Figure 1 - uploaded by Honnavalli N. Kumara
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
In this paper we present an updated checklist of mammals found in Meghalaya. Using online databases and search engines for available literature, we provide the scientific names, accepted English names, conservation status as per IUCN Red List, Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act schedules, appendices in CITES, local distribution status, endemism, last...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... majority of these species are distributed in the four biodiversity hotspots of India-the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, and Sundalands biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al. 2000;CEPF 2016). The state of Meghalaya (25-26 o N, 89.5-93 o E; Figure 1) is part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot along with other parts of northeastern India south of the Brahmaputra River. This hotspot also includes parts of Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos PDR, southern China and touches a small portion of peninsular Malaysia and extends over two million square kilometers (Myers et al. 2000;Mittermeier et al. 2004). ...
Similar publications
Based on available literature and field surveys, an updated checklist of mammals of Odisha State is presented in this communication. Their updated scientific binomen, IUCN status, Wildlife (Protection) Act schedules, CITES appendices, and last reported sighting of each species in Odisha are also given. Odisha has around 102 species of mammals under...
Citations
... The topography and climate support a rich diversity of forests, orchids, angiosperms, and faunal diversity (Meghalaya Biodiversity Board 2019). The state of Meghalaya has one of the highest diversity of mammals with 164 species as compared to other states of India (Lyngdoh et al. 2019). ...
New distribution and breeding record of Wroughton’s free-tailed bat
... However, the best available sources of information [12,13,21,23] led us to focus on Meghalaya as a place that could have all three species. Checklists of the mammals in this state listed all three bear species, although the information again referred to old sources, with no recent verification [24,25]. The Chief Wildlife Warden of Meghalaya [26] directed us to Balpakram National Park as being a safe place to work and where local staff were willing to assist. ...
At the most basic level, the assessment of a species’ status involves knowing where it
occurs. Determining the presence of rare species is difficult, and can be further confounded by the presence of a more common look-alike species. We investigated one of the few places in the world where three species of bears have been reported to co-occur at a fine scale: Balpakram National Park, Meghalaya, India. Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) are fairly common, and we sought to determine whether sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) and/or sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) also resided there. The local Garo language has words for three types of bears, and some local people reported the
continued presence of a small type of bear, possibly the sun bear, but the probable extirpation of sloth bears. Because these bears look somewhat alike, local people and government forest officers could not provide convincing accounts of the presence of more than one species. We measured claw marks on climbed trees, a method used to differentiate sun bears from Asiatic black bears where both are known to occur; however, this method turned out to be unreliable for detecting sun bears where their presence was unknown because sun bear-sized marks are not distinguishable from juvenile black
bears. We recommend targeted camera trapping near recent purported sightings of the other two bear species.
... A variety of factors like geological age, past and present climatic conditions or unique biogeographic history have shaped the present faunal composition of northeastern India (Pawar et al. 2007). The Meghalaya subtropical forest ecoregion covering the state of Meghalaya and the adjacent areas of Assam is recognized as one of the most species-diverse area in the Indomalayan region (Wikramanayake et al. 2002) with more than 165 species of mammals (Rodgers & Panwar 1988;Das et al. 1995;Saikia et al. 2018); and a total of 162 species of mammals in Meghalaya State (Lyngdoh et al. 2019). Meghalaya harbours numerous caves of which nearly a thousand have been scientifically explored and mapped during the "Caving in the Abode of the Clouds" project (Prokop & Arbenz 2015). ...
The chiropteran diversity of Meghalaya State is very high with 65 reported species. Taxonomic and ecological information on many of these bat species, however, are scant or largely outdated. We reinforce the records on five poorly known bat species in Meghalaya, viz., Megaerops niphanae, Myotis pilosus, Kerivoula kachinensis, Miniopterus magnater, & Miniopterus pusillus, critically evaluate their taxonomic assignment, and provide detailed morphometric data for further comparisons. For three of these species, we also provide echolocation call data that are reported for the first time in India. Together, these new data highlight the need for a more robust and critical examination of the rich bat fauna existing in the foothills of the Himalaya
The Wroughton’s free-tailed bat ( Otomops wroughtoni) is classified as Data Deficient under IUCN Red List due to inadequate information on its distribution, population, and ecology. The species was previously recorded from Belgaum district of Karnataka and from East Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills districts of Meghalaya and from Cambodia, represented by a single specimen. Through our study on Chiroptera taxa across 19 Community Reserves between October 2021 and January 2022 using physical search, mist netting and acoustic study we have identified a new colony of O. wroughtoni from the Mikadogre village in South Garo Hills District of Meghalaya, which extends the current distribution to 135 km from the nearest known distribution site. Interestingly, unlike other known roosts of O. wroughtoni which are in large caves with high roofs and deep crevices or cupolas, this roost was in the open limestone cliff located next to a stream. In addition to this, we have also documented the breeding colony of the species from a previously known site at Pynurkba. This new finding emphasises that there are more potential roosts across the Northeast region of India with similar habitats and altitudes waiting to be identified.
Traditional ways of protection and conservation of wildlife, forests and all the natural resources have been suppressed by colonialism, industrialization and a new knowledge system resulting in the biodiversity loss. Then came the new concept of "protected areas" for the conservation and protection of wildlife after the establishment of first National Park, Yellowstone, US in 1872. Even then the threats to wildlife remained or rather increased in a newer form of poaching, habitat disturbances, etc. The model of human-exclusivity (National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Reserved Forest) is being met with several challenges, favouring the creation of more human-inclusive protected areas that were traditionally present (before establishment of first National Park in 1872) and are now left in a few places like in the State of Meghalaya, due to the provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Meghalaya has both, traditional and contemporary methods of forest management and wildlife conservation and protection. This study clearly indicates that human-inclusive methods (that is traditional forest management) of wildlife and nature conservation need to be maintained and incorporated along with the contemporary methods of wildlife conservation.
Bangladesh delimits the westernmost range of Arctonyx badgers, but their presence in the country is not completely understood. The whole of Bangladesh is reportedly home to the northern hog badger (A. albogularis); however, there is no valid record to date. The greater hog badger (Arctonyx collaris), its larger congener and a globally vulnerable mustelid, has three valid records. This work, between 2001 and 2021, traced 28 records (all of A. collaris: 20 from literature review and social media, 8 from camera-trapping) in Bangladesh including four rare cases of erythrism and seven conflict incidents. All but five were from mixed evergreen forests of southeast Bangladesh, the known A. collaris range. One record was from wet deciduous forests of northern Bangladesh (bordering Meghalaya, India), a region not previously marked as an A. collaris range. In 2021, from 4436 trap-nights of sampling, 17 notionally-independent events (all night-time) were obtained. This produced the first evidence of A. collaris in northeast Bangladesh, a region that borders the Tripura Hills, India (where it was first recorded in 2020) and belongs to the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. The work proves the existence of relict populations whereas the absence of A. albogularis signifies a re-assessment of its westernmost distribution.
The record of Spotted Linsang Prionodon pardicolor from Nongpoh, Ri-Bhoi district, Meghalaya on 29 October 2019 is the first record from the state with photographic evidence, thus extending its distribution range up to the state of Meghalaya, India.
