JOURNAL

BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

DECEMBER 2007

JOURNAL OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Hornbill House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, Mumbai 400 001 .

x Executive Editor

Asad R. Rahmani, Ph. D.

Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai

Copy and Production Editor

Vibhuti Dedhia, M. Sc.

Editorial Board

M.R. Almeida, D. Litt.

Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai

Ajith Kumar, Ph. D.

National Centre for Biological Sciences, GKVK Campus,

Hebbal, Bangalore

M.K. Chandrashekaran, Ph. D., D. Sc.

Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre

for Advanced Scientific Research,

Bangalore

Anwaruddin Choudhury, Ph. D , D. Sc.

The Rhino Foundation for Nature, Guwahati

Indraneil Das, D Phil.

Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation,

Universiti Malaysia, Sarawak, Malaysia

P.T. Cherian, Ph D

Emeritus Scientist, Department of Zoology,

University of Kerala, Trivandrum

Y.V. Jhala, Ph. D.

Wildlife Institute of India, Dehrdun

K. Ullas Karanth, Ph D

Wildlife Conservation Society - India Program,

Bangalore, Karnataka

T.C. Narendran, Ph. D., D. Sc.

Professor, Department of Zoology,

University of Calicut, Kerala

Aasheesh Pittie, B. Com.

Bird Watchers Society of Andhra Pradesh,

Hyderabad

G.S. Rawat, Ph. D.

Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun

K. Rema Devi, Ph D

Zoological Survey of India, Chennai

J.S. Singh, Ph. D.

Professor, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

S. Subramanya, Ph. D

University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK,

Hebbal, Bangalore

R. Sukumar, Ph. D.

Professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences,

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Romulus Whitaker, B. Sc.

Madras Reptile Park and Crocodile Bank Trust,

Tamil Nadu

Senior Consultant Editor

J.C. Daniel, M. Sc.

Consultant Editors

Raghunandan Chundawat, Ph D.

Wildlife Conservation Society, Bangalore

Nigel Collar, Ph. D.

BirdLife International, UK

Rhys Green, Ph D.

Royal Society for Protection of Birds, UK

Qamar Qureshi, M. Phil.

Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun

T.J. Roberts, Ph. D.

World Wildlife Fund - Pakistan

Rachel Reuben, Ph. D.

Mumbai

Editorial Assistant: Sonali P. Vadhavkar, M. Sc.

Layout and Typesetting: V. Gopi Naidu

recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). Enquiries

concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be addressed to the Honorary Secretary, BNHS at the address given above.

VOLUME 104 (3): DECEMBER 2007

CONTENTS

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD

Sutirtha Dutta and Yadvendradev Jhala

PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST

V.D. Deshmukh

HEPATICS AND ANTHOCEROTES (BRYOPH YTA) OF TAMI A AND PATALKOT VALLEY (DISTRICT CHHINDWARA),

MADHYA PRADESH

A.K. Asthana and Virendra Nath

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEATURTLES AT VIZHINJAM, SOUTH-

WEST COAST OF INDIA

P Kannan and M. Rajagopalan

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS: PRELIMINARY INVENTORY AND DISTRIBUTIONAL PATTERNS

Priya Davidar, K. Yoganand, T. Ganesh and K. Geetha Nayak

FAUNAL DIVERSITY IN PRAWNS AND CRABS IN DIGHA AND ADJACENT COAST IN WEST BENGAL WITH

NOTES ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF THEIR ABUNDANCE WITH PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS

T.K. Chatterjee, Akmal Husain and Santanu Mitra

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR URSUS THIBETANUS IN INDIA

S. Sathyakumar and A. Choudhury

STUDIES ON THE OCCURENCE, AVAILABILITY AND MARKETING OF CRAB (SCYLLA SPP.) BY CRAB

MONITORING PROGRAMME OF RATNAGIRI DISTRICT, SOUTH KONKAN COAST OF MAHARASHTRA,

INDIA

Vivek R. Vartak, Narendra D. Chogale and Sharad G. Belsare

ASPECTS OF NESTING BIOLOGY OF CROCODYLUR POROSUS AT BHITARKANIKA, ORISSA, EASTERN INDIA

G.V. Gopi, Bivash Pandav and Sangeeta Angom

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

255

266

275

288

298

311

316

324

328

A NEW FAIRY SHRIMP SPECIES, BRANCHINELLA NALLURENSIS FROM SOUTH INDIA

C.S. Velu and N. Munuswamy 334

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF CERCERIS LATREILLE (HYMENOPTERA: SPHECIDAE: PHILANTHINAE:

CERCERINI) ALONG WITH A NEW RECORD FROM INDIA

A. Coumar and Debjani Dey 339

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

MAMMALS

1 . First record of Lesser False Vampire Megaderma spasma

(Linnaeus, 1758) in Madhya Pradesh, India

K.R. Senacha 343

2. Second record of albino Fivestriped Palm Squirrel

Funambulus pennant/ Wroughton from Udaipur, Rajasthan

Satya Prakash Mehra, Jitendra Singh Kharwar and

Narayan Singh Kharwar 344

3. Occurrence of Asiatic Brushtailed Porcupine Atherurus

macrourus (Linn. 1758) at Mizoram, India

Naresh Chaturvedi, M. Sawmliana and Vinod Patil 345

4. Predation on Chital Axis axis by Wild Pig Sus scrofa in

Bandhavgarh National Park

Satyaranjan Behera and Rajendra Prasad Gupta 345

5. Comments on — Debarking of Teak Tectona grandis

Linn. F. by Gaur Bos gaurus H. Smith during summer in a

tropical dry deciduous habitat of Central India by Pasha,

M.K.S., G. Arindran, K.P. Sankaran and Q. Qureshi, 2002:

JBNHS 99(2): 238-244

Hilaluddin 346

BIRDS

6. A sight record of Mew Gull Larus canus in Goa

Paul Holt 347

7. Wintering range extension of White-throated Bushchat

Saxicola insignis Gray in India

Kulojyoti Lahkar and Mridu Paban Phukan 348

8. Forest Wagtail Dendronanthus indicus in Jamnagar

medical campus

Maulik S. Varu, Jalpan C. Rupapara and

Purvesh K. Kacha 349

9. Further records of Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris and

Red Knot Calidris canutus from the north-east coast of

India

S. Balachandran and P. Sathiyaselvam 350

10. Unusual occurrence of Fulvous Whistling-duck

Dendrocygna bicolor (Vieillot 1816) at Chilika Lake

P Sathiyaselvam 351

1 1 . Comments on the review by Asad Rahmani, on ‘Handbook

on Indian Wetland Birds and their Conservation’

C. Radhakrishnan 352

REPTILES

12. Food and feeding habits of the Green Turtle Chelonia

mydas in relation to marine plants in the Gulf of Mannar

Biosphere Reserve, India

P. Kannan and M Rajagopalan 352

13. First record of Slender Racer Coluber gracilis (Gunther,

1862) (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Rajasthan

Satish Kumar Sharma and Shailesh Nagar 355

FISH

14. Possibility of breeding grounds of Mahseer in the Paisuni

R. (Chitrakoot Dham), its ecology, and status of Tor tor

(Hamilton) in the north Vindhyan Rivers

P. Nautiyal, A.C. Dwivedi, A. Shivam and K.R. Singh .... 355

15. On the record of Garra ceylonensis Bleeker 1863: A Sri

Lankan cyprinid Fish from India

K.V. Radhakrishnan and B. Madhusoodana Kurup 357

1 6. Range extension of Salmostoma sardinella (Osteichthyes:

