BY TC News Desk
Agartala, 14th June 2025: In a remarkable scientific breakthrough, researchers have discovered two new species of earthworms in Tripura — Kanchuria tripuraensis and Kanchuria priyasankari. This discovery underscores the rich biodiversity of Northeast India and adds to the growing list of unique species found in the region.
The findings emerged from a national-level collaboration between researchers from Tripura and Kerala, led by Dr. Animesh Dey, Assistant Professor at the Ecology and Biodiversity Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Tripura University.
Dr. Dey explained that the specimens were originally collected between 2004 and 2010 during his doctoral research with Dr. Sabyasachi Nath, under the mentorship of eminent taxonomist Prof. Priyasankar Chaudhuri (Retd.). It was only recently, after fresh specimen collections by a team of young researchers, that the species were formally identified and classified.
The first species, Kanchuria tripuraensis, is named after the state of Tripura, where it was discovered in rubber and pineapple plantations. The second, Kanchuria priyasankari, honors Prof. Chaudhuri for his decades-long contribution to earthworm taxonomy, which has helped bring Tripura’s biodiversity into national and international focus.
K. tripuraensis stands out in its genus for possessing single ventromedian spermathecae in segments 7 and 8. Meanwhile, K. priyasankari belongs to the turaensis species group and is distinguished by its smaller size and unique spermathecal structure when compared to its close relative, K. turaensis.
With these additions, the genus Kanchuria, endemic to Northeast India, now comprises ten species. The discovery also raises the total number of documented megadrile earthworm species in Tripura to 38, reinforcing the Eastern Himalaya-Northeastern Hills as the second richest region for earthworm diversity in India.
