India adds 641 new animal species, 339 new plant taxa in 2023

India added 641 new animal species, 339 new plant taxa in 2023, data released by Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav shows

A new species of turmeric in Manipur and a new kind of bat in Karnataka are among the plant and animal species which were discovered in India in 2023, according to data released by Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav on Sunday.

These are among the 641 new species added to Indian fauna in 2023, including 442 entirely new species and 199 species which have been newly recorded in the country. India also added 339 taxa to its plant database, including 326 species, and 13 infraspecific taxa. Of these, 171 taxa are new to science and 168 taxa are new distributional records from India. A taxa can refer to a sub-species or variety of a plant species.

Among the new plant discoveries in 2023 were Curcuma kakchingense, a new species of turmeric found in Manipur’s Kakching, and Asystasia venui, a flowering plant discovered in the Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden at Howrah in West Bengal.

Significant animal discoveries include Capra himalayensis, which proves that the Himalayan Ibex, distributed in the trans-Himalayan ranges of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, is a distinct species from the Siberian Ibex. Miniopterus srinii, a new species of bent-winged bat was also found in the Kodagu district of Karnataka.

Most of the new animal discoveries were reported from southern India. Kerala topped the list, with 101 additions (74 completely new species, 27 new records), followed by West Bengal with 72 new species, and Tamil Nadu with 64.

The vast majority of these new discoveries among fauna have been recorded in the invertebrate category, which saw 564 new species in 2023; only 77 vertebrate species, of which the majority were fish species, were discovered in 2023.

“The trend of new discoveries in different groups remains same like previous years, with Insects dominating among invertebrates with 369 species, whereas Fishes with 47 species dominated among vertebrates followed by Reptiles, Amphibia, Mammals and least with Aves,” said Animal Discoveries 2023, an annual publication by the Zoological Survey of India, an premier institution dealing with animal taxonomy which completed 109 years on Sunday.