Fauna of India

India has some of the world's most biodiverse regions. The political boundaries of India encompass a wide range of ecozones—desert, high mountains, highlands, tropical and temperate forests, swamplands, plains, grasslands, riverine areas as well as island archipelago. It hosts three biodiversity hotspots: the Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas, and the hilly ranges that straddle the India-Myanmar border. These hotspots have numerous endemic species.http://www.teriin.org/biodiv/hotspot.htm]

India's 3,166,414 square kilometres shows a notable diversity of habitats, with significant variations in rainfall, altitude, topography, and latitude. The region is also heavily influenced by summer monsoons that cause major seasonal changes in vegetation and habitat. India forms a large part of the Indomalayan biogeographical zone and many of the floral and faunal forms show Malayan affinities with only a few taxa being unique to the Indian region. The unique forms includes the snake family Uropeltidae found only in the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. Fossil taxa from the Cretaceous show links to the Seychelles and Madagascar chain of islands.Jean-Claude Rage (2003) Relationships of the Malagasy fauna during the Late Cretaceous:Northern or Southern routes? Acta Paleontologica Polonica 48(4):661-662 [http://app.pan.pl/acta48/app48-661.pdf PDF] ] The Cretaceous fauna include reptiles, amphibians and fishes and an extant species demonstrating this phylogeographical link is the Purple Frog. The separation of India and Madagascar is traditionally estimated to have taken place about 88 million years ago. However there are suggestions that the links to Madagascar and Africa were present even at the time when the Indian subcontinent met Eurasia. India has been suggested as a ship for the movement of several African taxa into Asia. These taxa include five frog families (including the Myobatrachidae), three caecilian families, a lacertid lizard and freshwater snails of the family Potamiopsidae. Briggs, JC (2003) The biogeographic and tectonic history of India. Journal of Biogeography, 30:381–388] A fossil tooth of what is believed to be of from a lemur-like primate from the Bugti Hills of central Pakistan however has led to suggestions that the lemurs may have originated in Asia. These fossils are however from the Oligocene (30 million years ago) and have led to controversy. [Marivaux L., Welcomme J.-L., Antoine P-O., Métais G., Baloch I.M., Benammi M., Chaimanee Y., Ducrocq S., and Jaeger J.-J. (2001) A fossil lemur from the Oligocene of Pakistan. Science, 294: 587–591.] [ [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1022_TVlemur.html Oligocene Lemur fossil hints at Asian origin] Accessed February 2007] Lemur fossils from India in the past led to theories of a lost continent called Lemuria. This theory however was dismissed when continental drift and plate tectonics became well established.

The flora and fauna of India have been studiedand recorded from early times in folk traditions and later by researchers following more formal scientific approaches (See Natural history in India). Game laws are reported from the third century BC. [Krausman, PR & AJT Johnsingh (1990) Conservation and wildlife education in India. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 18:342-347]

A little under 5% of this total area is formally classified under protected areas.

India is home to several well known large mammals including the Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic Lion, Leopard and Indian Rhinoceros. Some of these animals are engrained in culture, often being associated with deities.These large mammals are important for wildlife tourism in India and several national parks and wildlife sanctuaries cater to these needs. The popularity of these charismatic animals have helped greatly in conservation efforts in India. The tiger has been particularly important and Project Tiger started in 1972 was a major effort to conserve the tiger and its habitats. [ [http://projecttiger.nic.in/ Project Tiger] Accessed Feb, 2007] Project Elephant, though less known, started in 1992 and works for elephant protection. [ [http://envfor.nic.in/pe/pe.html Project Elephant] Accessed Feb, 2007] Most of India's rhinos today survive in the Kaziranga National Park. Other well known large Indian mammals include ungulates such as the Water Buffalo, Nilgai, Gaur and several species of deer and antelope. Some members of the dog family such as the Indian Wolf, Bengal Fox, Golden Jackal and the Dhole or Wild Dogs are also widely distributed. It is also home to the Striped Hyaena. Many smaller animals such as the Macaques, Langurs and Mongoose species are especially well known due to their ability to live close to or inside urban areas.