Cyprinidae) to streams of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and

Karnataka part of Western Ghats

M. Arunachalam, J.A. Johnson, A. Manimekalan,

A. Sankaranarayanan, R. Soranam, P. Sivakumar and

P.V. Kalavathi 359

17. On a record of a young teratoid Carcharhinus hemiodon

A. Jesu Arockia Raj, S. Seetharaman and

M.A. Haniffa 360

INSECTS

18. Notes on the behaviour of some Dung Beetles in and

around Bangalore

K. Veenakumari and G.K. Veeresh 361

1 9. Protein profile of Haemolymph from Apis species

Neelima R. Kumar and Lalita Negi 364

20. A prey-predator link between the Rock Bee Apis dorsata

and the False Vampire Bat Megaderma lyra Geoffroy

based on their circadian rhythms

Sutapa Biswas

21 . A new larval food plant of the Common Albatross Appias

albina (Boisduval), with a note on its migration in Kerala

Vinayan P. Nair 366

22. Some observations of Plains Cupids Euchrysops pandava

on Cycas circinalis

K.R. Kishen Das 367

OTHER INVERTEBRATES

23. Occurrence of Giant Isopod Bathynomus giganteus

A. Milne Edwards 1879 in the Chennai coastal waters

P.S. Lyla, P. Murugesan, K.P. Manikandan and

S. Ajmal Khan 368

24. A note on the capture of ‘Giant Isopod', Bathynomus

giganteus A. Milne Edwards, 1879 off Mangalore Coast,

India

T. Harish Nayak, A.P. Dineshbabu and PU. Zacharia ... 369

BOTANY

25. Nonea caspica (Willd.) G. Don. (Boraginaceae) — a new

record for India

Rohitash Kumar Bhatia and Suman C. Sharma 370

26. An amplified description of a hitherto uncommon species

Leucothoe griffithiana C.B. Clarke (Ericaceae)

S. Panda 371

27. New records of five taxa of Ericaceae from India

S. Panda, M. Sanjappa and R.K. Bhakat 373

28. A little known plant species of Gujarat Tephrosia collina

Sharma var. lanuginocarpa Sharma

P.S. Nagar 378

29. Additions to the flora of Andaman and Nicobar islands,

India

C. Sudhakar Reddy, P.R.C. Prasad and C.B.S. Dutt 379

Cover Photograph: Spiny-tailed Lizard

Uromastyx hardwickii

365 By Kedar Bhide

it

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are grateful to the Ministry of Science and Technology,

Govt of India,

FOR ENHANCED FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE JOURNAL.

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

255-265

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD

UROMASTYX HARDWICKII IN KUTCH

SUTIRTHA DUTTA2'3 AND YaDVENDRADEV JhALA2'4

'Accepted July, 2007

2WiIdlife Institute of India, P.O. Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001, Uttarakhand, India.

3Email: [email protected]

4Email: [email protected]

Allocation of three major resources - space, food and time by the Indian Spiny-tailed Lizard Uromastyx hardwickii

(Lacertilia: Agamidae) was studied in the grassland habitat of Kutch. The activity budget, behavioural thermoregulation,

foraging behaviour and social interactions were observed using focal animal sampling combined with scan animal

sampling and ad libitum sampling. Seasonal food habits were estimated from bite counts and pellet analysis. Ranging

patterns were studied by mapping individually identified lizards. The activity pattern shifted from bimodality in summer

(duration=l 19 min/day, SE=12, n=25 lizards) to unimodality in monsoon (duration=93 min/day, SE=5, n=23 lizards).

The body pigmentation changed from dark to light as the temperature increased. The diet comprising grasses

(Chrysopogon and Cymbopogcm), insects (ants, termites and locusts) and shrubs ( Clerodendron ) in summer, narrowed

to herbs (Borreria, Euphorbia, lndigofera, etc.) and grasses ( Chrysopogon and Cymbopogon ) in the monsoon. The

density of active burrows was 42.45/ha in summer and 66.04/ha in monsoon. The average home range was 0.2 ha

(SE=0.04, n=23) in summer and 0.05 ha (SE =0.01, n=20 lizards) in the monsoon. Male home ranges (0.39 ha in

summer, SE=0.08, n=6 and 0.12 ha in monsoon, SE=0.03, n=4) were larger than those of females (0.15 ha in summer,

SE=0.04, n=4 and 0.03 ha in monsoon, SE=0.02, n=3) and juveniles (0.12 ha in summer, SE=0.02, n=10 & 0.03 ha in

monsoon, SE=0.01, n=7). Aggressive behaviours with low overlaps in core areas and extensive overlapping in fringe

areas of individual home ranges indicated territoriality in core areas, but hierarchically or temporally spaced resource

sharing in the peripheries of home ranges.

Key words: Spiny-tailed Lizard, Uromastyx hardwickii, behaviour, activity budget, thermoregulation, food habits,

home range, mating structure, density

INTRODUCTION

The foraging behaviour of lizards is correlated with

their size, morphology, ecology, reproduction, metabolism

and movements, and these relations are more prominent in

the case of herbivory, suggesting an evolutionary relationship

among these parameters (Vitt and Congdon 1978; Huey and

Pianka 1981; Pietruszka 1986; King 1996; Perry and Pianka

1997; Pianka et al. 1998). Plants put forward an array of

defences against being foraged, constraining an herbivore’s

diet by toxin intake, limited nutrient intake, slow digestion

rates, gut fill and in the case of ectothermic herbivores, daily

feeding time (Stephens and Krebs 1986). Thus, a pure plant

diet favours specialisations compared to a carnivorous diet.

Out of 3,300 species of modern lizards existing today (Sokol

1971; Pough et al. 1989; King 1996) only 90, including the

Spiny-tailed lizards, Uromastyx spp. have an herbivorous diet

(King 1996).

Recent phylogenetic studies on Uromastyx , previously

considered as agamids, showed that they could potentially

be classified into a new family, the Uromastycidae (Bohme

1982; Moody 1980; Borsuk-Bialynicka and Moody 1984;

Das 2002; but see Joger 1991). Indian Spiny-tailed lizard

Uromastyx hardwickii (Gray), one of the fifteen under genus

Uromastyx , is a dweller of arid, open and scrubby regions

(Das 2002) and has a patchy distribution from north-western

India to Pakistan and Afghanistan (Khan and Mahmood 2004).

It forages mainly on grasses, shrub leaves, flowers and fruits,

and obtains water from food and metabolism of subcutaneous

fat (Daniel 2002; Khan and Mahmood 2004). The activity of

Uromastyx is retarded in winter and intensified in spring and

summer, with mating occurring in March or April. The female

lays around 14 eggs between April and May-June (Daniel

2002; Das 2002; Khan and Mahmood 2004). Typical

populations of this solitary burrow dweller occur in

loose associations of several individuals ranging from 10 to

100 per sq. km, often with nearly 50 adults in a colony

(Bhatnagar et al. 1973; Das 2002; Knapp 2004). They are

known to occupy extensive territories (Zug 1993), but details

on the nature of their territoriality is lacking.

