New species alert: New dragonfly species discovered in Assam's Sribhumi; Research bolsters conservation efforts in biodiversity hotspot

Silchar: Assam’s Sribhumi district has yielded a new dragonfly species, the ‘Long-tailed Boghawker’ (Sarasaeschna dosdewaensis), discovered in the remote forest village of Dosdewa, after which it is named. The species was formally described in a research paper published on April 21, 2026, in the peer-reviewed international journal Zootaxa.

The discovery is part of a wider study reporting three new dragonfly species from Northeast India, including two from a remote valley in Arunachal Pradesh and the Sribhumi find. The research team included Shantanu Joshi, Krushnamegh Kunte, Dattaprasad Sawant, Ujwala Pawar, Fahim Khan, Rejoice Gassah, and Vijay Anand Ismavel.

Researchers located the species along the Dosdewa forest village in Dosdewa Khasi Punjee, near the borders of Mizoram and Tripura. The holotype male specimen was collected on June 3, 2020. The work is closely tied to the Makunda Nature Club, a biodiversity group run by the Makunda Christian Leprosy and General Hospital, where Rejoice Gassah, head of the hospital’s biodiversity department, photographed and collected the specimen.

Dr Vijay Anand Ismavel, hospital superintendent and founder of the nature club, said the forests of Sribhumi are rich in wildlife but face persistent pressure from deforestation and trapping. “Studies like this one will strengthen the cause of conservation,” Dr. Ismavel said. He noted the club had earlier reported a new ghost moth species, Endoclita makundae, from the same region four years ago.

Local documentation linked to the discovery has also supported ecotourism in Dosdewa, which now draws birders from across India and provides work for villagers as guides and homestay hosts. Despite poor road connectivity that cuts off the village during the rainy season, Dosdewa has gained recognition as a biodiversity hotspot, with the Makunda Nature Club contributing the largest volume of Assam data to the global citizen science platform iNaturalist.
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