On 17th May 2020, The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) updated the checklist of Indian amphibians, a list of 20 species as critically endangered and 35 species as endangered on its website compiled by research scientists, K P Dinesh from ZSI’s western regional centre at Pune, C Radhakrishnan from Calicut, B H Chennakeshavamurthy from ZSI, Calicut, P Deepak from Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru and Nirmal Kulkarni from the Mhadei Research Centre, Goa.
Key Points:
i.The scientists of Zoological Survey of India in collaboration with other Indian institutes update the checklists of Indian amphibians periodically as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN).
ii.The number of amphibian species recorded in the checklist of the ZSI on Friday has increased from 284 (2009) to 447(2020).
iii.The 20 critically endangered amphibians includes pseudophilautus amboli a rare shrub frog species found in the Western Ghats of Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka and north east hills.
iv.The 35 endangered species includes Raorchestes resplendens a shrub frog found in Anamudi in Kerala, Raorchestes Katikati (Kaikatti bush frog) found only in the Nelliyampathy hills, Western Ghats, Kerala and Raorchestes shillongens is found in Shillong.
v.This list will help the Herpetology students, researchers, conservation scientists and policymakers to understand the amphibian diversity of India and their nomenclature.
vi.The list highlights that 19% of amphibians as ‘data deficient’ species and 39% as ‘not assessed’ as per the red list conservation status of International Union of Conservation of Nature(IUCN).
About ZSI:
Director- Dr. Kailash Chandra
Established in- 1916
Headquarters- New Alipore, Kolkata