The spatial distribution of animals is determined by

resource dispersion and sociality (Johnson et al. 2002). The

home range parameters and dynamics reveal various aspects

of behavioural ecology (Femer 1974; Gans and Pough 1982).

The territory, the defended and exclusively used part of the

home range, may include it in its entirety or some ecologically

significant sites or routes (Burt 1943; Schoener 1968; Stamps

1977; Smith 1985). In lizards, the spacing system varies from

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD IN KUTCH

clear territoriality to broadly overlapping home ranges (Rose

1982; Smith 1985).

‘Vulnerable’ (as declared by the IUCN) Indian Spiny-

tailed Lizard populations, surviving under the threats of

changing land use and trade for supposed aphrodisiac

properties, have not been subjected to any detailed ecological

study. In this study we evaluate the temporal activity pattern,

ranging patterns, social interactions, food and foraging

behaviour of the species.

STUDY AREA

The study was conducted in a typical Spiny-tailed lizard

habitat in Abdasa taluka, the south-western province of Kutch

district, in the state of Gujarat in western India. Kutch is

mostly occupied by Jurassic rocks, bears traces of the ancient

Indus Valley civilization and partially detached from the

mainland owing to the condition of the Rann (Williams 1958).

It belongs to the semi-desert ecological zone where summer

commences in March and continues until late June. May

experiences the highest air temperatures of 40-45 °C.

Precipitation is scanty and stochastic, with an annual average

of 384 mm. The rains arrive by early July in 65% of the years

while late onset is recorded in 35%. A high evapo-transpiration

rate results in drying up of most natural water sources. Winters

are relatively severe, extending from middle of November to

February. The minimum temperatures are recorded in January,

with an average temperature of 5 °C. The vegetation in this

area has been classified as Northern Tropical Thom Forest

(6B) and sub-classified as Desert Thorn Forest (6B/C1) as

per the classification of forest types by Champion and Seth

(1968). This area, lying in Biogeographic Zone 3B (Kachchh

Desert) (Rodgers etal. 2002), serves as the habitat of several

important species of fauna, some of which have been declared

as Schedule I under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (Home

2005).

METHODOLOGY

An area of 2.1 ha was selected and delineated in

Kanauthia Daun (23° 14' N; 68°59’E), a grassland habitat with

a good population of Spiny-tailed Lizards. Infrequent patches

of shrub enhance the visibility in this part. The intensive study

area, with details of the vegetation was mapped using a compass,

range finder and hand-held GPS unit (Garmin 12 XLS).

Individual lizards were identified from visual clues;

size, sex (males have a longer, larger tail with a bulbous base)

and natural marks (stripes and blotches in young, body

notches, broken tails, missing spines and scales, sloughed

skin etc.). Identified lizards were continuously followed one

at a time for the first two weeks to locate their burrows which

were mapped, and a detailed catalogue was prepared. Since

adult, sub-adult and juvenile lizards used a single burrow each,

a total count of lizards was done once in each season for

density and age structure estimations and nearest neighbour

analysis was performed for the pattern of burrow distribution.

The average distance of hatchling burrows from adult burrows

was tested with that from equal number of any burrow (all

selected randomly) through a ‘f test to find any spatial affinity

between adults and their hatchlings. Morphometric data were

obtained whenever lizards were rescued from poachers.

Observations were done from a hide with 8x50 binoculars

in summer and monsoon, and data were recorded after an initial

period of habituation for two weeks. Scan animal sampling

(Altmann 1973) at 10 minutes intervals was used to record the

activity pattern from 0800 to 1730 hrs in summer and 0900 to

1830 hrs in the monsoon. The activity was categorised into six

discrete states: scanning, basking, moving, foraging, social

interactions and escape. Activity pattern was quantified as

number of active lizards at any time expressed as percentage

of the maximum lizard count for the day.

Identifiable individuals’ locations were recorded on the

map of the study site for each scan using a compass and range

finder with reference to mapped features of the study area.

The home range size was estimated from these locations using

a 95% fixed kernel contour (Worton 1989) and the core area

was delineated from a 50% isopleth. The percent overlap

between a pair of neighbouring lizard home ranges was

computed. Ad libitum sampling was done for territorial and

other social behaviours. Territorial behaviour was classified

as only chase (low intensity), displays (medium intensity)

and aggressive fights (high intensity). Occurrences of

aggressive behaviour were expressed as aggression-encounter

rates (AER= frequency of occurrence of aggressive behaviour/

sampling day/ha).

Ambient and ground temperatures were recorded at

every half hour intervals using a Hick’s air thermometer.

Corresponding to each temperature record, the numbers of

active juvenile, sub-adult, adult female and adult male lizards

were recorded. The average lizard sighting (activity rate) was

calculated for each temperature class. The body colours of

individuals within 30 m were categorised into dark brown,

dark olive, light olive, yellow and pale white and analysed

for any pigmentation trend in relation to ambient and ground

temperatures. Bite counts of lizards in proximity to the hide

(<30 m) were recorded by focal sampling of individual lizards

between subsequent scans. On the average, a scan took

2 minutes, and an interim 8 minutes were used for focal

sampling of foraging lizards. The area sampled for bite counts

was about 1 3% of the study area and had a similar vegetation

256

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD IN KUTCH

5 8 t Ln (Wt) = 2. 1 9(±0.22) *Ln (SVL) - 1 05(±0.64)

Fig. 1 : Relationship between log-transformed snout-vent length

(SVL) and weight of Uromastyx hardwickii

composition. Data were recorded as the number of bites of

different food items using a tally counter. An actively foraging,

focal lizard was observed till >20 to <200 bites were recorded

or it moved away from the 30 m radius or stopped foraging.

The dietary composition was also studied through faecal pellet

analysis (Korschgen 1980). Three random transects of

100 m x 2 m were sampled for pellets. Pellets were collected

on every alternate day, weighed accurately and transferred

into Zip locks for later analysis. However, pellet collection

was poor in the monsoon due to the faster decomposition

rate, and this method was not used for diet analysis in the

monsoon. Simpson’s index of diversity, B= 1/S pi2 (Mac

Arthur 1972) where pi indicates the ith food item, was used

to quantify the trophic niche breadth. The dietary preference

was estimated through compositional analysis (Aebischer et

al. 1993). The vegetation was sampled by hand plucking all

available bites of each food species from randomly selected

1 m x 1 m quadrates for grasses and herbs and 4 m x 4 m

quadrats for shrubs to quantify the forage availability. Bites

were simulated by hand plucking of plant parts, which were

oven dried in paper bags at 70 °C to obtain the dry weights

(Harris 1970; Wallamo et al. 1973; Jhala 1997). The daily

forage intake (dry weight) was estimated from the number of

bites taken by the focal lizard per day.

