New Arunachal monkey named after Sela pass

The Sela macaque was geographically separated from the Arunachal macaque by Sela, the Eastern Himalayan pass at 13,700 ft

A new species of old world monkey recorded from Arunachal Pradesh has been named after a strategic mountain pass at 13,700 ft above sea level.

Sela macaque ( Macaca selai), the new-to-science primate was identified and analysed by a team of experts from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the University of Calcutta. Their study has been published in the latest edition of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

Phylogenetics relate to the evolutionary development and diversification of a species or group of organisms.

The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Sela macaque was geographically separated from the Arunachal macaque ( Macaca munzala) of Tawang district by Sela. This mountain pass acted as a barrier by restricting the migration of individuals of these two species for approximately two million years, the study said.

Sela is situated between Dirang and Tawang towns in western Arunachal Pradesh.

“We found the new macaque species in western and central Arunachal Pradesh while exploring the Arunachal macaque’s wild population for genetic insights. It was found to be genetically different from the other species of monkeys reported from this region,” ZSI’s Mukesh Thakur, one of the authors of the study said.

The other authors are Avijit Ghosh, Sujit K. Singh, Ritam Dutta, Lalit K. Sharma, Kailash Chandra and Dhriti Banerjee.