New freshwater crab genus discovered

Genus has been named Rajathelphusa after Rajakumari

Researchers have come across a new genus of freshwater crab with two new species from the Western Ghats region in Idukki district. The genus has been named Rajathelphusa after Rajakumari, the place where the specimens were spotted. The discovery has been published in the latest issue of Zoological Studies by Smrithy Raj and A. Biju Kumar of the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala, and Prof. Peter Ng, head, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore, an authority on crabs. The two new species in the genus have been christened Rajathelphusa ala and Rajathelphusa muni. With their discovery, the number of freshwater crab species found in the Kerala part of the Western Ghats has risen to 39 and endemic species to 20, Prof. Biju Kumar, who heads the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, explained. ‘Ala’ alludes to the rock shelters used by the tribal people in the region, while ‘muni’ is Malayalam for hermit.