<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Syllabus Section</span></span></span></b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>: Environment, Ecology and Biodiversity.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Context: </span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>• A team of researchers from the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) of the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) recently discovered five new species of vine snakes during their study in various parts of peninsular India.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>• The newly discovered species from the Western Ghats include the Northern Western Ghats vine snake (Ahaetulla borealis), Farnsworth’s vine snake (Ahaetulla farnsworthi), Malabar vine snake (Ahaetulla malabarica) and Wall’s vine snake (Ahaetulla Isabellina) in the Western Ghats rainforests alone.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span><img alt=”” src=”https://i.filecdn.in/476edenias/freesnippingtool-com_capture_20201116112554-1605507469213.png” style=”float:right” /></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><b><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Highlights: </span></b></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>• The study has been published in the journal Zootaxa and was carried out in collaboration with researchers from IISC.</span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>• According to the Institute, the team carried out field visits across India to collect morphological data, tissue samples and specimens to understand the patterns of distribution and diversification of vine snakes.</span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>• The team discovered that the common green vine snake (Ahaetulla nasuta) in India was a complex of several species. </span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>• While four distinct small-bodied and short-nosed species were found in the rainforests of the Western Ghats. </span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>• Another morphologically distinct and much larger species was found across the lowlands and drier parts of peninsular India</span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><b><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>About IISC:</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>• Indian Institute of Science (IISc) also known as the Tata Institute is a public university for scientific research and higher education located in Bangalore, India.</span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>• It was established in 1909 with support from Jam shed Ji Tata and the Maharaja of Mysore.</span></span></span></p>
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<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:12pt”><span style=”font-family:"Times New Roman",serif”><b><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Source: The Indian Express.</span></b></span></span></p>
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