The Zoological Survey of India on 30 June released a checklist of the country’s fauna, which made India the first country in the world to prepare such a document.
Union Environment Minister launched the Fauna of India Checklist Portal, covering 104,561 species, at an event to mark the 109th Foundation Day of ZSI in Kolkata.
India has become the first country in the world to prepare a checklist of its entire fauna, covering 104,561 species.
The faunal checklist comprises 121 checklists of all known taxa covering 36 phyla.
About 455 mammalian species are recorded in India. 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).
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.
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.