SIMSTAT Version 2.5 (Provalis Research 1995), SPSS

Version 8.0 (SPSS 1997) statistical software and Arc View

Version 3.2 and Arc View extensions (Animal Movement SA

v 2.04 beta and Image Support, Geoprocessing and Spatial

Analyst) (L30) GIS software (ESRI 1999) were used for

analysis.

RESULTS

A significant linear relationship was obtained between

log-transformed snout vent length and weight from 22 lizards

(Fig. 1). The ratio of snout- vent lengths between male and

female lizards was l .09.

Density, spatial distribution and structure of burrow;

population age structure

Spiny-tailed Lizards resided solitarily in burrows.

Hatchlings resided with their mother during the initial days.

Occasionally, they emerged from their mothers’ burrows,

foraged for short spans and returned swiftly; such explorations

took place under the vigil of the mother. The density of

burrows increased from 42.45/ha in summer to 66.04/ha in

the monsoon, mainly due to new recruitment. The diameter

of burrows was a good surrogate in determining the age of

lizards residing in them (Fig. 2). Seasonal fluctuations were

found in the age structure of the population (Fig. 3).

Fig. 2: Box plot of burrow diameters of various age categories

of Uromastyx hardwickii

□ Summer n Monsoon

Hatchling Juvenile Subadult Adult

Fig. 3: Population structure of Uromastyx hardwickii in the

study area as determined from burrow structures

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

257

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD IN KUTCH

An average, adult burrow, 1 .2 m long (SE= 0.05, n=10),

0.5 meters deep (SE= 0.04) and 6.6 cm in diameter (SE= 0.3)

comprised of three distinguishable segments. The tunnel ran

straight down for about 0.7 m (SE =0.06) at an angle of 27°

(SE =1 . 1 ) with the surface. Then it went down steeply for 0.5

m (SE= 0.05, n=6) at an angle of 28° (SE= 1.7). Sixty per

cent of the burrows showed a change in trajectory between

the two segments. The tunnel ended in a horizontal, box

shaped chamber of size 17 cm (SE =1.8, n=7) (Fig. 4).

The spatial distribution of burrows analysed through

nearest neighbour analysis (Rossbacher 1986) showed a

clumping tendency (hatchlings: |Z|=1 3.27, r=0.01 9; juveniles:

|Z|=1 2.87, r=0.0 1 8; sub adults: |Z|=9.62, r=0.14; adults:

|Z|=7.57, r=0.01 1 ) (Fig. 5). But, there was no spatial affinity

between adult and hatchling burrows (one tailedft’ test: t=0.20,

p=0.42).

Time budget and activity pattern of Spiny-tailed lizards

The Spiny-tailed lizards were strictly diurnal. Minimum

activity was noticed during winter. The daily activities

followed the following sequence. Emerging animals scanned

their surroundings for conspecifics and predators; initially

they basked flat near the burrow and later basked high on

grass tussock. Gradually, they became fully active, moved,

foraged and interacted. Group escape was a common anti-

predatory behaviour. Re-emergence occurred only after the

departure of the predator(s).

The maximum density of active lizards for a day was

estimated to be 34/ha (SE =1 .38, n=20 days) in summer and

28/ha (SE =4.44, n=20 days) in the monsoon. The animals

remained active for 119 minutes (SE =12.13, n=25 lizards)

or 8.3% of the day during summer and 93 minutes (SE =4.94,

n=23 lizards) or 6.5% of the day during monsoon with basking

constituting 16% (in summer, SE =1.42, n=25 lizards) and

37% (in monsoon, SE =1 .6, n=23 lizards) of the daily activity

duration and foraging constituting 55% (in summer, SE =2.7,

Substratum Mouth

Fig. 4: Diagrammatic representation of a typical

Uromastyx hardwickii burrow

o Juvenile dens 30 0 30 Metere

r Adult dens

Fig. 5: Map of intensive study area showing the spatial

distribution of Uromastyx hardwickii burrows along with

geographical location of the study site

n=25 lizards) and 41% (in monsoon, SE =2.0, n=23 lizards)

of the daily activity duration (Fig. 6). There was no difference

in activity duration between seasons (Mann Whitney U test;

|Z|=0.26, p=0.80).

The activity pattern was bimodal in summer. Activity

showed a major peak between 0900-1 100 hrs and a minor

peak around 1 500 hrs. As the summer progressed, the major

peak increased in height and the minor peak declined,

although duration of activity remained unaltered. Bimodality

changed to unimodality during the monsoon with the peak of

activity between 1200-1500 hrs. In monsoon, activity pattern

was highly unpredictable due to overcast skies (Fig. 7).

Temperature, activity and behavioural thermoregulation

The ground temperature ranged between 30 °C and

52 °C in summer and between 29 °C and 45 °C in the

monsoon. The optimum near ground temperature for activity

was 39 °C-41 °C. Larger lizards tended to be active within a

narrow temperature range compared to smaller lizards

(Fig. 8).

There was gradual and sequential replacement of body

colours across the gradient of ambient and ground

258

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD IN KUTCH

160 1 U Juvenile □ Subadult © Female ED Male

140

Activity states

Fig. 6: Activity budget of various size classes of Uromastyx

hardwickii during (a) summer, (b) monsoon.

(Error bars are standard errors)

temperatures in summer, with darker pigments appearing at

lower temperatures and lighter pigments at higher

temperatures. Another behavioural feature associated with

lighter pigmentations was arching of the tail to reduce body

contact with ground (Fig. 9). During monsoons, the lizards

Table 1: Average percentage of home range overlaps among

different size classes of Uromastyx hardwickii

Value in each cell represents the average percentage range area

of the age-gender class in column, overlapped by the age-gender

class in row. Standard Errors given in parentheses

Summer — - Monsoon

7:30- 08:00- 09:00- 10:00- 11:00- 12:00- 13:00- 14:00-15:00- 16:00- 17:00- 18:00-

08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30

Time

Fig. 7: Seasonal comparison of temporal patterns of active

Uromastyx hardwickii

(Error bars are 95% confidence intervals)

appeared much darker than in summer and retained a dark

brown coloration throughout the day.

Movements and territoriality

The average estimated range size of the lizards in

summer (2,332 sq. m, SE=384, n=23) was larger (t=4.59,

p<0.001) than the average range in the monsoon (545 sq. m,

SE = 1 1 1 , n=20). An average male home range was more than

twice that of a female whereas the home range of adults and

sub-adults was twice that of juveniles (Fig. 10). Home ranges

showed extensive overlaps. The average overlap between

adjacent ranges was 23% (SE =1.35, n=23) in summer and

11% (SE =3.65, n=20) in the monsoon, but the core area

overlap was only 4.5% (SE =0.54, n=23) in summer and 0.5%

(SE =0.29, n=20) in the monsoon. Overlaps were similar

between the ranges of different ages and genders (%:=7.027,

DF= 8, p= 0.534), but the extent of overlap varied seasonally

Juvenile Sub-adult -- Female Male

Temperature classes (°C)

Fig. 8: Ground temperature preferences for activity

of Uromastyx hardwickii determined as average lizard

sightings at different temperatures

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

259

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD IN KUTCH

Table 2: Aggression encounter rates among different size

classes of Uromastyx hardwickii

Frequency of occurrence of aggressive behaviour (chase and

display or fight/sampling day/hectare) given in cells for each pair of

age-gender classes

(ANOVA; F= 36.17, p= 0.009) (Table 1 ). Detailed analysis of

five female home ranges showed that although an average male

overlapped >20% to <40% of three female ranges (SE= 0.7)

and >60% to <80% of only one female range (SE =0.6). there

was high degree of variation among individual males (Fig. 1 1 ).

