Floral and Faunal Database

About floral and faunal database:

• The faunal discoveries are compiled in a publication by Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) titled Animal Discoveries – New Species and New Records 2023, 
• The floral discoveries are contained in Plant Discoveries 2022 published by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI). 

New Discoveries:

• India added 664 animal species to its faunal database in the year 2022. These comprise 467 new species and 197 new records [species found in India for the first time].
• The country also added 339 new plant taxa – 186 taxa that are new to science and 153 taxa as new distributional records from the country in 2022.
• Among the major fauna species discovered are three new species and one new record of mammals; two new records of birds; 
  • 30 new species and two new records of reptiles; six new species and one new record of amphibia; and 28 new species and eight new records of fish. 
  • The mammal species discovered include two species of bats –
    • Miniopterus phillipsi, a long-fingered bat, and 
    • Glischropus meghalayanus, a bamboo-dwelling bat – both from Meghalaya. 
  • Sela macaque (Macaca selai), a new macaque species discovered in the western and central Arunachal Pradesh and named after the Sela Pass, is also among the highlights of Animal Discoveries 2022. 

The new records include:

• Macaca leucogenys, a white-cheeked macaque earlier found in Modog, southeastern Tibet, and sighted in India for the first time in 2022 in West Siang, Arunachal Pradesh.
• Ficedula zanthopygia, the yellow-rumped flycatcher, earlier known from Mongolia, Transbaikal, southern China, Korea, western Japan, and found last year in Narcondam Island of the Andaman archipelago. 
• The maximum number of new faunal discoveries has been of invertebrates with 583 species, while vertebrates constitute 81 species. 
• Insects dominate among invertebrates with 384 species, whereas fish dominated among vertebrates, followed by reptiles, amphibia, mammals and aves.
• Plant Discoveries 2022’ contains an enumeration of 339 taxa, which have been added to the Indian flora during 2022. These comprise 319 species, and 20 infraspecific taxa as new to the Indian flora. Of these, 186 taxa are new to science and 153 taxa are new distributional records from India.

The new discoveries:

• 37% are of seed plants, 29% fungi, 16% lichen, 8% algae, 6% bryophytes, 3% microbes and remaining 1% pteridophytes. About 21% of the total discoveries were made from the western Himalayas followed by 16% from the Western Ghats. 
• The Plant Discoveries 2022, include 125 angiosperms, one gymnosperm, five pteridophytes, 19 bryophytes, 55 lichens, 99 fungi, 27 algae and nine microbes.
• Among the new genus of plants discovered are Nandadevia Pusalkar, a genus common throughout the foothills and warm outer valleys of the Uttarakhand Himalayas,  and Nilgiriella Pusalkar, endemic to the southern Western Ghats of India and distributed in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. 
• Among the new records in orchid species, Calanthe lamellosa, earlier recorded in China and Myanmar, and found for the first time in India in the Japfu mountain range in Kohima, Nagaland.

Q1) What is the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)?

The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) is more than a century old organization established on 1st July 1916 to explore the faunal diversity of the country and to document the baseline data with regards to taxonomy, distribution, bio-ecology etc. of the animal groups.

Source: India adds 664 animal species to its faunal database in 2022, 339 taxa to its flora

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