Diversity

There is insufficient information about the invertebrate and lower forms of India with significant work having been done only in a few groups of insects notably the butterflies, odonates, hymenoptera, the larger coleoptera and heteroptera. Few concerted attempts to document the biodiversity have been made since the publication of the Fauna of British India series.

There are about 2546 species of fishes (about 11% of the world species) found in Indian waters.About 197 species of amphibians (4.4% of the world total) and more than 408 reptile species (6% of the world total) are found in India. Among these groups the highest levels of endemism are found in the amphibians.

There are about 1250 species of birds from India with some variations depending on taxonomic treatments accounting for about 12% of the world species [http://www.wcmc.org.uk/igcmc/main.html WCMC website] .

There are about 410 species of mammals known from India which is about 8.86% of the world species. [Nameer, PO (1998). Checklist of Indian mammals. Kerala Forest Department, Thiruvananthapuram]

The World Conservation Monitoring Centre gives an estimate of about 15,000 species of flowering plants in India.

Biodiversity hotspots

The Western Ghats

The Western Ghats are a chain of hills that run along the western edge of peninsular India. Their proximity to the ocean and through orographic effect, they receive high rainfall. These regions have moist deciduous forest and rain forest. The region shows high species diversity as well as high levels of endemism. Nearly 77% of the amphibians and 62% of the reptile species found here are found nowhere else.Daniels, R. J. R. (2001) Endemic fishes of the Western Ghats and the Satpura hypothesis. Current Science 81(3):240-244 [http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/aug102001/240.pdf PDF] ] The region shows biogeographical affinities to the Malayan region, and the Satpura hypothesis proposed by Sunder Lal Hora suggests that the hill chains of Central India may have once formed a connection with the forests of northeastern India and into the Indo-Malayan region. Hora used torrent stream fishes to support the theory, but it was also suggested to hold for birds. [Ripley, Dillon S. (1949) Avian relicts and double invasions in Penisular India and Ceylon. Evolution 2:150-159] Later studies have suggested that Hora's original model species were a demonstration of convergent evolution rather than speciation by isolation.

More recent phylogeographic studies have attempted to study the problem using molecular approaches. [Karanth, P. K. (2003) Evolution of disjunct distributions among wet-zone species of the Indian subcontinent: Testing various hypotheses using a phylogenetic approach Current Science, 85(9): 1276-1283 [http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/nov102003/1276.pdf PDF] ] There are also differences in taxa which are dependent on time of divergence and geological history. [Biswas, S. and Pawar S. S. (2006) Phylogenetic tests of distribution patterns in South Asia: towards an integrative approach; J. Biosci. 31 95–113 [http://www.ias.ac.in/jbiosci/mar2006/95.pdf PDF] ] Along with Sri Lanka this region also shows some faunal similarities with the Madagascan region especially in the reptiles and amphibians. Examples include the "Sibynophis" snakes, the Purple frog and Sri Lankan lizard genus "Nessia" which appears similar to the Madagascan genus "Acontias". [ [http://www.pdn.ac.lk/socs/zaup/reptiles/affinities.html affinities ] ] Numerous floral links to the Madagascan region also exist. [ [http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Madagasc/biomad1.html Biogeography of Madagascar ] ] An alternate hypothesis that these taxa may have originally evolved out-of-India has also been suggested. [Karanth, P. 2006 Out-of-India Gondwanan origin of some tropical Asian biota. Current Science 90(6):789-792 [http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/mar252006/789.pdf] ]

Biogeographical quirks exist with some taxa of Malayan origin occurring in Sri Lanka but absent in the Western Ghats. These include insects groups such as the zoraptera and plants such as those of the genus "Nepenthes".

