New Tree Species Discovered in Arunachal Pradesh, Says Researcher

ITANAGAR: Researchers have discovered a new species of tree from Arunachal Pradesh, which they claim is new to science. The discovery of the new tree species in Arunachal Pradesh was published in the May 19 edition of the Edinburgh Journal of Botany. Meiogyne arunachalensis was discovered by the researcher during a biodiversity expedition to the "Adi hills of Arunachal Pradesh," the report published in the journal said, adding that the expedition was supported by the Hem Chand Mahindra Foundation, the Wildlife Institute of India, and Arunachal's forest department.

Researcher Navendu Page, one of the members of the group, mentioned in the report that this is the third species from India and the first from the eastern Himalayas and Northeast India. "The genus Meiogyne is distributed throughout South and Southeast Asia and includes approximately 33 described taxa," Page said. The species shows morphological similarity with Meiogyne maxiflora, a species distributed in Thailand, but it differs in a number of vegetative and reproductive characters, Page said in the report.

Meiogyne arunachalensis is the largest species of the genus described so far in terms of tree height and girth of the tree trunk. The discovery of the tree species in Arunachal Pradesh is the first record of the genus from Northeast India and the eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot. "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, the report published in the journal added.

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