Fauna and flora of India - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

has some of the world's most biodiverse

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

regions. The political boundaries of India encompass a wide range of ecozones—desert, high mountains, highlands, tropical and temperate forests, swamplands, plains, grasslands, areas surrounding rivers, as well as island archipelago. It hosts three biodiversity hotspot

Biodiversity hotspot

A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans.The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Norman Myers in two articles in “The Environmentalist” , revised after thorough analysis by Myers and others in...

s: the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

, the Eastern Himalayas

Himalayas

The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

, and the hilly ranges that straddle the India-Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

border. These hotspots have numerous endemic

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...

species.

India, for the most part, lies within the Indomalaya ecozone, with the upper reaches of the Himalayas

Himalayas

forming part of the Palearctic ecozone; the contours of 2000 to 2500m are considered to be the altitudinal boundary between the Indo-Malayan and Palearctic zones. India displays significant biodiversity

Biodiversity

. One of eighteen megadiverse countries

Megadiverse countries

The megadiverse countries are a group of countries that harbor the majority of the Earth's species and are therefore considered extremely biodiverse...

, it is home to 7.6% of all mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

ian, 12.6% of all avian

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

, 6.2% of all reptilian

Reptile

Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

, 4.4% of all amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

, 11.7% of all fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

, and 6.0% of all flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

species.

The region is also heavily influenced by summer monsoon

Monsoon

Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...

s that cause major seasonal changes in vegetation and habitat.
India forms a large part of the Indomalaya

Indomalaya

The Indomalaya ecozone is one of the eight ecozones that cover the planet's land surface. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia....

n biogeographical zone and many of the floral and faunal forms show Malayan affinities with only a few taxa being unique to the Indian region. The unique forms includes the snake family Uropeltidae found only in the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. Fossil taxa from the Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

show links to the Seychelles

Seychelles

Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....

and Madagascar chain of islands. The Cretaceous fauna include reptiles, amphibians and fishes and an extant species demonstrating this phylogeographical

Phylogeography

Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the contemporary geographic distributions of individuals. This is accomplished by considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of the patterns associated with a gene genealogy.This term was...

link is the Purple Frog

Purple Frog

Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis is a frog species belonging to the family Sooglossidae. It can be found in the Western Ghats in India. Common names for this species are Purple Frog, Indian Purple Frog, Pignose Frog or Doughnut Frog. It was discovered by S.D. Biju and F...

. The separation of India and Madagascar is traditionally estimated to have taken place about 88 million years ago. However there are suggestions that the links to Madagascar and Africa were present even at the time when the Indian subcontinent met Eurasia. India has been suggested as a ship for the movement of several African taxa into Asia. These taxa include five frog families (including the Myobatrachidae

Myobatrachidae

Myobatrachidae is a family of frogs found in Australia and New Guinea. Members of this family vary greatly in size, from species less than long, to the second largest frog in Australia, the Giant Barred Frog , at in length...

), three caecilian

Caecilian

The caecilians are an order of amphibians that superficially resemble earthworms or snakes. They mostly live hidden in the ground, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. All extant caecilians and their closest fossil relatives are grouped as the clade Apoda. They are mostly...

families, a lacertid

Lacertidae

Lacertidae is the family of the wall lizards, true lizards, or sometimes simply lacertas, which are native to Europe, Africa, and Asia. The group includes the genus Lacerta, which contains some of the most commonly seen lizard species in Europe...

lizard and freshwater snails of the family Potamiopsidae. A fossil tooth of what is believed to be of from a lemur-like primate from the Bugti Hills of central Pakistan however has led to suggestions that the lemurs may have originated in Asia. These fossils are however from the Oligocene (30 million years ago) and have led to controversy. Lemur fossils from India in the past led to theories of a lost continent called Lemuria

Lemuria (continent)

Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical "lost land" variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The concept's 19th century origins lie in attempts to account for discontinuities in biogeography; however, the concept of Lemuria has been rendered obsolete by modern theories of plate tectonics...

. This theory however was dismissed when continental drift

Continental drift

Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other. The hypothesis that continents 'drift' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912...

and plate tectonics became well established.

The flora and fauna of India have been studied and recorded from early times in folk traditions and later by researchers following more formal scientific approaches (See Natural history in India

Indian natural history

Natural history in India has a long heritage with a recorded history going back to the Vedas. Natural history research in early times included the broad fields of paleontology, zoology and botany...