The Eastern Himalayas

The Eastern Himalayas is the region encompassing Bhutan, northeastern India, andsouthern, central, and eastern Nepal. The region is geologically young and shows high altitudinal variation. It has nearly 163 globally threatened species including the One-horned Rhinoceros ("Rhinoceros unicornis"), the Wild Asian Water buffalo ("Bubalus bubalis (Arnee)") and in all 45 mammals, 50 birds, 17 reptiles, 12 amphibians, 3 invertebrate and 36 plant species. [http://www.cepf.net/xp/cepf/where_we_work/eastern_himalayas/eastern_himalayas_info.xml Conservation International 2006] [http://assets.panda.org/downloads/final_ehimalayas_ep.pdf] The Relict Dragonfly ("Epiophlebia laidlawi") is an endangered species found here with the only other species in the genus being found in Japan. The region is also home to the Himalayan Newt ("Tylototriton verrucosus"), the only salamander species found within Indian limits. [ [http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/references.php?id=27738 Amphibian Species of the World - Desmognathus imitator Dunn, 1927 ] ]

Indo-Burma

This region borders the Indian political boundary and extends into the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and includes the Andaman Islands. It is contiguous with the entire Myanmar region. [ [http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/indo_burma/ Biodiversity Hotspots - Indo Burma - Overview ] ] The region has provided new mammal species which are very surprising for recent times. Some of these recent discoveries include that of the Arunachal macaque ("Macaca munzala"), a species that was well known to the locals but introduced to science in 2004. Other recent discoveries from this region include the Laotian rock rat, the Leaf Muntjac and the Bugun Liocichla. The Khasi Hills toad ("Bufoides meghalayanus") is known from just a few locations within India. [ [http://www.biodiversityscience.org/publications/hotspots/IndoBurma.html Hotspots Revisited ] ]

Extinct and fossil forms

During the early Tertiary period, the Indian tableland, what is today peninsular India, was a large island. Prior to becoming an island it was connected to the African region. During the tertiary period this island was separated from the Asian mainland by a shallow sea. The Himalayan region and the greater part of Tibet lay under this sea. The movement of the Indian subcontinent into the Asian landmass created the great Himalayan ranges and raised the sea bed into what is today the plains of northern India. Once connected to the Asian mainland, many species moved into India. The Himalayas were created in several upheavals. The Siwaliks were formed in the last and the largest number of fossils of the Tertiary period are found in these ranges. Prater, S. H. (1971) The Book of Indian Animals. BNHS]

The Siwalik fossils include Mastodons, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, Sivatherium, a large four-horned ruminant, giraffe, horses, camels, bison, deer, antelope, pigs, chimpanzees, orangutans, baboons, langurs, macaques, cheetahs, Sabre-toothed tigers, lions, tigers, sloth bear, Aurochs, leopards, wolves, dholes, porcupines, rabbits and a host of other mammals.

Many fossil tree species have been found in the intertrappean beds [Stewart R. Hinsley [http://www.malvaceae.info/Fossil/Wood.html Notes on fossil wood] (Accessed September 2006) ] including "Grewioxylon" from the Eocene and "Heritieroxylon keralensis" from the middle Miocene in Kerala and "Heritieroxylon arunachalensis" from the Mio-Pliocene of Arunachal Pradesh and at many other places. The discovery of "Glossopteris" fern fossils from India and Antarctica led to the discovery of Gondwanaland and led to the greater understanding of continental drift. Fossil "Cycads" [Robert Buckler (1999) A brief review of the fossil cycads. [http://www.plantapalm.com/vce/evolution/fossils.pdf PDF] ] are known from India while seven "Cycad" species continue to survive in India. [http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/cycadpg?region=ind Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney, Australia] [Singh, Rita, P. Radha (2006) A new species of Cycas from the Malabar Coast, Western Ghats, India. Volume 58(2):119-123]

"Titanosaurus indicus" was perhaps the first dinosaur discovered in India by Richard Lydekker in 1877 in the Narmada valley. This area has been one of the most important areas for paleontology in India. Another dinosaur known from India is "Rajasaurus narmadensis" [Rajasaurus and Indian Dinosaur. Geological Survey of India. [http://www.gsi.gov.in/rajasaur.pdf PDF] ] , a heavy-bodied and stout carnivorous abelisaurid (theropod) dinosaur that inhabited the area near present-day Narmada river. It was 9 m in length and 3 m in height and somewhat horizontal in posture with a double-crested crown on the skull.

