Zoological Survey of India scientists sight mountain skink on Mangalore University campus

A team of scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), which is conducting a faunal diversity survey of Mangalagangotri campus of Mangalore University for last three days, sighted Eutropis clivicola (mountain skink) on the campus on Friday.

A team of scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), which has been conducting a faunal diversity survey of Mangalagangotri campus of Mangalore University for last three days, sighted an Eutropis clivicola (mountain skink) on the campus on Friday. This species is listed as ‘endangered’ on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list categories.

“Sighting the mountain skink on the Mangalagangotri campus may be a new record for Karnataka,” Vishwanath D. Hegde, Scientist-E and Officer-in-Charge, and Muhamed Jafer Palot, Scientist-C, ZSI, told The Hindu. “Interestingly today (on Friday) we saw a skink, i.e., Eutropis clivicola. That may be a new record for entire Karnataka. Earlier it was recorded in Ponmudi, Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala,” Mr. Palot said.

He said that Pallid Harrier and Chestnut Shouldered Petronia were new bird species sighted on the university campus during the survey.

“We also saw Pantala flavescens, the globe skimmer dragonfly, known for inter-continental migration,” Mr. Hegde said.

Mr. Hegde said that the team got several ootheca (egg cases) of praying mantis which is used for biological control of insects. An ootheca contains several eggs.

“This is the best season for the praying mantis. Recently, we were at Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala. We did not find ootheca of praying mantis in large numbers there like we did here. The number of species we saw in the tiger reserve was less. The ootheca is sold at a high price in the online market,” he said.

Amal S., Senior Zoological Assistant, ZSI, said, “We expected parasitic wasps in large numbers on the campus since they are common. But they were not seen much. We don’t know why.” Mr. Amal said that about three species of solitary bees were spotted in addition to rock bees.