). Game laws are reported from the third century BC.

A little under 5% of this total area is formally classified under protected areas

Protected areas of India

As of May 2004, the protected areas of India cover , roughly 4.95% of the total surface area.-Classification:India has the following kinds of protected areas, in the sense of the word designated by IUCN:-National Park:...

.

India is home to several well known large mammals including the Asian Elephant

Asian Elephant

The Asian or Asiatic elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant or E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m....

, Bengal Tiger

Bengal Tiger

The Bengal tiger is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN...

, Asiatic Lion

Asiatic Lion

The Asiatic lion also known as the Indian lion, Persian lion and Eurasian Lion is a subspecies of lion. The only place in the wild where the lion is found is in the Gir Forest of Gujarat, India...

, Leopard

Leopard

The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...

and Indian Rhinoceros

Indian Rhinoceros

The Indian Rhinoceros is also called Greater One-horned Rhinoceros and Asian One-horned Rhinoceros and belongs to the Rhinocerotidae family...

. Some of these animals are engrained in culture, often being associated with deities.
These large mammals are important for wildlife tourism in India and several national parks and wildlife sanctuaries cater to these needs. The popularity of these charismatic animals have helped greatly in conservation efforts in India. The tiger has been particularly important and Project Tiger

Project Tiger

Project Tiger was launched in 1972 in India. The project aims at ensuring a viable population of tigers in their natural habitats and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage for the people. The selection of areas for the reserves represented as close as possible the...

started in 1972 was a major effort to conserve the tiger and its habitats. Project Elephant, though less known, started in 1992 and works for elephant protection. Most of India's rhinos today survive in the Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. A World Heritage Site, the park hosts two-thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses. Kaziranga boasts the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world and was...

.
Other well known large Indian mammals include ungulates such as the Water Buffalo, Nilgai

Nilgai

The nilgai , sometimes called nilgau, is an antelope, and is one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India and eastern Pakistan; it is also present in parts of southern Nepal. The mature males appear ox-like and are also known as blue bulls...

, Gaur

Gaur

The gaur , also called Indian bison, is a large bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986 as the population decline in parts of the species' range is likely to be well over 70% over the last three generations...

and several species of deer and antelope. Some members of the dog family such as the Indian Wolf

Indian Wolf

Indian wolf and Iranian Wolf are two common names for Canis lupus pallipes, a subspecies of grey wolf which inhabits western India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and southern Israel. Some experts have suggested at least some C. lupus pallipes populations be re-classified a canid species...

, Bengal Fox

Bengal Fox

The Bengal fox , also known as the Indian fox, is a fox endemic to the Indian subcontinent and is found from the Himalayan foothills and Terai of Nepal through southern India and from southern and eastern Pakistan to eastern India and southeastern Bangladesh.-Appearance:Vulpes bengalensis is a...

, Golden Jackal

Golden Jackal

The golden jackal , also known as the common jackal, Asiatic jackal, thos or gold-wolf is a Canid of the genus Canis indigenous to north and northeastern Africa, southeastern and central Europe , Asia Minor, the Middle East and southeast Asia...

and the Dhole

Dhole

The dhole is a species of canid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the only extant member of the genus Cuon, which differs from Canis by the reduced number of molars and greater number of teats...

or Wild Dogs are also widely distributed. It is also home to the Striped Hyaena. Many smaller animals such as the Macaque

Macaque

The macaques constitute a genus of Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. - Description :Aside from humans , the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from Japan to Afghanistan and, in the case of the barbary macaque, to North Africa...

s, Langurs and Mongoose

Mongoose

Mongoose are a family of 33 living species of small carnivorans from southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. Four additional species from Madagascar in the subfamily Galidiinae, which were previously classified in this family, are also referred to as "mongooses" or "mongoose-like"...

species are especially well known due to their ability to live close to or inside urban areas.

Diversity

There is insufficient information about the invertebrate and lower forms of India with significant work having been done only in a few groups of insects notably the butterflies, odonates, hymenoptera, the larger coleoptera and heteroptera. Few concerted attempts to document the biodiversity have been made since the publication of The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma series.

There are about 2546 species of fishes (about 11% of the world species) found in Indian waters.
About 197 species of amphibians (4.4% of the world total) and more than 408 reptile species (6% of the world total) are found in India. Among these groups the highest levels of endemism are found in the amphibians.

