GS Paper 3
Topics Covered: Conservation related issues.
Context:
It is a document published recently by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).
- It reveals that 557 new species have been added to India’s fauna in 2020, which includes 407 new species and 150 new records.
- The number of faunal species in India has climbed to 1,02,718 species.
Important Species added:
- Trimeresurus salazar, a new species of green pit viper discovered from Arunachal Pradesh;
- Lycodon deccanensis, the Deccan wolf snake discovered from Karnataka;
- Sphaerotheca Bengaluru, a new species of burrowing frog named after the city of Bengaluru.
- Xyrias anjaalai, a new deep water species of snake eel from Kerala;
- Glyptothorax giudikyensis, a new species of catfish from Manipur;
- Clyster galateansis, a new species of scarab beetles from the Great Nicobar Biosphere.
- Myotis cf. frater, a bat species earlier known from China, Taiwan and Russia, has been reported for the first time from Uttarakhand in India;
- Zoothera citrina gibsonhilli, an orange-headed thrush earlier known from southern Myanmar to south Thailand (central Malay peninsula), was reported for the first time from India based on a collection made from the Narcondam island in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Zoological Survey of India:
- The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), a subordinate organization of the Ministry of Environment and Forests was established in 1916.
- It is a national centre for faunistic survey and exploration of the resources leading to the advancement of knowledge on the exceptionally rich faunal diversity of the country.
- It has its headquarters at Kolkata and 16 regional stations located in different geographic locations of the country.
Insta Curious:
Do you know about the Species Recovery Programme, which is one of the three components of the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH)? Reference
Sources: the Hindu.
