Abhijit Das, Ph.D

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Abhijit DasAbhijit Das,
Ph.D Scientist - E & Head
Phone: 0135-2646205
E-mail :abhijit [at] wii [dot] gov [dot] in

My academic qualification includes a PhD in Zoology from Utkal University, Orissa and MSc from Gauhati University, Assam. I got interested in the study of reptiles and amphibians while pursuing my bachelor degree in zoology.    

My primary research interest includes morphological and molecular systematics, biogeography and conservation. I wish to initiate herpetofaunal inventory and monitoring programme for the protected areas of India to generate information on diversity and endemism. My long time research interest lies in understanding evolutionary origin and diversification of Himalayan herpetofauna.

Area of Interest: Systematics, Cladistic Biogeography, Macroecology

Research Papers:

  • Boruah, B., Narayanan, S., Aravind, N. A., Lalronunga, S., Deepak, V., & Das, A. * (2024). Description of six new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeastern India. Vertebrate Zoology, 74, 453-486.

  • Nawani, S., Goswami, D. S., Das, A., Banerjee, K., & Das, A. * (2024). Home range and seasonal movement of Nanorana vicina (Stoliczka, 1872)(Anura: Dicroglossidae) in Himalayan streams, India. Journal of Wildlife Science, 01-06.
  • Padhy, S. P., Vassa, C. N., Anand, D., Das, P., Jha, R. R., Das, A*., & Gopi, G. V. (2024). Herpetofauna diversity in and around Gautam Buddha and Koderma Wildlife sanctuaries of Jharkhand, India. Herpetology Notes, 17, 639-652

  • Gerard, J.D., B. Boruah, V. Deepak & A. Das* (2024). First record of two species of venomous snakes Bungarus suzhenae and Ovophis zayuensis (Serpentes: Elapidae, Viperidae) from India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(6): 25385–25399. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8935.16.6.25385-25399

  • Jain A, Akshay VA, Deepak V, Das A, Barnes P, Tapley B, 2024. Using local ecological knowledge to determine the status of Cantor’s giant softshell turtle Pelochelys cantorii in Kerala, India. Oryx.;58(3):300–9. doi:10.1017/S0030605323001370

  • Wang K, Deepak V, Das A, Grismer LL, Liu S, Che J (2024) Systematic revision of the Calotes jerdoni complex (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae) in the Pan-Himalaya. Vertebrate Zoology 74, 2024, 169–192 | DOI 10.3897/vz.74. e109088
  • Naitik G. Patel, Bitupan Boruah, Surya Narayanan, and Abhijit Das * 2023 First record of Amolops beibengensis Jiang et al., 2020 from India, along with a detailed morphological description. Herpetology Notes, volume 16: 865-875 (2023) (published online on 25 November 2023).

  • Bitupan Boruah, Surya Narayanan, Jason D. Gerard, Abhijit Das* & V. Deepak (2023) Discovery of a new species of dwarf frog (Anura: Ceratobatrachidae: Alcalus) extends the northwestern distributional limits of the genus to Northeast India, Systematics and Biodiversity, 21:1, 2249891, DOI: 10.1080/14772000.2023.2249891

  • Boruah, B., Deepak, V., Patel, N. G., Jithin, V., Yomcha, T., & Das, A*. (2023). A new species of green tree frog of the genus Gracixalus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the evergreen forest of Northeast India. Vertebrate Zoology, 73, 557-574

  • Bitupan Boruah, V. Deepak & Abhijit Das*  2023 Musicians in the marsh: a new species of music frog (Anura: Ranidae: Nidirana) from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Zootaxa 5374 (1): 051–073

  • Gautam KB, Kumar A, Das A, Gupta SK (2023). Himalayan upliftment and Shiwalik succession act as a cradle for divergence in Bengal monitor lizard Varanus bengalensis (Reptilia: Varanidae) in India. Cladistics. doi:10.1111/cla.12542

  • Dolia, J., Das, A., & Kelkar, N. (2023). House-warming: Wild king cobra nests have thermal regimes that positively affect hatching success and hatchling size. Journal of Thermal Biology, 112, 103468.

  • Boruah, B. and Das, A. (2022). Reproductive behaviour of Polypedates taeniatus (Boulenger 1906) (Anura: Rhacophoridae). Hamadryad. 39, pp. 43–56, 2022.

  • Boruah, B., Narayan, S. Deepak, V., and Das, A*. 2022. Morphological and molecular differences in two closely related Calotes Cuvier, 1817 (Squamata: Agamidae: Draconinae) with the first record of Calotes medogensis Zhao & Li, 1984 from India. Zootaxa. 5219(5): 433-45

  • Das, A. Gower, DJ, Narayanan, S. Pal, S. Boruah B. Sanjay Magar, Das, Moulick, S. Deepak, V.  2022.Rediscovery and systematics of the rarely encountered Blue-bellied kukri snake (Oligodon melaneus Wall, 1909) from Assam, India. Zootaxa 5138 (4): 417–430

  • Jithin, V., J. A. Johnson and Das A., 2022. Understanding the influence of check dam and season on habitat use to develop habitat suitability criteria for overwintering tadpoles of Nanorana spp. River Research and Applications 38(9):1629-1641

  • Jithin V, Johnson JA, Das A 2022.  Influence of check dams on the activity pattern and morphometric traits of overwintering tadpoles in the Western Himalaya. Limnologica 95:125992

  • Das, A, Smith, E.N., Sidik, I., Sarker, G.C., Boruah, B., Patel, N., Murthy, B.H.C.K. and Deepak, V., 2021. Hidden in the plain sight: a new species of Rhabdophis (Serpentes: Natricinae) from the Rhabdophis himalayanus complex. Zootaxa, 5020(3), pp.401-433.

  • Patel, N.G., Garg, S., Das, A., Stuart, B.L. and Biju, S.D., 2021. Phylogenetic position of the poorly known montane cascade frog Amolops monticola (Ranidae) and description of a new closely related species from Northeast India. Journal of Natural History, 55(21-22), pp.1403-1440.

  • Lalronunga, S., Lalhmangaiha, K., Zosangliana I., Lalhmingliani E., Gower D.J., Das, A., Deepak, V. 2021. A new species of Stoliczkia Jerdon, 1870 (Serpentes: Xenodermidae) from Mizoram, India. Zootaxa. 4996 (3): 569-580. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4996.3.9 [1.09]

  • Deepak, V., Lalronunga, S., Lalhmingliani, E., Das, A., Narayanan, S., Das, I. and Gower, D.J., 2021. Phylogenetic relationships of xenodermid snakes (Squamata: Serpentes: Xenodermidae), with the description of a new genus. Vertebrate Zoology, 71, p.747

  • Nawani S, Deepak V, Gautam K. B., Gupta, S. K., Boruah, B. and Das A*. 2021. Systematic status of the rare Himalayan wolf snake Lycodon mackinnoni Wall, 1906. (Serpentes: Colubridae). Zootaxa 4966 (3): 305–320


Last Updated: April 9, 2025