There are about 1250 species of birds from India with some variations depending on taxonomic treatments accounting for about 12% of the world species.

There are about 410 species of mammals known from India which is about 8.86% of the world species.

The World Conservation Monitoring Centre

World Conservation Monitoring Centre

The United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre is an executive agency of the United Nations Environment Programme, based in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. UNEP-WCMC has been part of UNEP since 2000, and has responsibility for biodiversity assessment and support...

gives an estimate of about 15,000 species of flowering plants in India.

The Western Ghats

The Western Ghats are a chain of hills that run along the western edge of peninsular India. Their proximity to the ocean and through orographic effect, they receive high rainfall. These regions have moist deciduous forest

South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests

The South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of southern India. It covers the southern portion of the Western Ghats range and the Nilgiri Hills between 250 and 1000 meters elevation in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states.-Setting:The ecoregion...

and rain forest

South Western Ghats montane rain forests

The South Western Ghats montane rain forests are an ecoregion of southern India, covering the southern portion of the Western Ghats range in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, at elevations over 1000 meters...

. The region shows high species diversity as well as high levels of endemism. Nearly 77% of the amphibians and 62% of the reptile species found here are found nowhere else. The region shows biogeographical affinities to the Malayan

Malay Peninsula

The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...

region, and the Satpura hypothesis proposed by Sunder Lal Hora

Sunder Lal Hora

Sunder Lal Hora was an Indian ichthyologist.Famous for the Satpura Hypothesis, a zoo-geographical hypothesis proposed by him that suggests that the central Indian Satpura Range of hills acted as a bridge providing for the Malayan affinity of many Indian fauna and flora in the peninsula and the...

suggests that the hill chains of Central India may have once formed a connection with the forests of northeastern India and into the Indo-Malayan region. Hora used torrent stream fishes to support the theory, but it was also suggested to hold for birds. Later studies have suggested that Hora's original model species were a demonstration of convergent evolution

Convergent evolution

Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action. Although their last common ancestor did not have wings, both birds and bats do, and are capable of powered flight. The wings are...

rather than speciation by isolation.

More recent phylogeographic

Phylogeography

studies have attempted to study the problem using molecular approaches. There are also differences in taxa which are dependent on time of divergence and geological history. Along with Sri Lanka this region also shows some faunal similarities with the Madagascan region especially in the reptiles and amphibians. Examples include the Sibynophis snakes, the Purple frog

Purple Frog

and Sri Lankan lizard genus Nessia
Nessia
Nessia is a genus of skink.-Classification:Genus Nessia*Nessia bipes*Nessia burtonii*Nessia deraniyagalai*Nessia didactyla*Nessia hickanala*Nessia layardi*Nessia monodactyla*Nessia sarasinorum...

which appears similar to the Madagascan genus Acontias
Acontias
Acontias, the lance skinks, is a genus of limbless skinks in the African subfamily Acontinae. Most are small animals, but the largest member of the genus is Acontias plumbeus at approximately 40 cm. All members of this genus are live-bearing, sandswimmers with fused eyelids...

. Numerous floral links to the Madagascan region also exist. An alternate hypothesis that these taxa may have originally evolved out-of-India has also been suggested.

Biogeographical quirks exist with some taxa of Malayan origin occurring in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

but absent in the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

. These include insects groups such as the zoraptera

Zoraptera

The insect order Zoraptera contains a single family, the Zorotypidae, which in turn contains one extant genus with 34 species, Zorotypus as well as 9 extinct species.-Phylogeny:...

and plants such as those of the genus Nepenthes
Nepenthes
The Nepenthes , popularly known as tropical pitcher plants or monkey cups, are a genus of carnivorous plants in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus comprises roughly 130 species, numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids...

.

The Eastern Himalayas

The Eastern Himalayas is the region encompassing Bhutan, northeastern India, and
southern, central, and eastern Nepal. The region is geologically young and shows high altitudinal variation. It has nearly 163 globally threatened species including the One-horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), the Wild Asian Water buffalo

Wild Asian Water Buffalo

The wild water buffalo also called Asian buffalo and Asiatic buffalo is a large bovine native to Southeast Asia...

(Bubalus bubalis (Arnee)) and in all 45 mammals, 50 birds, 17 reptiles, 12 amphibians, 3 invertebrate and 36 plant species.
The Relict Dragonfly (Epiophlebia laidlawi
Epiophlebia laidlawi
The Himalayan Relict Dragonfly is one of two species of Epiprocta in the family Epiophlebiidae. They are sometimes grouped as a suborder Anisozygoptera, considered as intermediate between the dragonflies and the damselflies, mainly because of the appearance the hind wings being very similar in...