The lizards were much more aggressive during summer.

Fights were common in the core areas and chases and displays

were common, in the peripheries of home ranges (Fig. 12).

The correlation between the extent of home range overlap

—Dark Olive/Brown Light Olive Yellow Pale White

32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50

T emperature class (°C)

Fig. 9: Percentage of Uromastyx hardwickii showing various

pigmentations at different ground temperatures during summer

and rate of aggressive encounters was insignificant (r=0.005,

p=0.99). The maximum territorial aggressions were observed

between juveniles and sub-adults followed by females and

juveniles, mostly in the form of chase and displays. Males

showed tolerance towards other classes and infrequent

aggressions among each other, which mostly took the form

of severe fights. Even independent hatchlings were aggressive

towards each other (Table 2).

Foraging behaviour of Spiny-tailed lizards

The results obtained from bite count and faecal pellet

analyses were similar. Spiny-tailed lizards were ‘active

foragers’. During summer, foraging was mainly restricted to

morning. From bite counts, the lizard diet was found to have

Table 3: Seasonal food habits of Uromastyx hardwickii and seasonal food availability (no. of bites available/sq. m)

260

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD IN KUTCH

B Summer o Monsoon

Fig. 10: Seasonal and intra-specific variations in home range

size of Uromastyx hardwickii

(Error bars are standard errors)

grasses such as Chrysopogon fitlvus and Cymbopogon distcms

(78% occurrence, SE =3.1, n=1892 bites), insects such as

ants, termites and locusts (10% occurrence, SE =2.01 ), shrubs

( 6% occurrence, SE = 1 . 1 6 ) and non-food items such as stones

and sloughed skin. Food use was proportional to availability.

The standardized niche breadth was 0.6.

In the monsoon, foraging took place throughout the

day. Herbs (56% occurrence, SE=5.32, n=3486 bites) and

grasses (40% occurrence, SE=8.03) constituted the major part

of the diet. Shrubs (4% occurrence, SE =2.65) and insects

(<1% occurrence, SE =0.48) were consumed less. Food use

was not proportional to availability (%2=55.89, DF=10,

p<0.0001). The scale of preference revealed by compositional

analysis was:

Alternanthera > Cymbopogon > Indigofera >

Anisomeles > Chrysopogon > Borreria > Euphorbia >

Aristida > Vernonia > Grewia > other herbs (Table 3).

Herbs contributed 73% of the dry weight while grasses

contributed only 24% and shrubs even less to the diet of the

Percentage female home range overlapped by male range

Fig. 1 1 : Number of female ranges overlapped to various

extents by an average male range

(Error bars are standard errors)

lizards in monsoon (Table 4). The forage intake (dry weight)

was 4.1 gm / day (SE =0.4, n=!6 days). Standardized niche

breadth was 0.5. Proportion of the food items in the diet

stabilized after 80 pellets were analysed (Fig. 13). The food

availability varied greatly between seasons.

DISCUSSION

The survival strategies under conditions of extreme

temperatures and low food availability revealed from this

study hinted at the underlying ‘trade-offs’ that had to be made

during the evolution of the species.

Excluding the quarter-year winter hibernation, the

lizards could utilise barely two hours a day for daily activities

as the flow was interrupted by frequent livestock grazing,

predators and extreme thermal conditions. Associated with

each activity were certain costs in terms of predation risk,

overheating and/or energy expenditure and benefits in terms

of energy gain and/or mating success. Coping with the time

Table 4: Biomass consumption of various food items by Uromastyx hardwickii during monsoon in Kutch

Dry weights of simulated plant parts and percentage bites of each were used to obtain the percentage dry weight of each food item in the

diet

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

261

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD IN KUTCH

Low

intensity

aggression

Medium

intensity

aggression

High

intensity

aggression

Active individuals in close proximity chased one another

over short distances along a curve.

One individual retreated on being

chased.

No immediate retreat; confrontation led to display behaviour

characterised by dorso-ventral compression with lateral inflation of

the body and fast ad press movements.

Display fetched results, brought an

end to territorial behaviour; one

individual retreated.

No significant results of display behaviour; aggressive fights took

place characterised by face-off postures, moving and jumping in

circles, chasing and biting each other. One individual submitted

and the dominant individual mounted on it.

Fig. 12: Sequential pattern of territorial aggression in Uromastyx hardwickii

constraint, involved time budgeting with trade-offs. The

relative proportions of activities in the behavioural repertoire

represented the evolutionarily optimised time allocation to

maximize the net benefit and thereby, fitness. The metabolic

rate per se (Bartholomew and Tucker 1964) would determine,

among other things, the activity duration and foraging

inn

Grass Ant Shrub Termite Shrub Locust Others Nonfood

leaves seeds

Food items

Fig. 13: Food habits of Uromastyx hardwickii during summer

expressed as frequency of occurrence (percentage) of various

food types from pellet analysis

(Error bars are bootstrap 95% confidence intervals)

behaviour of a species. Earlier studies associated a lower per

body weight metabolic rate of large agamids (>300 gm) with

a nutrition poor, herbivorous diet (Pough 1973) and reduced

activity had always been a rule among herbivorous lizards

(Andrews 1971; Iverson 1982); the probable reasons being a

quick gut fill (Auffenberg 1979; Auth 1980), prolonged food

passage time (Harlow et al. 1976; Iverson 1982) and

temperature -dependent digestibility (Harlow etal. 1976; King

1996). A similar trend was observed in the congeneric

Uromastyx phylbi (Zari 1996). The burrow mouths were kept

open for a considerable time in the early morning, stimulating

the animal to emerge, and blocked with loose soil on retreat.

This maintained a thermal refuge for the lizards under

temperature extremes and protected them from predators.

Another anti-predatory strategy was the occasional bend seen

in the burrows, probably in response to the burrow digging

habit of some carnivores such as Canis aureus , Vulpes

bengalensis and Mellivora capensis.

The combination of scarce resources and a severe

environment provided minimal space to specialise.

Consequently, the thermal niche use was generalised,

naturally asking for thermoregulatory adaptation(s) in this

262

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.,T04 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD IN KUTCH

thermophilous ectotherm. Intermediate rests, reduced body

contact during the hottest hours and efficient use of body

pigmentation were the likely behavioural changes.

Thermoregulatory use of pigmentation was also reported from

Moloch horridus (Pianka et al. 1998). The relative rates of

absorption and radiation vary with the pigmentation gradient,

causing desert species to evolve a higher skin reflectivity

(Hutchinson and Larimer 1960; Avery 1979). Smaller lizards

had to utilize a larger temperature range for activity as the

foraging efficiency increased with adulthood. Juveniles wasted

considerable time in exploring resource clumps, and the smaller

gape size associated with a small size was disadvantageous in

handling food items such as dry grasses.

