Rediscovery After 111 Years:Typhloperipatus williamsoni, a velvet worm species considered one of the oldest living fossils, has been rediscovered in the Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh after 111 years. This is significant because it was thought to be possibly extinct.
Ancient Lineage: The species belongs to Onychophora, a group over 350 million years old with limited diversity (only two families and fewer than 200 species). The species provides insight into the biogeographical story.
Historical Context: First collected in 1911 by Stanley Kemp during the Abor expedition, there had been no documented records since.
Molecular Data Insights: Molecular data indicates South Asian onychophoras diverged from Neotropical and African relatives around 237 million years ago.
Biogeographic Anomaly: Asian onychophoras surprisingly lack relation to Australian onychophoras, which is unusual for invertebrates in Southeast Asia and India, making this rediscovery important for understanding their unique distribution.
Team: The rediscovery was made by researchers at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and The Environment (ATREE).
Habitat Threats: The natural habitat of T. williamsoni is threatened by agriculture, deforestation, and slash-and-burn cultivation, emphasizing the need for conservation.
Conservation Call: The study stresses the need to conserve habitats and conduct broader sampling in the region to protect this rare species.
Additional Discoveries: The expedition also led to the discovery of a metallic blue ant (Paraparatrechina neela) and more than 15 new species of parasitic wasps, a mollusc and a gecko.