) is an endangered species found here with the only other species in the genus being found in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The region is also home to the Himalayan Newt (Tylototriton verrucosus
Tylototriton verrucosus
The Himalayan newt Tylototriton verrucosus is a species of newt found in Yunnan Province in China , northern Thailand, northern Vietnam, northern Burma, northeastern India, Bhutan and eastern Nepal.- Description :...

), the only salamander

Salamander

Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...

species found within Indian limits.

Extinct and fossil forms

During the early Tertiary period, the Indian tableland, what is today peninsular India, was a large island. Prior to becoming an island it was connected to the African region. During the tertiary period this island was separated from the Asian mainland by a shallow sea. The Himalayan region and the greater part of Tibet lay under this sea. The movement of the Indian subcontinent into the Asian landmass created the great Himalayan ranges and raised the sea bed into what is today the plains of northern India.

Once connected to the Asian mainland, many species moved into India. The Himalayas were created in several upheavals. The Siwaliks were formed in the last and the largest number of fossils of the Tertiary period are found in these ranges.

The Siwalik fossils include Mastodon

Mastodon

Mastodons were large tusked mammal species of the extinct genus Mammut which inhabited Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Central America from the Oligocene through Pleistocene, 33.9 mya to 11,000 years ago. The American mastodon is the most recent and best known species of the group...

s, hippopotamus

Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...

, rhinoceros

Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....

, Sivatherium

Sivatherium

Sivatherium ' is an extinct genus of giraffid that ranged throughout Africa to Southern Asia . The African species, S...

, a large four-horned ruminant, giraffe

Giraffe

The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...

, horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s, camels, bison

Gaur

, deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, antelope

Antelope

Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...

, gorilla

Gorilla

Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...

s, pigs

PIGS

PIGS is a four letter acronym that can stand for:* PIGS , Phosphatidylinositol glycan anchor biosynthesis, class S, a human gene* PIGS , the economies of Portugal, Italy , Greece and Spain...

, chimpanzees, orangutans, baboon

Baboon

Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...

s, langurs, macaques, cheetahs, sabre-toothed cats, lion

Lion

The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

s, tiger

Tiger

The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...

s, sloth bear

Sloth Bear

The sloth bear , also known as the labiated bear, is a nocturnal insectivorous species of bear found wild within the Indian subcontinent. The sloth bear evolved from ancestral brown bears during the Pleistocene and shares features found in insect-eating mammals through convergent evolution...

, Aurochs

Aurochs

The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....

, leopard

Leopard

s, wolves, dholes, porcupines, rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...

s and a host of other mammals.

Many fossil tree species have been found in the intertrappean beds including Grewioxylon from the Eocene and Heritieroxylon keralensis from the middle Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

in Kerala and Heritieroxylon arunachalensis from the Mio-Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

of Arunachal Pradesh and at many other places. The discovery of Glossopteris
Glossopteris
Glossopteris is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales ....

fern fossils from India and Antarctica led to the discovery of Gondwanaland and led to the greater understanding of continental drift

Continental drift

. Fossil Cycads are known from India while seven Cycad species continue to survive in India.

Titanosaurus indicus was perhaps the first dinosaur discovered in India by Richard Lydekker

Richard Lydekker

Richard Lydekker was an English naturalist, geologist and writer of numerous books on natural history.-Biography:...

in 1877 in the Narmada valley. This area has been one of the most important areas for paleontology in India. Another dinosaur known from India is Rajasaurus narmadensis, a heavy-bodied and stout carnivorous abelisaurid (theropod) dinosaur that inhabited the area near present-day Narmada river. It was 9 m in length and 3 m in height and somewhat horizontal in posture with a double-crested crown on the skull.

Some fossil snakes from the Cenozoic

Cenozoic

The Cenozoic era is the current and most recent of the three Phanerozoic geological eras and covers the period from 65.5 mya to the present. The era began in the wake of the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous that saw the demise of the last non-avian dinosaurs and...

era are also known.

Some scientists have suggested that the Deccan lava flows and the gases produced were responsible for the global extinction of dinosaurs however these have been disputed.
Himalayacetus subathuensis the oldest-known whale fossil of the family Protocetidae (Eocene), about 53.5 million years old was found in the Simla hills in the foothills of the Himalayas. This area was underwater (in the Tethys sea) during the Tertiary period (when India was an island off Asia). This whale may have been capable of living partly on land.

