Hanuman's Bridge: Facilitating Trade and Investment Between Sri Lanka and Southern India

The island of Sri Lanka, situated off the tip of southern India, is often perceived as the recipient of material culture diffused from more northerly regions. This article counters this model by suggesting that Sri Lanka may have played a pivotal role in the development of Brahmi, South Asia's earliest readable script. Sherds inscribed with this script, recently found at Anuradhapura, with dates of the beginning of the fourth century BC, now represent its earliest dated examples anywhere in the subcontinent. By analyzing the sherds' archaeological and scriptural context it presents a tentative mechanism for Brahmi's development and spread through South Asia and concludes by discussing the dynamic relationships between scripts, langtiage, material culture and ethnic division within Sri Lanka.

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First report of Pan-African Sm—Nd and Rb—Sr mineral isochron ages from regional charnockites of southern India

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756800013583 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 132 (3) ◽

pp. 253-260 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

C. Unnikrishnan-Warrier ◽

M. Santosh ◽

M. Yoshida

Keyword(s):

Sri Lanka ◽

Shear Zone ◽

East Antarctica ◽

Southern India ◽

Peninsular India ◽

Pan African ◽

Mineral Isochron ◽

Nd Model Age ◽

Tectonothermal Event ◽

Good Agreement

AbstractMineral and whole-rock isotope data for a massive charnockite from Kottaram in the Nagercoil Block at the southern tip of Peninsular India yield Sm—Nd and Rb—Sr ages of 517 ± 26 Ma and 484 ± 15 Ma respectively. The Nd model age calculated for the charnockite is c. 2100 Ma. Our study reports the first Pan-African mineral isochron ages from regional charnockites of Peninsular India, which are in good agreement with the recently obtained ages of incipient charnockites in the adjacent blocks, as well as alkaline plutons within the same block. Our results indicate that the Pan-African tectonothermal event in the granulite blocks south of the Palghat—Cauvery shear zone was regional, with terrain-wide rejuvenation. These results correlate with similar Pan-African tectono-thermal events reported from Sri Lanka and East Antarctica, and have an important bearing on Gondwana reconstructions.

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Nomenclature and synonymic remarks on two species of Eupterotidae (Lepidoptera) described by Johan Christian Fabricius, and notes on related species

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4471.2.11 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4471 (2) ◽

pp. 381

Author(s):

VADIM V. ZOLOTUHIN

Keyword(s):

Sri Lanka ◽

Related Species ◽

Distinct Species ◽

Southern India ◽

Valid Species ◽

Zoological Museum ◽

Related Taxon ◽

New Synonym ◽

New Synonymy ◽

First Time

Types of two species of monkey moths (Eupterotidae, Lepidoptera) described by Johan Christian Fabricius were located and are here figured for the first time, and lectotypes are designated for both species. The lectotype of Bombyx hibisci Fabricius 1775 is a male from the Hunterian Museum (Glasgow). The lectotype of Bombyx orientalis Fabricius 1793, originally listed from “Dom. Lund” was found in the Zoological Museum—University of Copenhagen (as temporarily loan from the Zoological Museum of Kiel University) with an old incorrect identification label. Both species are members of the genus Eupterote Hübner, 1820 (so-called Brachytera-lineage). The following new synonymy can thus be established: Eupterote orientalis (Fabricius, 1793), comb. nov. (= Dreata geminata Walker 1855, syn. nov., syn. corr.; = Eupterote geminata var. hebes Grünberg 1914, syn. nov.; = Dreata anada Moore 1860, syn. nov., = Brachytera phalaenaria C. & R. Felder, 1874, syn. nov., = Eupterote auriflua Moore, 1884, syn. nov.). The type locality for orientalis originally given as “India orientali” is likely to be Sri Lanka. The related taxon, Eupterote gardneri Bryk, 1950, stat. nov. is established as valid species (bona species) with the a new synonym, Eupterote bifasciata Kishida, 1994, syn. nov. Eupterote primularis Moore, 1884 is considered a distinct species native to Central and Southern India.

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Waterfall-inhabiting Naucoridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of southern India and Sri Lanka: Pogonocaudina Sites and Zettel, n. gen., and a review of Diaphorocoris with descriptions of two new species

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.2760.1.1 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2760 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

ROBERT W. SITES ◽

HERBERT ZETTEL ◽

M. ARUNACHALAM

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Sexual Dimorphism ◽

Sri Lanka ◽

Tamil Nadu ◽

New Genus ◽

Southern India ◽

Taxonomic Key ◽

Two New Species ◽

Tamil Nadu State ◽

Males And Females

A new genus of Naucoridae inhabiting a waterfall in Tamil Nadu state in southern India is described. Pogonocaudina Sites and Zettel NEW GENUS is diagnosed by a dense fringe of long hairs around the perimeter of the posterior abdominal segments, and by both males and females with a single segmented front tarsus with two pretarsal claws. Despite the lack of sexual dimorphism in the forelegs, this new genus is a member of the subfamily Laccocorinae, an assignment based on other characters consistent with this subfamily. Character states of this genus are compared with those of other Asian genera of Laccocorinae. The genus Diaphorocoris is reviewed and two new species are described here: Diaphorocoris arunachalami Sites and Zettel NEW SPECIES and D. kiliyur Sites and Zettel NEW SPECIES. Three species of Diaphorocoris are now known from southern India, and with one other species from Sri Lanka, a total of four species are now known in the genus. A taxonomic key is provided to distinguish all known waterfall-inhabiting Naucoridae in southern India and Sri Lanka.

