Zoological Survey Of India Research Articles

Review of the genus Ctenoplectra Kirby (Apidae: Apinae: Ctenoplectrini) from India with two new country records

The oil-collecting bees of the genus Ctenoplectra Kirby from India are revised based on specimens deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India and University of Agriculture, GKVK, Bengaluru. The most exciting part of this revision is the addition of two Southeast Asian species of this genus, C. cornuta Gribodo and C. davidi Vachal, to the Indian fauna, which previously consisted of only C. chalybea Smith.

Species diversity of Molluscan fauna of Madhav National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India

The present study is based on the Molluscs samples present in National Zoological collection of Central Zone Regional centre, Zoological Survey of India, Jabalpur and the available Literatures. The Samples were collected back in the year from 1970 to 2017 by different tour parties surveying Madhav National Park and its vicinity over the years. The current study reveals the occurrence of 21 species of freshwater and Land mollusks belonging to 18 genera, 10 families, 7 orders of 2 classes of Phylum Mollusca. This is the first report of the mollusks species from this area which will help in evaluate the mollusks diversity of Madhav NP, Shivpuri.

Taxonomic study of a rare butterfly, Talbotia naganum (Moore, 1884) (Pieridae: Pierini) from Nagaland, India

The genus Talbotia Bernardi, 1958 is a member of the subfamily Pierinae within the family Pieridae. It consists of a single species, Talbotia naganum (Moore, 1884), commonly known as Naga White, which is a highly uncommon species in India. In order to examine its morphological characteristics, including its genital attributes, a male specimen of Talbotia naganum (Moore) was analyzed from the collections held at the National Museum of Lepidoptera, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. The various male genital attributes of this species have been thoroughly studied, illustrated, and compared in detail for the first time with the commonly found pierid butterfly P. brassicae (Linnaeus).

Lasioptera sharma, a new species of gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) feeding on Leea indica (Vitaceae) in India

A new species of gall midge associated with the leaves of Leea indica (Burm.fil.) Merr. (Vitaceae) is described and illustrated. Two species of Lasioptera have been reported from the plant genus Leea so far and the present species is the third one, known to cause galls on the leaves of Leea indica. The type specimens are deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Pune, India.

Seagrass ecosystems of Ritche’s Archipelago in the Andaman Sea harbor ‘Endangered’ Holothuria scabra Jaeger, 1833 and ‘Vulnerable’ Actinopyga mauritiana (Quoy & Gaimard, 1834) sea cucumber species (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea)

This study reports the presence of ‘Endangered’ sea cucumber Holothuria scabra for the first time from the mixed seagrasses of Havelock Island, and the ‘Vulnerable’ Actinopyga mauritiana from the monospecific Thalassia hemprichii meadows from Neil Island of Ritche’s Archipelago of Andaman & Nicobar Islands (ANI). Both species were found during field survey of intertidal seagrass ecosystems of Ritche’s Archipelago. Morphometric measurements were carried out in the field using a vernier caliper, and identification was confirmed using the identification guide for sea cucumbers of ANI provided by the Zoological Survey of India. The total body length of the H. scabra specimen was 15.7 cm, mouth width of 3.2 cm and body circumference of 5.7 cm. The specimen was a juvenile, grey in color with a total of 17 black and yellow transverse stripes along the body. The average body length of A. mauritiana specimens examined differed between those from seagrass meadows (20.4 cm) non-seagrass areas (15.7 cm) as did mouth width and total circumference. Mono and mixed seagrass meadows of ANI are critical habitats for sea cucumbers and require monitoring and protection for conservation of declining populations.

INVENTORY OF BUTTERFLIES (INSECTA:LEPIDOPTERA:PAPILIONOIDEA) OF ITANAGAR WILDLIFE SANCTUARY ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA

The present study was conducted to compile the species composition of the diversity of butterflies in Itanagar Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh. The butterflies were observed and collected in the field from April 2019 to March 2022. Old collections of the campus made by earlier workers (1996?2018), present in the Entomological Museum, Zoological Survey of India, Itanagar, India, were also studied. Atotal of 195 species referable to 118 genera under six families, i.e., Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Riodinidae, Lycaenidae, and Hesperiidae, were recorded from Itanagar Wildlife Sanctuary for the first time. The maximum diversity of species was found in the family Nymphalidae, with 82 species under 41 genera (42%); followed by Lycaenidae, 42 species under 33 genera (22%); Hesperiidae, 34 species under 25 genera (17%); Pieridae, 18 species under 11 genera (9%); Papilionidae, 18 species under 7 genera (9%); and Riodinidae, 1 species under 1 genus (1%). Observations on the relative abundance of butterfly diversity revealed that of these 195 species, 59 species (31%) were found to be common, 72 species (36%) were uncommon, and the remaining 64 species (33%) were less common. Of 195 species, 21 were found in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act 2022.. KEYWORDS :Butterflies, Papilionoidea, Diversity, Wildlife sanctuaries, Morphology