Other fossil whales from India include Remingtonocetus approximately 43-46 million years old.

Several small mammal fossils have been recorded in the intertrappean beds, however larger mammals are mostly unknown. The only major primate fossils have been from the nearby region of Myanmar.

See also Geology of India
Geology of India
The geology of India started with the geological evolution of rest of the Earth i.e. 4.57 Ga . India has a diverse geology. Different regions in India contain rocks of all types belonging to different geologic periods. Some of the rocks are badly deformed and transmuted while others are recently...

Recent extinctions

The exploitation of land and forest resources by humans along with hunting and trapping for food and sport has led to the extinction of many species in India in recent times.

Probably the first species to vanish during the time of the Indus Vally civilisation was the species of wild cattle, Bos primegenius nomadicus or the wild zebu

Zebu

Zebu , sometimes known as humped cattle, indicus cattle, Cebu or Brahmin cattle are a type of domestic cattle originating in South Asia, particularly the Indian subcontinent. They are characterised by a fatty hump on their shoulders, drooping ears and a large dewlap...

, which vanished from its range in the Indus valley and western India, possibly due to inter-breeding with domestic cattle and resultant fragmentation of wild populations due to loss of habitat.

Notable mammals which became or are presumed extinct within the country itself include the Indian / Asiatic Cheetah

Asiatic Cheetah

The Asiatic Cheetah is now also known as the Iranian Cheetah, as the world's last few are known to survive mostly in Iran. Although recently presumed to be extinct in India, it is also known as the Indian Cheetah...

, Javan Rhinoceros

Javan Rhinoceros

The Javan Rhinoceros or Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros is a member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses...

and Sumatran Rhinoceros

Sumatran Rhinoceros

The Sumatran Rhinoceros is a member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It is the only extant species of the genus Dicerorhinus. It is the smallest rhinoceros, although is still a large mammal. This rhino stands high at the shoulder, with a head-and-body length of ...

. While some of these large mammal species are confirmed extinct, there have been many smaller animal and plant species whose status is harder to determine. Many species have not been seen since their description.
Hubbardia heptaneuron, a species of grass that grew in the spray zone of the Jog Falls

Jog Falls

Jog Falls , created by the Sharavathi River falling from a height of is the second-highest plunge waterfall in India Located in Sagara, Karnataka Shimoga District of Karnataka state, these segmented falls are a major tourist attraction...

prior to the construction of the Linganamakki reservoir, was thought to be extinct but a few were rediscovered near Kolhapur.

Some species of birds have gone extinct in recent times, including the Pink-Headed Duck

Pink-headed Duck

The Pink-headed Duck is a large diving duck that was once found in parts of the Gangetic plains of India, Bangladesh and in the riverine swamps of Myanmar but feared extinct since the 1950s. Numerous searches have failed to provide any proof of continued existence...

(Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) and the Himalayan Quail

Himalayan Quail

The Himalayan Quail is a medium-sized quail belonging to the pheasant family. It was last reported in 1876 and is feared extinct. This species was known from only 2 locations in the western Himalayas in Uttarakhand, north-west India...

(Ophrysia superciliosa). A species of warbler, Acrocephalus orinus, known earlier from a single specimen collected by Allan Octavian Hume

Allan Octavian Hume

Allan Octavian Hume was a civil servant, political reformer and amateur ornithologist in British India. He was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, a political party that was later to lead the Indian independence movement...

from near Rampur in Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...

was rediscovered after 139 years in Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

. Similarly, the Jerdon's Courser

Jerdon's Courser

The Jerdon's Courser is a nocturnal bird belonging to the pratincole and courser family Glareolidae endemic to India. The bird was discovered by the surgeon-naturalist Thomas C. Jerdon in 1848 but not seen again until its rediscovery in 1986. This courser is a restricted-range endemic found...

(Rhinoptilus bitorquatus), named after the zoologist Thomas C. Jerdon

Thomas C. Jerdon

Thomas Caverhill Jerdon was a British physician, zoologist and botanist. He is best remembered for his pioneering works on the ornithology of India...

who discovered it in 1848, was rediscovered in 1986 by Bharat Bhushan, an ornithologist at the Bombay Natural History Society

Bombay Natural History Society

The Bombay Natural History Society, founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organizations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. It supports many research efforts through grants, and publishes the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Many...

after being thought to be extinct.