Some fossil snakes from the Cenozoic era are also known. [Rage J.-C., Bajpai S., Thewissen J. G. M. & Tiwari B. N. 2003. Early Eocene snakes from Kutch, Western India, with a review of the Palaeophiidae. Geodiversitas 25 (4) : 695-716 [http://www.mnhn.fr/publication/geodiv/g03n4a6.pdf PDF] ]

Some scientists have suggested that the Deccan lava flows and the gases produced were responsible for the global extinction of dinosaurs however these have been disputed. [ [http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU05/11195/EGU05-J-11195-1.pdf Floodvolcanism is the main cause of mass extinctions: Nice try, but where is the evidence? PDF] ] [ [http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/thomas.wolosz/volcanism.htm Volcanism] ]

"Himalayacetus subathuensis" the oldest-known whale fossil of the family Protocetidae (Eocene), about 53.5 million years old was found in the Simla hills in the foothills of the Himalayas. This area was underwater (in the Tethys sea) during the Tertiary period (when India was an island off Asia). This whale may have been capable of living partly on land. [ [http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/whales/classification/Whalefossils.shtml Whale fossils] ] [Bajpai, S. and Gingerich P.D. (1998) A new Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from India and the time of origin of whales Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:15464–15468 [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~gingeric/PDFfiles/PDG344_himalayacetus_opt.pdf PDF] ] Other fossil whales from India include "Remingtonocetus" approximately 43-46 million years old.

Several small mammal fossils have been recorded in the intertrappean beds, however larger mammals are mostly unknown. The only major primate fossils have been from the nearby region of Myanmar.

* See also Geology of India

Recent extinctions

The exploitation of land and forest resources by humans along with hunting and trapping for food and sport has led to the extinction of many species in India in recent times.

Probably the first species to vanish during the time of the Indus Vally civilisation was the species of wild cattle, "Bos primegenius nomadicus" or the wild zebu, which vanished from its range in the Indus valley and western India, possibly due to inter-breeding with domestic cattle and resultant fragmentation of wild populations due to loss of habitat.Rangarajan, M. (2001) India's Wildlife History, pp 4.]

Notable mammals which became extinct include the Indian / Asiatic Cheetah, Javan Rhinoceros and Sumatran Rhinoceros. [cite book|author=Vivek Menon|title=A field guide to Indian mammals|publisher=Dorling Kindersley, Delhi|year=2003|ISBN=0143029983] While some of these large mammal species are confirmed extinct, there have been many smaller animal and plant species whose status is harder to determine. Many species have not been seen since their description."Hubbardia heptaneuron", a species of grass that grew in the spray zone of the Jog Falls prior to the construction of the Linganamakki reservoir, was thought to be extinct but a few were rediscovered near Kolhapur. [IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) E-Bulletin - December 2002 [http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/news/ebulletin2002/ebulletindec02.html] Accessed October 2006]

Some species of birds have gone extinct in recent times, including the Pink-headed Duck ("Rhodonessa caryophyllacea") and the Himalayan Quail ("Ophrysia superciliosa"). A species of warbler, "Acrocephalus orinus", known earlier from a single specimen collected by Allan Octavian Hume from near Rampur in Himachal Pradesh was rediscovered after 139 years in Thailand. [Threatened birds of Asia [http://www.rdb.or.id/detailbird.php?id=693] Accessed October 2006] [The Nation, [http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/03/07/headlines/headlines_30028700.php March 6, 2007] ] Similarly, the Jerdon's Courser ("Rhinoptilus bitorquatus"), named after the zoologist Thomas C. Jerdon who discovered it in 1848, was rediscovered in 1986 by Bharat Bhushan, an ornithologist at the Bombay Natural History Society after being thought to be extinct.

pecies estimates

An estimate of the numbers of species by group in India is given below. This is based on Alfred, 1998. [Alfred, J.R.B. (1998) Faunal Diversity in India: An Overview: In Faunal Diversity in India, i-viii, 1-495. (Editors. Alfred, JRB, et al., 1998). ENVIS Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.]

