Journal of Animal Diversity
Volume:3 Issue: 4, Dec 2021

We present the first-ever annotated checklist on snakes of the proposed Jawai Community Conservation Reserve of southwestern Rajasthan, India. We opportunistically encountered 26 species of snakes during the year 2015 to 2017 from the study area. We have also collated a distribution synopsis for all the observed species with respect to the Rajasthan State.

We report Calotes geissleri from Chandel district in Manipur, India. Till recently known as Calotes mystaceus, this complex was revised and this species C. geissleri was described from N.E. India and Myanmar. We here report its occurrence in Chandel district, Manipur adjacent to other N.E. Indian states from where it was known previously. Our Manipur specimens have 0.003% genetic distance from its published type sequences, thereby confirming our identification and the range extension.

The freshwater ecosystems in Gujarat State, in the western part of India, are important habitats for various freshwater turtles. In the light of the lack of information on survival and the morality of the freshwater turtles, here, we have presented new information on threats scenarios of the Indian Flap-shelled turtle Lissemys punctata (Bonnaterre) and species mass mortalities observed in some water bodies of the Gujarat State. Approximately 1071 specimens of L. punctata and three specimens of the Ganges Soft-shelled turtle Nilssonia gangetica (Cuvier), along with large numbers of many other species of reptiles and fishes were recorded dead within a span of five years from January 2016 to December 2020. In some of the cases, the circumstantial evidence suggests that entanglement and trapping in the fish net could have been the reason, but large number of the deaths remained mysterious. This mysterious sudden death of aquatic reptiles in various water bodies of the state is of serious concern. We also discuss the possible explanation for these mysterious deaths.

Our assessment of Rotifera biodiversity of the floodplain wetlands of the Majuli River Island of the Brahmaputra basin of Assam state of northeast India (NEI) reveals total 175 species belonging to 39 genera and 19 families. The rich and diverse assemblage vis-à-vis diversity of the phylum known from India, NEI and Assam categorizes the Majuli as one of the megadiverse Rotifera region of India. The biodiverse Rotifera is hypothesized to habitat diversity of the Majuli wetlands with varied aquatic macrophytes, location of the study areas under the ‘Indo-Burmese biodiversity hotspot’ and the ‘Rotiferologist effect’, and merit conservation interest in light of extinction threat of this alluvial floodplain. One species each is new to the Indian sub-region and NEI, 29 species are new records from the Majuli, and 30 and 29 species depict the global and regional biogeography interest; various interesting species are hypothesized to the biogeographic role of the ‘Assam gateway’.  High richness of Lecane > Lepadella ≥ Trichocerca, the richness of Testudinella and the paucity of Brachionus species are noteworthy features. The reports of 175 and 148 species from the floodplain lakes and small wetlands indicate biodiverse rotifer assemblages of wetlands of the two categories, and mark a useful contribution to Rotifera ecological diversity of the Indian and the tropical floodplains.

In the present study, the length-weight relationships (LWRs) parameters of 148 specimens representing four species, including 20 specimens of Pseudorhombus javanicus, 70 Plicofollis dussumieri, 28 Scarus persicus and 30 S. fuscopurpureus collected from the Persian Gulf were estimated. The LWRs equations were found as W=0.67×L2.23 for P. javanicus, W=0.05×L2.38 for P. dussumieri, W=0.62×L2.15 for S. persicus and W=0.27×L2.41 for S. fuscopurpureus. The values of b ranged from 2.15 (S. persicus) to 2.41 (S. fuscopurpureus), with coefficient of determination (r2) greater than 0.85. The present study represents the LWRs parameters for P. javanicus from the Persian Gulf, Iran for the first time and provides useful information for marine ecologists, fishery managers, conservation marine fishes, and an online database of FishBase.

Metopograpsus cannicci Innocenti, Schubart and Fratini, 2020 is distributed in the Red Sea, Iran, along the East African coast, Seychelles, Madagascar, and Mauritius. The present paper reports this species for the first time from India indicating its eastward extension.

The Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus is a ‘Near Threatened’ small felid native to South Asia. It was believed to occur only in India and Sri Lanka, but recent studies confirmed its presence from the Bardia National Park (BNP) and Shuklaphanta National Park in Nepal. Here we add evidence of the species in the Banke National Park (BaNP) in 2013 and Bardia National Park (BNP) in 2017. A pair of motion sensor camera was installed either side of the game trail, forest road or stream bed, maximizing the possibility of tiger capture. Cameras were active for a minimum of 15 days in each sampling location. Camera trap photos were systematically sorted species-wise. A photograph of a single individual rusty-spotted cat was obtained in BaNP in the hot dry season (April–May) of 2013. The camera trap location in BaNP lies in dry-deciduous Sal Shoresa robusta forest at a distance of approximately 4.3 km from the nearest settlements. Additional photographs of rusty-spotted cat were obtained in BNP during the camera trap survey conducted in the dry season (January-April) of 2017. Importantly, the BNP detections confirm the presence of rusty-spotted cats in community forests outside protected areas. These findings reinforce mounting evidence of the value of observations of elusive species made as by-catch from camera-trapping studies focused on tigers or other large charismatic fauna, especially in the context of extending information on poorly known geographical ranges.

A survey has been carried out for studying the life cycle of butterflies in Bankura district, West Bengal, India. Four new larval host plants of three different species of butterflies together with their life cycles were observed during this survey: Calliandra heamatocephala (Hassk) as new larval host plant of Charaxes solon (Fabricius) and Rapala manea (Hewitson). Litchi chinensis (Sonn) as new host plant of Rapala manea and Hemigraphis hirta (Vahl) (T. Anders) as new larval host plant of Zizula hylax (Febricius).