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Out of India, thrice: diversification of Asian forest scorpions reveals three colonizations of Southeast Asia

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-78183-8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Stephanie F. Loria ◽

Lorenzo Prendini

Keyword(s):

Sri Lanka ◽

Southeast Asia ◽

Mass Extinction ◽

Indian Subcontinent ◽

Divergence Time ◽

Time Estimation ◽

Southeast Asian ◽

Southern India ◽

Divergence Time Estimation ◽

Northern India

AbstractThe ‘Out of India’ hypothesis is often invoked to explain patterns of distribution among Southeast Asian taxa. According to this hypothesis, Southeast Asian taxa originated in Gondwana, diverged from their Gondwanan relatives when the Indian subcontinent rifted from Gondwana in the Late Jurassic, and colonized Southeast Asia when it collided with Eurasia in the early Cenozoic. A growing body of evidence suggests these events were far more complex than previously understood, however. The first quantitative reconstruction of the biogeography of Asian forest scorpions (Scorpionidae Latreille, 1802: Heterometrinae Simon, 1879) is presented here. Divergence time estimation, ancestral range estimation, and diversification analyses are used to determine the origins, dispersal and diversification patterns of these scorpions, providing a timeline for their biogeographical history that can be summarized into four major events. (1) Heterometrinae diverged from other Scorpionidae on the African continent after the Indian subcontinent became separated in the Cretaceous. (2) Environmental stresses during the Cretaceous–Tertiary (KT) mass extinction caused range contraction, restricting one clade of Heterometrinae to refugia in southern India (the Western Ghats) and Sri Lanka (the Central Highlands). (3) Heterometrinae dispersed to Southeast Asia three times during India’s collision with Eurasia, the first dispersal event occurring as the Indian subcontinent brushed up against the western side of Sumatra, and the other two events occurring as India moved closer to Eurasia. (4) Indian Heterometrinae, confined to southern India and Sri Lanka during the KT mass extinction, recolonized the Deccan Plateau and northern India, diversifying into new, more arid habitats after environmental conditions stabilized. These hypotheses, which are congruent with the geological literature and biogeographical analyses of other taxa from South and Southeast Asia, contribute to an improved understanding of the dispersal and diversification patterns of taxa in this biodiverse and geologically complex region.

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The millipede genus Klimakodesmus Carl, 1932, with the description of a new species from Kerala state, southern India (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Pyrgodesmidae)

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4980.2.8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4980 (2) ◽

pp. 373-382

Author(s):

MATHILAKATH DASAN ASWATHY ◽

SERGEI I. GOLOVATCH ◽

AMBALAPARAMBIL VASU SUDHIKUMAR

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Sri Lanka ◽

Type Species ◽

Tamil Nadu ◽

Southern India ◽

Tamil Nadu State ◽

Kerala State ◽

A New Species

Klimakodesmus Carl, 1932 is briefly redescribed, rediagnosed, and shown to be an oligotypic genus endemic to southern India and distinct from the particularly similar genus Pyrgodesmus Pocock, 1892, monobasic and endemic to Sri Lanka, by several important features of peripheral and, especially, gonopodal structure. A new species, Klimakodesmus bilobocaudatus sp. nov., is described from Kerala state, India, differing from the sole accepted, and type species K. gravelyi Carl, 1932, from Tamil Nadu state, primarily by the laterally trilobate paraterga, the caudally more deeply bilobate mid-dorsal keel on ring 19, and certain minor details of the gonopodal structure.

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Sri Lankan weevil Myllocerus undecimpustulatus undatus Marshall

EDIS ◽

10.32473/edis-in1016-2013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2013 (11) ◽

Author(s):

Anita Neal

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Sri Lanka ◽

The United States ◽

Southern India ◽

Sri Lankan ◽

Broward County ◽

Fact Sheet ◽

Plant Pest ◽

Wide Range

Myllocerus undecimpustulatus undatus Marshall, the Sri Lankan weevil, is a plant pest with a wide range of hosts. This weevil spread from Sri Lanka into India and then Pakistan where many subspecies of Myllocerus undecimpustulatus Faust are considered pests of more than 20 crops. In the United States, the Sri Lankan weevil was first identified on Citrus sp. in Pompano Beach a city in Broward County Florida. Three specimens were identified by Dr. Charles W. O’Brien, first as Myllocerus undecimpustulatus, a species native to southern India, and then again as Myllocerus undatus Marshall native to Sri Lanka, finally as Myllocerus undecimpustulatus undatus Marshall to show its status as a subspecies. This 4-page fact sheet was written by Anita Neal, and published by the UF Department of Entomology and Nematology, November 2013. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in1016

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