ITANAGAR, 23 May: Meiogyne arunachalensis, a species of tree described by researchers as new to science, has been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh.
In a research article published in the 19 May edition of the Edinburgh Journal of Botany, researcher Navendu Page mentioned that this
is the third species from India and the first from the eastern Himalayan and Northeast India region.
“The genus Meiogyne is distributed throughout South and Southeast Asia and includes approximately 33 described taxa. The species shows morphological similarity with Meiogyne maxiflora, a species distributed in Thailand, but it differs in a number of vegetative and reproductive characters. Meiogyne arunachalensis is the largest species of the genus described so far in terms of tree height and girth of the tree trunk,” Page said.
The research article mentions the discovery of the species as “the first record of the genus from Northeast India and the eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot.”
It further states that the species has so far been recorded in East Siang district and the Namdapha National Park in Changlang district. “It is also likely to be found in the intervening districts of Lower Dibang Valley and Lohit, and also in northern parts of Myanmar in areas neighbouring the Namdapha National Park,” it stated.
Meiogyne arunachalensis was discovered by the researcher during a biodiversity expedition to the “Adi hills of Arunachal Pradesh,” it said, adding that the expedition was supported by the Hem Chand Mahindra Foundation, the Wildlife Institute of India, and Arunachal’s forest department.
