Hardella thurjii (Gray 1831) – Crowned River Turtle

The crowned river turtle, Hardella thurjii (Family Geoemydidae), is a large (CL to 65 cm) freshwater turtle, largely confined to lentic waters in the Indian subcontinent. The species shows extreme sexual size dimorphism, females attaining a length over three times that of the males. Only plant matter is taken by the species in some areas, but elsewhere prawn or fish may be taken, possibly as carrion. Courtship and mating take place during the summer months in northern India, and 8–19 ellipsoidal eggs may be produced. Heavy exploitation for its flesh and extensive wetland development projects are among the factors suspected to have made the turtle rare in localities where it was once common, although there is some evidence that the species is difficult to observe in the wild

Hemotin, a regulator of phagocytosis encoded by a small ORF and xonserved across metazoans

Translation of hundreds of small ORFs (smORFs) of less than 100 amino acids has recently been revealed in vertebrates and Drosophila. Some of these peptides have essential and conserved cellular functions. In Drosophila, we have predicted a particular smORF class encoding ~80 aa hydrophobic peptides, which may function in membranes and cell organelles. Here, we characterise hemotin, a gene encoding an 88aa transmembrane smORF peptide localised to early endosomes in Drosophila macrophages. hemotin regulates endosomal maturation during phagocytosis by repressing the cooperation of 14-3-3ζ with specific phosphatidylinositol (PI) enzymes. hemotin mutants accumulate undigested phagocytic material inside enlarged endo-lysosomes and as a result, hemotin mutants have reduced ability to fight bacteria, and hence, have severely reduced life span and resistance to infections. We identify Stannin, a peptide involved in organometallic toxicity, as the Hemotin functional homologue in vertebrates, showing that this novel regulator of phagocytic processing is widely conserved, emphasizing the significance of smORF peptides in cell biology and disease

Conservation of olive ridley sea turtle <i>Lepidochelys olivacea</i> (Reptilia/Chelonia) along the Nagapattinam coast, southeast coast of India

168-171Nesting and mortality of Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829) was studied in 50 km beach stretch along the Nagapattinam coast during December 2000 to May 2001. Lepidochelys olivacea was common constituting 97.1 % of turtles recorded. This species emerged from sea for nesting during December and continued till April. The nesting of Lepidochelys olivacea was sporadic and the peak was observed in the second fortnight of February. The poor nesting (20 nests/ km) in the area could be due to high adult mortality (12 % females) due to incidental catch in the gill nets, and nest predation (> 90 %) by human. The Nagapattinam coast will not sustain the nesting population of Lepidochelys olivacea longer, if immediate conservation measures are not undertaken

Reptiles of Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan

Volume: 96Start Page: 475End Page: 47

The Distribution of the Asian Brown Tortoise (Manouria Emys) in India and the Taxonomic Status of Subspecies

Volume: 91Start Page: 147End Page: 14

CEPF Western Ghats Special Series: Birds of Meghamalai Landscape, southern Western Ghats, India

Species composition of birds in the Meghamalai landscape with respect to threat status, foraging guild and biome-restricted assemblage were assessed based on data collected opportunistically during two research projects: first one spanned 36 months (2006-2009) the other for 18 months (June 2011-December 2012) and from literature published during mid 1940s. A total of 254 species belonging to 55 families and 18 orders were recorded, which include 11% (18 of 159 species) of globally threatened birds reported from India, 88% (14 of 16 species) of endemic birds of the Western Ghats and a higher proportion of biome-restricted species (56% of Indo-Malayan tropical dry zone and 80% of Indian Peninsula inhabited by tropical moist forest birds). Among the foraging guilds, insectivorous birds (51%) dominated the bird composition followed by frugivores and carnivores. The present data shows that Meghamalai deserves to be recognized as an Important Bird Area of International Bird Conservation Network. This would enhance the conservation prospects of the landscape in a long run. The present study also highlights the importance of the area for conserving the birds of the Western Ghats