Taxonomic Group	World species	Indian species	% in India
PROTISTA
Protozoa	31250	2577	8.24
Total (Protista)	31250	2577	8.24
ANIMALIA
Mesozoa	71	10	14.08
Porifera	4562	486	10.65
Cnidaria	9916	842	8.49
Ctenophora	100	12	12
Platyhelminthes	17500	1622	9.27
Nemertinea	600
Rotifera	2500	330	13.2
Gastrotricha	3000	100	3.33
Kinorhyncha	100	10	10
Nematoda	30000	2850	9.5
Nematomorpha	250
Acanthocephala	800	229	28.62
Sipuncula	145	35	24.14
Mollusca	66535	5070	7.62
Echiura	127	43	33.86
Annelida	12700	840	6.61
Onychophora	100	1	1
Arthropoda	987949	68389	6.9
Crustacea	35534	2934	8.26
Insecta			6.83
Arachnida	73440		7.9
Pycnogonida	600		2.67
Pauropoda	360
Chilopoda	3000	100	3.33
Diplopoda	7500	162	2.16
Symphyla	120	4	3.33
Merostomata	4	2	50
Phoronida	11	3	27.27
Bryozoa (Ectoprocta)	4000	200	5
Endoprocta	60	10	16.66
Brachiopoda	300	3	1
Pogonophora	80
Praipulida	8
Pentastomida	70
Chaetognatha	111	30	27.02
Tardigrada	514	30	5.83
Echinodermata	6223	765	12.29
Hemichordata	120	12	10
Chordata	48451	4952	10.22
Protochordata (Cephalochordata+Urochordata)	2106	119	5.65
Pisces	21723	2546	11.72
Amphibia	5150	209	4.06
Reptilia	5817	456	7.84
Aves	9026	1232	13.66
Mammalia	4629	390	8.42
Total (Animalia)	1196903	868741	7.25
Grand Total (Protosticta+Animalia)	1228153	871318	7.09

Taxonomic lists and indices

This section provides links to lists of species of various taxa found in India.

Animals

Invertebrates

* Arachnids
**Spiders of India
* Insects
** Coccinellidae
*** [http://www.angelfire.com/bug2/j_poorani/index.html Ladybird beetles of India]
** Odonata
*** Dragonflies and damselflies of India
** Lepidoptera
*** Butterflies of India
**** Papilionid butterflies of India
**** Pierid butterflies of India
**** Nymphalid butterflies of India
**** Lycaenid butterflies of India
**** Hesperid butterflies of India
**** Riodinid butterflies of India
*** Moths of India
** Hymenoptera
*** Ants of India

Vertebrates

*Fishes of India
*Amphibians of India
*Reptiles of India
**Snakes of India
*Birds of South Asia
*Mammals of India

Plants

See Flora of India

Threatened species

Many plants and animals are threatened or endangered due largely to habitat loss and population pressure apart from hunting and extraction. India stands out as one of the few countries with high human populations as well as a high number of threatened species. [IUCN (2004) A Global Species Assessment. ISBN 2-8317-0826-5 [http://www.iucn.org/bookstore/HTML-books/Red%20List%202004/completed/Section7.html] ]

Threatened plant species

Threatened Animal species

Number of species per group according to IUCN threat categories (1994)

ee also

* Endemic birds of South Asia
* Ecoregions in India
* Indian natural history
* Flora and fauna of Karnataka
* List of Indian state birds
* Endangered Mammals of India
* Flora of India
* Fauna of British India
* Wildlife of India
* Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
* Endemic birds of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

References

General reading

* R. E. Hawkins (Ed.) 1986. Encyclopedia of Indian Natural History. Oxford University Press. India. ISBN 0-19-561623-5

External links

* [http://www.wcmc.org.uk/igcmc/main.html World Conservation Monitoring Center]
* [http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/maps/biodivin.htm Tata Energy Research Institute]
* [http://www.zeroextinction.org/search_form_country.cfm Alliance for Zero extinction]
* [http://envis.nic.in/ffc.asp The official Indian Environment information site]