The new species of jumping spider discovered in the Desert National Park in Rajasthan has been named after arachnologist Sudhikumar in recognition to his contribution to the field of arachnology in India.
The spider now named as Pseudomogrus sudhii was discovered by a group of researchers who conducted a study on spiders in the Desert National Park.
The 4-mm long spider is said to be found only in India other than UAE. According to the description in the scientific journal the dark brown head of the male spider is covered with small white hairs and has a black eye region. There is a dark longitudinal band running the pale-yellow coloured abdomen. Meanwhile, head of the female is yellow with black eyes and there are white spots on its light-yellow abdomen.
Sudhikumar A V, the Head of the Department of Zoology, Christ College, Irijalakuda in Thrissur, is the founder of the Centre for Animal Taxonomy and Ecology (CATE). He has authoured the book 'Keralathile Chilanthikal' (Spiders in Kerala) published by the Kerala Bhasha Institute.
He has published over 200 research articles on the Indian spider diversity in various national and international journals.
The spider was discovered in Thar desert during a joint exploration by Dmitri Logunov (curator, Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, UK), Rishikesh Balkrishna Tripathi and Ashish Kumar Jangid of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
