{"id":102110,"date":"2026-05-06T16:05:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=102110"},"modified":"2026-05-06T16:05:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:35:02","slug":"indopotamon-alipurduarense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indopotamon-alipurduarense\/","title":{"rendered":"Indopotamon Alipurduarense"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Indopotamon Alipurduarense Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists recently discovered a new species of freshwater crab named Indopotamon alipurduarense beneath the agricultural fields of West Bengal.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Indopotamon Alipurduarense<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a new species of <\/span><b>freshwater crab.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was discovered in the <\/span><b>sub-Himalayan Dooars region<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of <\/span><b>West Bengal.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It marks <\/span><b>only the second species <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ever recorded in the <\/span><b>Indopotamon genus <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and pushes the total number of known freshwater crab species in India to 183.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The crabs were discovered living in remarkably <\/span><b>deep burrows<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, plunging up to 1.5 metres into the <\/span><b>muddy soil of local rice fields.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These <\/span><b>highly secretive animals <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">spend the<\/span><b> vast majority of the year hidden <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">securely <\/span><b>underground<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They only <\/span><b>emerge <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from their subterranean homes <\/span><b>during<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the region&#8217;s <\/span><b>heavy rainy season<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, making them visible to researchers and locals only between May and August.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The crab\u2019s newly assigned scientific name, <\/span><b>alipurduarense<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is a direct nod to its origins, <\/span><b>honouring the Alipurduar district of West Bengal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Features:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new crab sports a striking <\/span><b>greyish shell bordered with vibrant orange-red edges and claws.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It boasts a <\/span><b>visibly deeper and broader shell.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The specialised male reproductive appendages, known as gonopods, are stouter with an abruptly narrowed section and a blunt tip, unlike the sharply pointed organs of its cousins.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, the female\u2019s reproductive openings (vulvae) are spaced much wider apart and are uniquely covered by a protruding sternal plate. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/researchmatters.in\/news\/new-species-freshwater-crab-found-buried-deep-under-west-bengals-rice-paddy-fields\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indopotamon alipurduarense is a new freshwater crab found in West Bengal. Know its habitat, features, discovery significance, and role in India biodiversity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":102091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7372,21,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-102110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-indopotamon-alipurduarense","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102110"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102159,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102110\/revisions\/102159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}