Taxonomy, population status and ecology of Indian desert monitor lizard Mertens 1954 in the Thar desert of Rajasthan.

Among monitor lizards of the family Varanidae, Indian desert monitor lizard Mertens 1954 is one of the lesser-known species globally and due to lack of data on this species it is so far not evaluated by IUCN and excluded from the latest assessment of monitor lizards of Southeast Asia and Indo-Australian Archipelago. The present study was undertaken from January 2013 to June 2017 to fill this gap during which taxonomic evaluation along with an assessment of population and ecology of this species was carried out in the Thar desert of Rajasthan (TDR). The study brought into knowledge many morphological variations along with intraspecific variations of scale microstructure of this lizard.

Description of a new genus and five new species of tube-dwelling spider family Segestriidae (Araneae: Synspermiata) from Odisha, India.

The six-eyed spider family Segestriidae is poorly documented from India, with only five species belonging to two genera. Here we describe a new genus, Indoseges gen. nov.

Three new species of Idiops Perty, 1833 (Araneae: Idiopidae) from India.

Three new species of the front-eyed trapdoor genus Idiops, viz., Idiops joida sp. nov.