Continuous drought and livestock pressure reduced the

grassland food abundance, supporting a generalised trophic

niche use. Foraging theory suggested an optimal diet selection

through successive addition of food items, ranked in terms of

average food gain per unit handling time to maximise the net

rate of food gain. Therefore, lower ranked foods would be

deselected under higher food abundance, leading to

specialisation (Pyke 1984). The results were in conformance

with these predictions. During summer, there was a low

density of dry grasses ( Chrysopogon , Cymbopogon) and even

lower densities of shrubs such as Capparis decidua , Prosopis

juliflora and Clerodendron , of which only the latter was

consumed. The monsoon brought forth a rich assemblage of

herbs (Borreria, Indigofera , Euphorbia , Anisomeles and

Alternanthera), succulent grass stocks and flowering shrubs

( Grewia , Vernonia etc). Foraging was proportional to

availability in the dry season but selective in the wet season,

Clerodendron and insects were consumed only in summer,

the latter for protein supplementation, a drought adaptation

reported in committed herbivores (King 1996). An ontogenic,

dietary shift from insectivory in juveniles to herbivory in

adults, reported in this species by Minton (1966) was observed

neither by Bhanotar and Bhatnagar (1977) nor in this study.

Conducive environmental conditions were restricted to a short

time span during which most of the lizards foraged avoiding

spatial clumping. Such behavioural synchrony reduced

conflicts and facilitated predator avoidance.

The field metabolic rate (Nagy 1982), estimated crudely

from Nagy’s relationship for iguanids (Nagy 1987), yielded

a minimum required forage intake of 1 .7 gm/day to maintain

the energy balance. The observed feeding rate was more than

twice this minimum requirement. Lizards compensated for

the low food availability in the dry season with a surplus

energy balance in the favourable season that would also be

stored for hibernation. Similar trends were found in

Uromastyx aegyptius microlepis ( Robinson 1995). Moreover,

the linear relation between the log-transformed body size and

mass suggested that lizards tended to grow rapidly to adult

size and then accumulate mass.

In a typical Uromastyx habitat, the benefit from

extensive foraging movements in a large territory in terms of

a higher food encounter rate would be less than the costs of

predation risk, energy expenditure in movements and

territorial defence. This might have caused movement

restrictions to an intensive area, site fidelity at least for a year

and reduced territoriality in the periphery of the home range,

primarily to conserve energy. The observed range size

(0.2 ha ± SE =0.04) was 10-fold less than predicted (2.5 ha)

by Turner et al. (1969). Male home ranges, however were

much larger, a common feature in lizard ecology (Ferner

1974). The monsoon had reduced spatial use under the relative

abundance of food, higher predation risks from Jackal,

domestic dogs. Fox, raptors and cattle egrets, a smaller need

of searching for mates and a greater need for conserving

energy before entering the hibernation phase.

Resource dispersion caused the lizards to burrow in

weak clumps. Hatchlings residing in maternal burrows during

the initial 29 to 40 days of hatching, utilised a range of 6 to

12 m from their burrows, and were tolerated by adults

(Bhanotar and Bhatnagar 1977). Burrows, generally located

at the centre of core ranges, were also the centre of

territoriality that started right after independent burrowing.

Intraspecific competition for establishment of resource

territories was high among juveniles. Juveniles were

commonly found fighting for burrow acquisition that was

followed by acquisition of territory. The extent of overlap

between adjacent home ranges of two age-gender classes

depended on their relative movements. Overlaps were

minimal in the core, where a resident individual usually

fought off an intruder. They were extensive in the fringes

where confrontations were mostly mitigated through subtle

aggressions. Such patterns were suggestive of territoriality

in the core, but temporally determined resource sharing in

the periphery of the home range. Previous studies reported

hierarchy, territoriality (Stamps 1977; Heatwole and Taylor

1 987) and mixed social interactions elicited by overcrowding

(Hunsaker and Burrage 1969) that might have resulted here

from spatial clumping of resources and burrowing substrate.

Males showed relatively low aggression rates. Male -juvenile,

male-female and male-male core range overlaps were similar

during the study period. Thus, resource territoriality

predominated over reproductive territoriality in this species.

However, we had no observation of breeding as the study

period included only a minor portion of the mating period.

Hence, there is likelihood of resource based territories

changing to breeding territories during the peak mating period.

The core range of each male overlapped with one or two

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

263

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD IN KUTCH

(sometimes exclusive) female ranges. The affinities of

female(s) towards specific males caused high variability in

inter-female range overlaps. This confirmed certain minimum

reproductive chances for each male. But, entire ranges of

some included even more females indicating that individuals

differed in their reproductive strategies. Benefiting out of a

high average longevity, some males probably postponed their

surplus mating potential by minimising exploratory

movements, to use the conserved energy later. Others

possibly attempted opportunistic mating through energy-

costly explorations. As the reproductive season coincided

with the lean food availability period, such differences in

mating strategies were of high evolutionary significance, and

explained the wide variation in male range size.

Juxtaposing the livelihood strategy of this non-

nomadic, generalised herbivore, avoiding predators through

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The funding for the research was provided by

the Wildlife Institute of India. We are grateful to the

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Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

266-274

PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST1

V.D. Deshmukh2

'Accepted December 2003

"Mumbai Research Centre of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Army and Navy Building, 2nd floor, 1.48 M.G. Road,

Mumbai 400 001, Maharashtra, India.

Email: [email protected]

Non-penaeid prawns, Acetes spp., Nematopalaemon tenuipes and Exhippolysmata ensirostris were found to be important

forage organisms of fishes occurring along the Mumbai coast. Their predators have been enlisted from the investigations

carried out by various workers in the region and degree of their predation quantified. Of the 79 species of commercially

important fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans, 97.4% predated on non-penaeid prawns. Acetes spp. was the food of

92.4%, N. tenuipes of 34.2% and E. ensirostris of 21.5% fishes. As these prawns support pelagic as well as demersal

fisheries of commercial importance in the region, a detailed investigations of their prey-predator relationship may

enable us to understand the effects of exploitation of prey organisms on predators.

Key words: Non-penaeid prawns, food, predators, commercial fisheries, Mumbai coast, prey-predator relationship

INTRODUCTION

Crustaceans are one of the most important groups of

organisms, particularly for fishes. Many fishes, whether

benthophagous, planktophagous, carnivorous or herbivorous

pass through a phase in their development when they use

planktonic crustaceans as food (Nikolsky 1963). Among

crustaceans, prawns are widely preyed upon owing to their

relatively smaller size and less defensive body structures.

Besides, being benthic in nature, they are predated by a

majority of demersal fishes in the tropical coastal waters.

The marine non-penaeid prawns comprising of the tiny

epipelagic, sergestid shrimp Acetes spp., the palaemonid

prawn Nematopalaemon tenuipes and the hippolytid prawn

Exhippolysmata ensirostris constitute a commercially

important fishery along the north-west coast of India. The

average annual production of non-penaeid prawns is 46,990

tonnes and contributes to 16.4% of the total marine fish

landings of Maharashtra. Non-penaeid prawns form fisheries

of commercial importance only along north-west coast of

India, including Gujarat, therefore it is characteristic

(Deshmukh 1993). Being smaller in size and abundant in

the coastal waters, they are also the prime forage organisms

for the coastal fishes of this region.