Assessment of Malcofaunal diversity of Bilaspur district, Chatishgarh from the collection of National Zoological Collection of, Zoological Survey of India, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh

Assessment of Malcofaunal diversity of Bilaspur district, Chatishgarh from the collection of National Zoological Collection of, Zoological Survey of India, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh

Faunal Diversity of Pulicat Lake, Southeast Coast of India

Pulicat Lagoon, located on the South-east Coast of India, indeed plays a crucial role in supporting a diverse range of aquatic and avian species. Pulicat Lagoon is known for its rich biodiversity. As mentioned, it supports a variety of species, including crustaceans, finfish, and migratory birds. These species are not only ecologically important but also contribute to the local economy through fisheries and tourism. The present study is an attempt to compile the faunal list based on the field survey conducted during 2005- 2007 & May to Dec 2022 by Marine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Chennai and from the published literature. Altogether 354 species belong to six phyla are reported so far. Among them 65 species of microfauna (phytoplankton, and zooplankton) and 289 species of macrofauna (Cnidaria, Arthropoda, Mollusca, Echinodermata, Pisces, and Birds) were reported so far. The lagoon is also important for the local fishing communities. It serves as a breeding ground for many fish species, which are essential for the livelihoods of the people living in the region. Sustainable fisheries management is vital to ensure the long-term well-being of these communities. Periodical research and monitoring of the lagoon's biodiversity and ecological health are crucial. This can help track changes, identify emerging threats, and guide conservation efforts. Pulicat Lagoon is a valuable ecosystem that supports a wide range of species and plays a vital role in the local economy. Conservation efforts should focus on maintaining the lagoon's ecological balance, preventing further degradation, and involving local communities in sustainable management practices to ensure its long-term survival. Pulicat Lagoon faces several environmental challenges, including silt deposition, habitat degradation, soil erosion, and changes in freshwater flow. These issues can disrupt the delicate balance of the ecosystem and threaten the survival of various species.

Taxonomic notes on the crab spider genus Oxytate L. Koch, 1878 (Araneae: Thomisidae) from India.

Type specimens of poorly known Indian Oxytate species deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, and the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), Paris are re-examined and described. Oxytate subvirens (Strand, 1907) is recorded for the first time from India and the current distribution of the genus in India is also mapped.

Taxonomic Revision of Genus Pareronia Bingham, 1907 (Papilionoidea : Pieridae) from India with New Status for Two Taxa

This study concentrates on the taxonomic situation of the genus Pareronia (Bingham, 1907) in India and recommends revisions. There are three species of genus Pareronia in India and all these three species are evaluated under this study using the specimens from the collections located at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata. Based on the critical examination of morphological characters and well pronounced differences in the male genitalia, the status of Pareronia valareia hippia (Fabricius) is raised to species level and the dry season form of Pareronia avatar (Moore) form tarina, Fruhstorfer (1903), is upgraded to species level, Pareronia tarina.

Biodiversity and Problems of Auditing Wildlife in General and Snakes in Particular

Background: Biodiversity is one of the proud domains of any country in the world. Wildlife as a whole is one of the greatest contributors to the environment worldwide in the human race. It is known as one of the vital assets of all countries of the world. Protecting wildlife is also synonymously used as protecting the future of the earth and humanity by researchers worldwide. It becomes essential in the changing environment to give more attention to the conservation of wildlife. There seem many inherent problems in protecting wildlife, and it is very difficult to deal with these problems. One of the needs is to address the problems of audit and audit ability of wildlife in general and snakes, particularly in India. We need data and facts for auditing. Can this be done with ‘counting snakes? (Interesting / chilling /challenging?) The management and governance problems even with the controlled environment like reserved forests from audit perspective for the bodies like forest department of the country and government agencies like “Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)/Botanical Survey of India (BSI),” etc. How difficult is it to count animals? Especially snakes? Almost impossible. Needs innovative approaches to solving these problems.

Environmental and anthropogenic impact on conservation and sustainability of marine fish diversity.

Marine fish biodiversity and conservation linked to human livelihoods along the coast were studied in 2019 using a survey and personal interviews to investigate the effects of environmental and anthropogenic issues on changes in marine fish diversity that affect sustainability. The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) authenticated 42 finfish, 6 crabs, and 1 shrimp from three groups collected along the coastal zone. The estimated fish species diversity index revealed that alpha and beta biodiversity were more prevalent in the study zone than gamma fish diversity. When the collected fish species were compared to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threatened lists, 51% were found to be least concerned. The variation in the livelihood status, age group, religious, education, houses, training, graft, and gear of fishermen was 93.6% and 4.3%, respectively, according to the principle component analysis. The observation of 51% of the least concerned species in the study zone suggests species declination as a result of overexploitation of natural resources. The study suggests that strict conservation measures be put in place to ensure the sustainability and conservation of fish diversity.

