Researchers to rechristen spider species after objection from admirers of Bhakti-era poet

He added, “Researchers had named the new species after Mehta with good intentions but we also have to respect the feelings of the people.”

Leaders of the Nagar sub-caste group of the Brahmin community in Junagadh had organised a meeting under the banner of Hatkeshwar Sanstha, an organisation of the Nagar community, on February 12 and had decided that they would make a representation to the BKNMU. The meeting came after media reports on researchers of the varsity naming a new spider species they had discovered as the Palpimanus narsinhmehtai.

The reports had quoted Prof Jatin Raval, an assistant professor with Life Sciences department of BKNMU as saying that the 15th century poet hailed from Junagadh hence the team led by him named the species after Mehta.

On February 12, Abhilash Ghoda, an event manager based in Ahmedabad who hails from the Nagar community, had also taken up the issue through a social media talk where he invited Prof Trivedi and Shashin Nanavati, president of the Narsinh Mehta Chora Trust (NMCT), as guests.

During the talk, Prof Trivedi had informed that BKNMU was not directly involved and that it was a “personal” research. Nanavati had said that since the V-C has assured to get the name changed, the matter is over.

“We assume the name was given in an emotional state and that there was no malicious intention. But the problem arose when people said that thanks to this patent, the name (of Mehta) will become globally known. Some people felt how Narsinh Mehta’s name can be associated with an insect. Not only Nagars but those who love literature and intellectuals also sent me messages telling me that the name should be changed,” he said.

He also hoped that the name would be changed by April 8, the poet’s Tap Prayan Jayanti, which marks Mehta leaving his home for meditation.

As was decided by the community leaders at the February 12 meeting, Nanvati, Hatkeshwar Sanstha president Niraj Vaidya and Amit Buch of Hatkesh Bhratrumandal and Sanjiv Mehta, a local journalist in Junagadh, met the V-C on February 14 and made oral representations.

Talking to The Indian Express, Nanavati said, “The researcher probably thought she was able to discover a new species of the spider only due to the blessings of Mehtaji. But our concern is what if one day a spider of this species bites someone. That person will curse Mehtaji only.”

The discovery was made by Namtra Hun, a doctoral research scholar with the Life Sciences department of BKNMU, Prof Raval and Jatin Prajapati, a researcher from Ahmedabad, who has studied spiders extensively.

The specimen of the palp-footed spider of Palpimanus genus in Palpimanidae family of spiders was collected by Hun from the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Junagadh as a part of her doctoral research under the guidance of Prof Raval.

Spiders of this genus are also known as brush-footed spiders and the BKNMU researchers had approached Prajapati for identification and detailed study of the new species which prefers places like behind barks of trees, rock cavities etc. The trio had jointly authored a research paper detailing their discovery and findings and their paper was published in the Arthropoda Selecta, a peer-reviewed Russian journal, in December.

There are 35 known spider species of the Palpimanus genus globally and the species discovered by the BKNMU researcher was only the second of this genus recorded in India.

After the Russian journal published the paper of the BKNMU researchers, World Spider Catalogue (WSC), the global repository of information about spiders, accepted Palpimanus narsihmehtai as a new spider species.

As per WSC, there are more than 49,000 known species of spiders in the world. In India and Gujarat, the number of known species of spiders, which play an important role in keeping the insect population in control, are around 1,800 and 450, respectively.

Prof Raval said the controversy is disappointing. “It is highly demoralising. But we respect the feelings of the people and are accordingly changing the name,” he said. Prajapati said that he didn’t have any role in choosing the name of the new species.

This was the second significant discovery by the researchers of the Life Science department of BKNMU since the university was founded by the state government in 2017.

Last year, researchers discovered Utracularia Janarthanami, a carnivorous plant, in the Girnar Hills. This was also the first record of this species in the state.