Scarred creature with ‘robust’ claws found in the Himalayas. It’s a new species
Thousands of feet up in the Himalayas, a scarred creature used its “slender” limbs and “bent” toes to climb some rocks near a road. Something about it caught the attention of passing scientists — and for good reason.
It turned out to be a new species.
A team of researchers visited Jammu and Kashmir, a contested territory in between India and Pakistan, in 2024 as part of a biodiversity project. The region sits in the western Himalayan mountains, a “known biodiversity hotspot” with some “less well-investigated” areas, according to a study published July 22 in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa.
During their wildlife surveys, the researchers stopped along a winding mountain road and found a few unfamiliar-looking lizards on the rocks nearby, the study said.
Intrigued, researchers took a closer look at the animals, analyzed their DNA and realized they’d discovered a new species: Cyrtodactylus shivalikensis, or the Shivalik bent-toed gecko.
Shivalik bent-toed geckos are considered “medium-sized,” reaching almost 5 inches in length, the study said. They have “slender” limbs with “short” fingers and toes “strongly angled at (the) joints” and “equipped with robust recurved claws.”
Photos show the “prominent and vivid” coloring of the new species. Its body is “a shade of lilac with a brown tinge” shifting to “a shade of tan” on its tail, researchers said. Brown blotches dot its back along with some “bright yellow” spots.
One gecko had “a scar from an injury on its right shoulder,” the study said.
Shivalik bent-toed geckos were “found actively moving on rocky cliffs” at an elevation of about 3,900 feet, researchers said. The area “is degraded” and had been “cleared for road widening and construction.”
Much about the lifestyle and behavior of Shivalik bent-toed geckos remains unknown.
Researchers said they named the new species “after the Shivalik Hills,” where it was discovered and, so far, the only place where it has been found. The discovery site is in Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory in the Himalayas primarily controlled by India but claimed by Pakistan and, in some parts, China.
The new species was identified by its scale pattern, texture, coloring, pores and other subtle physical features, the study said. DNA analysis found the new species had at least 13% genetic divergence from related species.
The research team included Virender Bhardwaj, Jayaditya Purkayastha, H. T. Lalremsanga and Zeeshan Mirza.
The team also discovered a second new species of bent-toed gecko in Himachal Pradesh.
This story was originally published July 24, 2025 at 10:38 AM with the headline "Scarred creature with ‘robust’ claws found in the Himalayas. It’s a new species."