Destruction of animal species

Though India currently is considered a mega diverse country with
many of the world's species sadly, hunting is a thing which has played
a crucial part in the lessening of the number of animals. One of the most
effected animal is the tiger. It has been ruthlessly hunted by the
masterminds who send innocent villagers to do these jobs. It is a
hugely successful business which is due to the high demand of tiger
bones for traditional Chinese medicines. The rhino found mostly in
Kaziranga too is depleting fast for the enormous demand.
The back seat has been given to the fauna by the Indian government,
and the fines that have to be paid are mostly lesser than the money
they earn by the poaching. If something is not done fast, then many
species shall instantly become extinct and others in due course.

Species estimates

An estimate of the numbers of species by group in India is given below. This is based on Alfred, 1998.

Taxonomic Group	World species	Indian species	% in India
PROTISTA
Protozoa	31250	2577	8.24
Total (Protista)	31250	2577	8.24
ANIMALIA
Mesozoa	71	10	14.08
Porifera	4562	486	10.65
Cnidaria	9916	842	8.49
Ctenophora	100	12	12
Platyhelminthes	17500	1622	9.27
Nemertinea	600
Rotifera	2500	330	13.2
Gastrotricha	3000	100	3.33
Kinorhyncha	100	10	10
Nematoda	30000	2850	9.5
Nematomorpha	250
Acanthocephala	800	229	28.62
Sipuncula	145	35	24.14
Mollusca	66535	5070	7.62
Echiura	127	43	33.86
Annelida	12700	840	6.61
Onychophora	100	1	1
Arthropoda	987949	68389	6.9
Crustacea	35534	2934	8.26
Insecta	853000	53400	6.83
Arachnida	73440		7.9
Pycnogonida	600		2.67
Pauropoda	360
Chilopoda	3000	100	3.33
Diplopoda	7500	162	2.16
Symphyla	120	4	3.33
Merostomata	4	2	50
Phoronida	11	3	27.27
Bryozoa (Ectoprocta)	4000	200	5
Endoprocta	60	10	16.66
Brachiopoda	300	3	1
Pogonophora	80
Praipulida	8
Pentastomida	70
Chaetognatha	111	30	27.02
Tardigrada	514	30	5.83
Echinodermata	6223	765	12.29
Hemichordata	120	12	10
Chordata	48451	4952	10.22
Protochordata (Cephalochordata+Urochordata)	2106	119	5.65
Pisces	21723	2546	11.72
Amphibia	5150	209	4.06
Reptilia	5817	456	7.84
Aves	9026	1232	13.66
Mammalia	4629	390	8.42
Total (Animalia)	1196903	868741	7.25
Grand Total (Protosticta+Animalia)	1228153	871318	7.09

Threatened species

Many plants and animals are threatened or endangered due largely to habitat loss and population pressure apart from hunting and extraction. India stands out as one of the few countries with high human populations as well as a high number of threatened species.

Threatened plant species

Threat Category (IUCN)	Number of species
Extinct	19
Extinct/Endangered	43
Endangered	149
Endangered/Vulnerable	2
Vulnerable	108
Rare	256
Indeterminate	719
Insufficiently Known	9
No information	1441
Not threatened	374
TOTAL	3120

Threatened Animal species

Number of species per group according to IUCN threat categories (1994)

]

Taxonomic lists and indices

This section provides links to lists of species of various taxa found in India.

Invertebrates

Molluscs
- List of non-marine molluscs of India
Arachnids
- Spiders of India
Insects
- Coccinellidae
  - Ladybird beetles of India
- Odonata
  - Dragonflies and damselflies of India
- Lepidoptera
  - Butterflies of India
  - Moths of India
- Hymenoptera
  - Ants of India

Vertebrates

External links

World Conservation Monitoring Center
Tata Energy Research Institute
Alliance for Zero extinction
The official Indian Environment information site
Biodiversity of India, a community-driven, Mediawiki based initiative to document the biodiversity of India.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Diversity

The Western Ghats

The Eastern Himalayas

Extinct and fossil forms

Recent extinctions

Destruction of animal species

Species estimates

Threatened species

Threatened plant species

Threatened Animal species

Taxonomic lists and indices

Invertebrates

Vertebrates

See also

Further reading

External links