Although there are several investigations on the food

and feeding habits of a large number of marine fishes and

other organisms of commercial importance in the coastal

waters of Mumbai, there is no account that enumerates

predators of the forage organisms. The present investigation,

therefore, not only lists the predators of the non-penaeid

prawns in the region, but also attempts to signify their

importance in the marine economy along the coast of

Mumbai.

METHODS

The degree of predation reported by various

investigators as ‘mostly’, ‘moderately’, ‘sometimes’ and

‘occasionally’ has been quantified by assigning them ++++,

+++, ++ and + signs respectively and negative predation by

the - sign for the three species of non-penaeid prawns, namely

Acetes spp. Nematopalaemon tenuipes and Exhippolysmata

ensirostris (Table 1 ).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 enumerates the predators and their degree

of predation on the non-penaeid prawns in Mumbai

waters. Of the 79 fish species investigated by various

workers for their food and feeding habits in Mumbai

waters, 77 (97.5%) are predators of the non-penaeid prawns.

Only two species, Cynoglossus macrolepidotus (Rao and

Dwivedi 1989) and Tripauchen vagina (Kulkarni 1976) have

not been reported to feed on these prawns. Acetes spp.

are predated by 73 (92.4%) species, N. tenuipes by 27 species

(34.2%) and E. ensirostris by 17 (21.5%) species of

fishes.

In the case of Acetes spp. 5.1% fishes consumed

them ‘mostly’, 22.8% ‘moderately’, 34.2% ‘sometimes’ and

30.4% ‘occasionally’; 7.6% fishes have not been reported to

feed on it. Such high predation on Acetes spp. by the juveniles

and adults of most fishes may be attributed to the small size

and delicate, translucent, and defenceless body of the prey.

Acetes spp. is also devoid of a strong rostrum and hard

calcareous shel I . The gregarious swarming habit of the species

in coastal waters perhaps enables the predators to devour it

in large quantity.

PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST

Table 1: Predators and their degree of feeding on non-penaeid prawns in Mumbai waters

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

267

PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST

Table 1: Predators and their degree of feeding on non-penaeid prawns in Mumbai waters (contd.)

268

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST

Table 1: Predators and their degree of feeding on non-penaeid prawns in Mumbai waters ( contd .)

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

269

PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST

Table 1: Predators and their degree of feeding on non-penaeid prawns in Mumbai waters ( contd .)

N. tenuipes was found to be predated ‘moderately’ by

2.5% ‘sometimes’ by 1 1.4%, and ‘occasionally’ by 22.8%

fishes. This species also has a relatively small and defenceless

body structure without a hard calcareous exoskeleton. Long

spider leg-like pereopods enable it to lead a pelagic life, but

without strong swimming ability, which makes it an easy

prey for predators. E. ensirostris is, however, taken only

‘sometimes’ by 2.5% fishes and ‘occasionally’ by 19% fishes.

It possesses a relatively hard exoskeleton and a long, acutely

pointed, serrated rostrum, which being an organ of offence,

perhaps makes it less vulnerable to predation.

Bapat (1948), and Bapat and Bal (1952) investigated

food habits of young ones of 26 species of fishes occurring

in coastal waters off Bombay (= Mumbai), and commented

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J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST

that prawn larvae and Acetes spp. were their major food items.

These fishes included pelagic clupeids such as Engraulis

hamiltoni, E. dussumieri , E. purava, E. commersonianus,

Stolephorus commersoni, Coilia dussumieri, Pellona fdigera,

P. brachysoma, P. elongata, P. modus and Clupea toil.

Bapat (1959, 1970) studied details of the food habits

of Bombay Duck Harpadon nehereus , an important carnivore,

forming a major pelagic fishery along the north-west coast

of India. It is the major predator of non-penaeid prawns, which

in certain months of the year feeds entirely on A. indicus.

But during April-May and August-September it consumes a

good quantity of N. tenuipes in addition to A. indicus. The

fish also consumes considerable quantity of E. ensirostris.

Among the non-penaeid prawns, Acetes spp. is the most

favourite food of Bombay Duck. Pillai (1980) attempted to

correlate the abundance of Bombay Duck with its prey. He

suggested that in the inshore waters of Bombay, where

Bombay Duck is abundant, the catches of Acetes are low on

account of heavy feeding by the Bombay Duck. Devaraj

(1987) postulated that since the sergestid shrimp Acetes spp.

are the main food of Bombay Duck, the discontinuous

distribution of the species along the north-west and north-

east coasts of India is primarily due to the enormous biomass

of these shrimps, which feed on the large quantity of detritus

produced by the load of domestic sewage generated by the

metropolitan cities of Bombay (=Mumbai) and Calcutta (=

Kolkata), located on the two coasts respectively.

Food of most of the important pelagic fishes occurring

in the coastal waters also consists of Acetes spp. as reported

by Suseelan and Nair (1969) for Ilisha fdigera, Bapat et al.

(1982) and Shendye (1994) for Megalaspis cordyla,

Chakraborty (pers. comm.) for Truchiurus lepturus and Rizvi

(2001) in the case of Ribbon Fishes Lepturacanthus savala

and Eupluerogrammus muticus. The Indian Mackerel

Rastrelliger kanagurta is a planktivore, feeding on

phytoplankton in early stages and zooplankton in later life,

but Bapat et al. ( 1 982 ) reported that its shoals occurring along

the north-west coast were found to have Acetes spp. in their

stomach. Similarly, the golden anchovy Coilia dussumieri

forms an important pelagic fishery along the north-west coast,

but the fish grazes mainly on the zooplankton and crustacean

larvae, including Acetes spp. (Fernandez 1986). In the case

of Silver Pomfret Pampus argenteus, which forms a lucrative

fishery around Mumbai, Rege and Bal (1963) have stated

that small shrimps belonging to the genus Acetes were found

in the toothed pharyngeal pouches of the juveniles, suggesting

possibility of these shrimps forming one of the major food

item of young ones of fish. In the case of carangid fishes,

Kochar (1988) reported that Atropus atropus and Carangoides

malabaricus have crustacean diet, in which they constituted

as much as 89.5% in certain months and Acetes was the

favourite food. Similarly, Decapterus ntsselli (Tamhane 1996)

and A.djedaba (Raje 1993) also prey upon Acetes spp. with a

high index of preponderance.

Some of the dominant perches, Nemipterus japonicus

(Acharya 1980), N. mesoprion (Chakraborty pers. comm.)

and Pomadasys hasta (Suseelan and Nair 1969; Deshmukh

1973) also have Acetes spp. as one of their occasional food

items. The young of threadfin fishes, such as Polynemus

indicus, P. tetradactylus and P. heptadactylus (Bapat 1948;

Karekar 1954; Karekar and Bal 1958;Nayak 1965; Kagwade

1970), have a crustacean diet with Acetes spp. constituting

the important forage organisms.

