayensis and ichthyophis davidi.“The first type specimen was discovered in 2017. We worked and studied them till recently while the paper was published only in Dec 2025,” Nirmal Kulkarni, a Goan herpetologist and scientists’ team member said.“The finding is good news to all, especially researchers, as it shows that there is a diversity not known to science,” Varad Giri, head scientist at Reliance Foundation said.

Caecilians are one of the highly unexplored groups of vertebrates in India. “The role of an ant and elephant is the same in maintaining the ecological balance,” Giri, an expert on caecilians stated.The Western Ghats is known for 26 species of caecilians, which are all endemic, though no new species of the genus gegeneophis has been discovered for over a decade.One of the last caecilian species was discovered in the north Western Ghats over a decade ago.

It was found at a plantation near Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary and named after Paresh Porob, then range forest officer of Bondla in recognition of his work in the forest department.The second specimen of gegeneophis valmiki was also found recently in the same location at Valmiki plateau. “It is particularly difficult to identify caecilians, as they are worm-like and superficially resemble earthworms,” Kulkarni said.They are mostly found in the field by chance, as they do not produce vocal calls like frogs.KP Dinesh, senior scientist at Zoological Survey of India who collected the first species in 2017 jointly published the study along with his colleague Sahil Shikalgar and three other experts in an international journal phyllomedusa, recently.The scientific recognition and formal validation of these species bring national and global attention to one of the most elusive groups of subterranean amphibians, Dinesh said.“I feel grateful to those few who are researching caecilians as these little life forms are ignored,” Giri said.