Two new species of non-luminous fireflies have been described from the Nilgiris, with one of them being named after the indigenous Kurumba tribe.
The two species Lamellipalpodes kurumba and Lamellipalpodes debprasama were found in the Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu. With the latest findings, the total number of Lamellipalpodes species now stands at 14, with five being found within the borders of the country.
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The findings, titled ‘Two new species of fireflies of the genus Lamellipalpodes from the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu’, were published in the International Journal of Tropical Insect Science, Springer-Nature Group, by authors Arnob Chakrovorty, N. Moinudheen, Banani Bhattacarjee, A. Abinesh, A. Samson, and N. Sadiq Ali.
“Lamellipalpodes is a genus of non-luminous fireflies distributed in India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand. Prior to this study, only two species were known from India,” said Mr. Arnob Chakrovorty, one of the lead authors of the paper, who discovered one more species in 2025 in West Bengal.