REPORT ON COLOUR ABERRATION FOUND IN WILD ANIMALS AT PENCH TIGER RESERVE, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

Pench Tiger reserve, Nagpur, Maharashtra is 25th Tiger reserve of India, located in central Indian landscape and spreads over 741.41 sq. Km. There are 71 mammal species reported by Zoological Survey of India (ZSI, 2004).The colour coat of animals is general character in morphological features to identify the animals. But sometimes colour variation is observed in wild animals due to variation in melanin pigment concentration cause of various reasons. There are six different terms as per morphological variations found in wild animals as Albinism, Leucism, Piebaldism, Melanism, Hypomelanism and Blue eyed morph (Mahabal, 2019). Out of these, there are three variations as Leucism, Piebaldism, Melanismfound in Pench tiger reserve, Maharashtra in Sambar& Spotted deer.

Follow the Footsteps of Leonardo Fea: An Example of an Integrative Revision of Freshwater Mussel Taxa Described from the Former British Burma (Myanmar)

Leonardo Fea, an Italian explorer and traveler, sampled a comprehensive collection of continental Mollusca during his travels throughout the former British Burma (currently Myanmar) in 1885-1887. Cesare Maria Tapparone-Canefri, an Italian malacologist, studied this sample and published a paper with a description of numerous terrestrial and freshwater molluscan taxa new to science. This collection was partly deposited in the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova (MSNG), Italy and the Indian Museum (ZSI: Zoological Survey of India) in Kolkata. Here, we provide a re-analysis of C.M. Tapparone-Canefri’s Burmese Unionidae collection. Our study reveals that the type series of only four nominal taxa described by Tapparone-Canefri as new to science in 1889 are still available in the MSNG, i.e. Unio rectangularis, U. pulcher, U. protensus var. obtusatus, and U. marginalis var. subflabellata. The first taxon is a valid species belonging to the genus Yaukthwa, while U. pulcher and U. protensus var. obtusatus are considered here as junior synonyms of the widespread Lamellidens generosus, and the last nominal taxon corresponds to L. savadiensis. The MSNG collection also contains shell lots of Indochinella pugio pugio, I. pugio paradoxa, Indonaia andersoniana, Radiatula chaudhurii, R. mouhoti haungthayawensis, Lamellidens savadiensis, L. generosus, Yaukthwa nesemanni, and Y. zayleymanensis, most of which were listed in Tapparone-Canefri’s work under incorrect names. We revise all the freshwater mussel taxa listed by Tapparone-Canefri based on the original descriptions, available DNA sequences, morphological data, and biogeographic evidence. A freshwater mussel from the Haungthayaw River that was identified by Tapparone-Canefri as Unio exolescens is described here as Trapezoideus mitanensis sp. nov., a fourth species in this small Contradentini genus with a restricted range. Finally, new taxonomic opinions are proposed here for Leoparreysia tavoyensis, Trapezidens dolichorhynchus, Lamellidens generosus, and Lamellidens savadiensis.

On the collection of marine crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) in the Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Pune, with a note on the taxonomy of Sphaerozius scaber (Fabricius, 1798) (Menippidae).

The Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Pune (ZSI-WRC) contains 1887 specimens of mostly unstudied marine brachyuran crabs. The present systematic study on the marine crabs of ZSI-WRC reports 62 species in 44 genera, 18 families and nine superfamilies. Of these, four genera and 13 species are new distributional records within India. We also record three species for the first time from the Indian waters: Metopograpsus cannicci Innocenti, Schubart Fratini, 2020 (Grapsidae MacLeay, 1838), Varuna yui Hwang Takeda, 1986 (Varunidae H. Milne Edwards, 1853), and Ilyograpsus paludicola (Rathbun, 1909) (Macrophthalmidae Dana, 1851). The record of Varuna yui is significant as it is the first time it has been found from the western Indian Ocean. The subfamily Ilyograpsinae tevi, 2005, has likewise not previously been reported from India. The taxonomy of the poorly known menippid crab, Sphaerozius scaber (Fabricius, 1798), is clarified with the designation of a lectotype, and its taxonomy is discussed. Sphaerozius scaber can be distinguished from the only congener S. nitidus Stimpson, 1858, by its prominently tuberculated carapace, palm and carpus of the chelipeds, and the strongly curved male first gonopod, with the distal part gently tapering into a truncate tip. Sphaerozius scaber is a new addition to the west coast of India. With the inclusion of the present new records, India is now known to have 939 species of marine brachyuran crabs in 375 genera of 63 families.

