By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 26: With 42 faunal discoveries, 25 new species, and 17 new records, Meghalaya has solidified its position as one of India’s richest biodiversity zones, emerging second to Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast.
According to the Animal Discoveries 2024 report by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), the discoveries span an impressive range of species groups, including amphibians, freshwater fish, moths, terrestrial molluscs, and fruit flies. These were documented from across the ecologically diverse terrain of the Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo Hills, reflecting the state’s unique role as a biological crossroads of several biogeographic realms.
Arunachal Pradesh topped the list with 72 faunal findings, 42 of them new species and 30 new records. However, Meghalaya’s contributions underscore its critical status within the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, one of only four such hotspots in India and among 34 globally recognised regions. The state’s location—straddling the Himalayan and Peninsular Indian systems while overlapping with Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese bioregions—has long made it a haven for endemic and rare species.
Nationally, 2024 saw the documentation of 683 new faunal elements across the country, comprising 459 newly described species and 224 fresh country records. Invertebrates dominated the tally with 601 entries, while vertebrates contributed 82.
Among the standout discoveries in Meghalaya is Raorchestes asakgrensis, a new bush frog species named after the Eman Asakgre Community Reserve in West Garo Hills, where it was found. The name also honours the local community’s role in supporting scientific fieldwork.
The streams of West Jaintia Hills yielded Oreichthys warjaintia, a freshwater fish whose name pays tribute to the War-Jaintia tribe and their Austroasiatic linguistic heritage. In South Garo Hills, ichthyologists recorded Schistura sonarengaensis, a loach species linked to the Barak-Surma-Meghna river system.
The highlands of East Khasi Hills added a terrestrial mollusc to the list: Gastroptychia collicola, a hill-dwelling snail adapted to the region’s rugged elevation. In the insect domain, fruit flies took the spotlight, with Dacus nagarathnae discovered in Ri-Bhoi and named in honour of the researcher’s mother. Two more species—Zeugodacus nasivittatus and Zeugodacus umiam—were documented from Umiam and Bhoirymbong, their names reflecting morphological and geographic signatures.
With each new entry, Meghalaya strengthens its ecological profile, not just as a reservoir of known diversity but as a frontier where nature continues to surprise science.