Animal Discoveries 2020:
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.