Four species of anthidiine bees (Apoidea: Megachilidae) new to India

AbstractWe report for the first time in India one genus,BathanthidiumMavromoustakis, and the following four species of the bee tribe Anthidiini (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) based on material deposited at the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata:Anthidium(Anthidium)florentinum(Fabricius),Anthidium(Proanthidium)qingtaoiNiu and Zhu,Anthidiellum(Pycnanthidium)carinatum(Wu), andBathanthidium(Manthidium)binghami(Friese). Illustrations of each of these species are provided, together with the information about their distribution, floral association, and diagnostic features.

Herpetofaunal Diversity of Zoological Survey of India Campus, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

The present study is based on herpetofaunal observations made from November 2019 to November 2020, as well as the study of both collections made from the study area and deposited in the National Zoological Collection (NZC) of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), APRC, Itanagar. The herpetofaunal diversity of ZSI campus, Itanagar, comprises 37 species under 32 genera, 14 families and 3 orders. Reptiles (78%) are found to be more diverse than the amphibians (22%) in the area. The herpetofauna of the ZSI campus represents 12% and 27% of the total Amphibian and Reptilian diversity of the state, respectively. The occurrence of one endangered species, Coura mouhotii (Gray, 1862) and quite a few taxa of legal protection value, highlights the importance of the herpetofaunal diversity of the ZSI campus, Itanagar.

Notes on Indian wolf spiders: I. Genus Evippa Simon, 1882 (Araneae: Lycosidae, Evippinae).

Indian wolf spider species of the genus Evippa Simon, 1882 based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata are revised. One new synonymy is recognised: Evippa mandlaensis Gajbe, 2004 syn. nov. is synonymised with Wadicosa fidelis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872). All the type material examined are imaged and supplementary descriptions for Evippa shivajii Tikader Malhotra, 1980, Evippa sohani Tikader Malhotra, 1980, and Evippa solanensis Tikader Malhotra, 1980 are provided.

Trachysalambria aspera (Alcock, 1905) (Crustacea, Decapoda, Penaeidae) from the southeastern Arabian Sea, India.

Trachysalambria aspera (Alcock, 1905) was first reported and described in detail by Alcock (1905) as Trachypeaneus asper Alcock, 1905, from the Ganjam coast (Odisha, India) and Andaman Sea. Chan et al. (2016) revised the species under the genus Trachysalambria based on molecular genetic data and resolved the confusion in their taxonomy in literature. However, they could not examine the types of T. aspera due to their non-availability (Chan et al. 2016). So we discuss the characters of the species based on the photograph of the type specimen from the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata with that of Chan et al. (2016) and also with the specimens collected from southwest coast of India where the species has not been reported earlier, but only Trachysalambria curvirostris (George, 1967). Earlier, among Trachysalambria species, T. curvirostris was reported from both the east (Bay of Bengal) and west coasts (Arabian Sea) of Indian waters (Kunju, 1960; George, 1967; Muthu, 1971; Thomas, 1976). Chan et al. (2016) states that T. curvirostris may have a restricted distribution to northern Pacific Ocean.

Redescription of a rare cusk eel, Pycnocraspedum squamipinne (Actinopterygii, Ophidiiformes, Ophidiidae), from Bay of Bengal

Pycnocraspedum squamipinne Alcock, 1889 is a rare species of pelagic cusk eel described from specimens collected off the Bay of Bengal. The descriptive literature on P. squamipinne is limited to the original description owing to the rarity in collections. The genus and the species need a thorough revision to identify specific characters of taxonomic importance as the descriptive information regarding the species in the genus Pycnocraspedum is limited to the holotypes and syntypes. Fifteen fresh specimens of P. squamipinne were collected from the Chennai coast, Tamil Nadu, Bay of Bengal region. The syntypes of P. squamipinne (ZSI F 11700 and ZSI F 11703) available at the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata were examined. The morphometric and meristic characters of P. squamipinne were compared with those of syntypes and other species of the genus. Molecular analysis was carried out using partial mtDNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (COI). The specimen is deposited in the national fish repository of the ICAR, National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, India. A detailed redescription of P. squamipinne based on the syntypes and fifteen recently collected specimens are provided. A detailed comparison with other species of the genus is also provided which helps in establishing the taxonomic identity of P. squamipinne. Molecular information was generated which would help in the species identification of this rare deep-sea species. This study provides morphological and molecular information of the rare cusk eel, P. squamipinne, which would help in the precise identification of the species. However, due to paucity, the majority of species of the genus are still only known from single specimens and comprehensive examination of holotypes and intensive sampling is needed to better understand the species identity and distribution.