In biodiversity push, India prepares first list of 100k faunal species
India becomes the first country to release a checklist of its entire fauna, covering 104,561 species.
The Zoological Survey of India on Sunday released a checklist of the country’s fauna, with Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav saying the development has made India the first country in the world to prepare such a document.
Yadav launched the Fauna of India Checklist Portal, covering 104,561 species, at an event to mark the 109th Foundation Day of ZSI in Kolkata.
Speaking at the event, Yadav said that with the launch of the checklist India has positioned “itself as a global leader in biodiversity documentation”.
“The Fauna of India Checklist Portal is the first comprehensive document on the faunal species reported from India. India has become the first country in the world to prepare a checklist of its entire fauna, covering 104,561 species,” Yadav said.
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“The faunal checklist will be an invaluable reference for taxonomists, researchers, academicians, conservation managers, and policymakers. It comprises 121 checklists of all known taxa covering 36 phyla. Endemic, threatened, and scheduled species have also been included in the list,” he added.
About 455 mammalian species are recorded in India, according to the checklist.
Of these, the highest number of species are reported from Meghalaya (163 species), West Bengal (161), Arunachal Pradesh (142), Tamil Nadu (139), Assam (138), Sikkim (137) and Kerala (134).
Among Union territories, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (68 species), Ladakh (59) and Delhi (38) have the highest mammalian diversity.
Of the 52 mammal species endemic to India, Tamil Nadu (23 species), Karnataka (19) and Kerala (19) have high presence.
High endemism is reported from the Western Ghats hill streams of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Three genera such as Anathana, Latidens and Nilgiritragus are monotypic and found only in India.
Salim Ali’s fruit bat (Latidens salimalii) is a rare megabat species in the monotypic genus Latidens. The Madras Treeshrew is from the Anathana genus.
Among the 1,358 bird species present in India, there are 79 that are endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world. The Western Ghats Bio-geographic zone has the highest number of these species at 28, with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands being the next most important area for endemism.