349 New Species of Flora and Fauna in India: Highlights of Discovery

349 New Species of Flora and Fauna in India: Highlights of Discovery

Question: Scientists and taxonomists from ZSI and BSI have found 349 new species of flora and fauna in India in the year 2014. Highlight the important aspects of this discovery.

• Scientists from Zoological Survey of India/ZSI and Botanical Survey of India/BSI have released data documenting 349 new species of flora and fauna found in the past one year.

• This includes 173 species and genera of plants and 176 species of animals

Plants

• Of the new plants discovered, the most important ones are as follows:

- 9 new taxa of wild Musa (bananas),
- 4 species of black plum (jamun),
- 3 species of wild gingibers and
- 10 species of orchids

• Western Ghats accounted for 22% of these recent discoveries

• Eastern Himalayas and NE states accounted for 15% of the species found

• 25 new seed plant species were discovered in Arunachal Pradesh alone

Animals

• ZSI found 176 species of animals last year including the following:

- 93 species of insects,
- 7 species of collembolans,
- 12 species each of arachnidan and crustacean and
- 1 species of mollusca.

• 2 species of reptiles have been located in the country namely TN and MP

• Large number of fish(23) and amphibians(24) new species were also found

• Most species of amphibians were discovered in the Western Ghats while the fish were discovered in NE most

Key Findings

• Western Ghats and NE are biodiversity hotspots where most new species were discovered

• Apart from these, BSI has also added 105 new records and ZSI has added 61 new records

• Animals and plants spotted for the first time in India but not elsewhere are called new records

Facts and Stats

• In 2013, 614 new species of plants and animals including 366 plants and 248 animals were discovered

• India has recorded 96,891 species of animals and 47,791 species of plants so far.