It is obvious to find the pelagic fishes of this coast

feeding on the non-penaeid prawns, which themselves are

pelagic, but several studies indicate that even demersal fishes

prey upon these prawns. Suseelan and Nair (1969)

investigated food habits of 1 7 species of demersal fishes from

Bombay waters and commented that prawns, in general, and

Acetes indicus, in particular, were the common food item at

the top of the food index.

Sciaenids are perhaps the most common demersal fishes

in the coastal waters of Mumbai and their food mainly consists

of non-penaeid prawns. ‘GhoT (Pseudosciaena diacanthus)

and ‘Koth’ ( Sciaenoides brunneus) are the largest sciaenids,

which form characteristic fisheries in the region. Rao (1963)

and Bhatt et al. (1964) reported that adults of ‘GhoF and

‘Koth’ feed mainly on fishes in addition to penaeid and non-

penaeid prawns, which include A. indicus, N. tenuipes and

E. ensirostris, but Bapat and Bal (1952) and Jayaprakash

(1974) found that their young mainly feed on Acetes spp.

The lesser sciaenids such as Johnius dussumieri (Bapat and

Bal 1952; Savant 1963; Suseelan and Nair 1969), J. vogleri ,

Otolithus cuvieri, Johnius macrorhynus (Chakraborty 1 988),

J. sina (Dukhande 1991) and .7. glaucus (Wasnik 1994) also

feed mainly on Acetes spp. Vaidya (1960), Suseelan and Nair

(1969), and Gulati (1987) showed that bulk of the food of

Otolithus cuvieri is constituted by crustaceans, in which Acetes

spp. form a major percentage. Similarly, Basu (1975) found

that O. argenteus subsists mainly on crustaceans and fishes

and rarely on other organisms. Fie remarked that Acetes spp.

and squilla ( Stomatopoda ) are the common food items, in

addition to Leander tenuipes (= N. tenuipes ) and E.

ensirostris. He further states that crustaceans are the major

food in smaller length groups as compared to the larger ones

and in relation to maturity stages, crustaceans dominate in all

maturity stages and Acetes is the most favoured food.

The highly carnivorous Conger Eel Muraenesox

talabonoides feeds, besides many fishes, on the non-penaeid

prawns (Mohamed 1955). Similarly, catfishes Arius sona

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

271

PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST

(Singh 1965), A.jella and A dussumieri (Suseelan and Nair

1 969) and Arms thallassinus (Rane 1 996), though predominantly

benthic feeders, consume considerable quantity of prawns,

including the three species of non-penaeid prawns. Roy (1979)

reported that in catfish Anns maculates , Acetes spp. was the

common food item during most months in older fishes, and

sometimes their stomachs were gorged with Acetes spp. .

Among the elasmobranchs, the Shark Scoliodon

laticaudus feeds on non-penaeid prawns among which

Acetes spp. is the common food item, found throughout the

year with the index of preponderance varying from 0.004 in

March to 15.44 in September (Mathew 1992). Four species of

rays, Dasyatis sephen, D. uarnak, Trygon walga and Gymnura

macrura fed on non-penaeid prawns, among which N. tenuipes

was the common food item (Raje 2003).

Among the highly demersal fishes, the Tongue Sole

Cynoglossus macrolepidotus feeds on benthic crustaceans

(Rao and Dwivedi 1989), and none of the non-penaeids are

reported to form its diet. The gut contents of Tripauchen

vagina , a common gobid fish occurring in the coastal waters

of Mumbai, also did not show presence of any of the non-

penaeid prawns (Kulkarni 1976).

Of the invertebrate predators of non-penaeid prawns,

Kuber ( 1987) noted that the cephalopods, Loligo duvauceli

and Sepia aculeata feed on non-penaeid

prawns and sometimes their mantle cavity is full with

Acetes spp. Deshmukh (unpublished data) found that the

stomach of the pelagic marine crab Chaiybdis cruciata is

occasionally gorged with Acetes spp. The works on the food

and feeding habits of some of the penaeid prawns of the

region, Mehendale (1959): Metapenaeus affinis, Kathuria

(1967): M. brevicornis , Kunju (1967): Solenocera indicus

(= S. crassicomis) and Aravindakshan (1979): Parapeneopsis

sculptilis have shown that Acetes spp. is their major food item,

and their foreguts invariably show entire specimens of

Acetes spp.. The food habits of non-penaeid prawns, N.

tenuipes and E. ensirostris (Deshmukh 1988) revealed that

the N. tenuipes feeds on Acetes spp. occasionally, while E.

ensirostris feeds on it voraciously.

It is seen from the foregoing account on feeding habits

of majority of pelagic and demersal fishes, cephalopods and

crustaceans that the non-penaeid prawns form one of their

most important food items in general, but their young ones

feed on Acetes spp. in particular. Investigations on the food

habits of other fishes may reveal that they too may be feeding

on non-penaeid prawns. Thus, non-penaeid prawns form the

single most important group of forage organisms preyed upon

by a vast majority of fishes in the coastal waters, of Mumbai.

They play a far greater role in the marine economy of the

coastal waters and must be responsible for supporting the

huge biomass of economically important fisheries of Bombay

Duck, sciaenids, polynemids, carangids, cephalopods and the

penaeid prawns of the region.

Thorson (1960) reviewed the feeding habits and food

requirements of predatory fishes in north-eastern Atlantic and

commented that fishes in temperate waters consume on an

average food 5-6% of their own living weight per day. He

further added that invertebrate predators are extremely

predaceous, and consume food corresponding to about 25%

of their living weight per day. If the same were true for the

tropical waters, then the biomass of non-penaeid prawns

would be far greater than what is exploited along the coast of

Mumbai. A detailed quantitative analysis of predation of the

species of fishes and other marine organisms of commercial

importance, which play a vital role in the food web of the

coastal water, would therefore, help in understanding the

complexities of predator-prey relationships. This may, in

future, enable us to know feeding movements, seasonal

abundance, and fluctuations in catches of the commercially

important coastal fishes.

The ‘dof net fishery along the Maharashtra coast

(Deshmukh 1993) and the Saurashtra coast of Gujarat (Khan

1986) exploits non-penaeid prawns (i.e. prey organisms) on

a large scale. But, the catch consists mostly of tiny

Acetes spp., which soon after catching turns into a semi-

decomposed paste (Deshmukh 1993). However, the catch is

either used as manure or reduced to fish-meal, from which

economic returns to the fishermen are very poor. Despite this,

exploitation of Acetes spp. on an enormous scale by trawlers

in Gujarat state in recent years (CMFRI 1997) has caused

serious concern, as to whether it would adversely affect the

production of predators (i.e., commercially important fishes)

from that region. It is apparent that on account of their low

commercial value, but great significance in the marine food

web, the exploitation of non-penaeid prawns on a large scale

would not be advisable. However, in-depth study of the

predator-prey relationship of the non-penaeid prawns should

be taken up immediately to understand species interactions

for the management of the important fisheries of the entire

Gujarat-Maharashtra region. This can throw some light not

only on the impact of exploitation of the non-penaeid prawns,

but also on the abundance and fluctuations of the

commercially important fishes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author thanks the Director, CMFRI, Cochin and

Dr. R.A. Selvakumar, former Assistant Director-General

(Marine Fisheries), Indian Council of Agriculture Research,

New Delhi, for their encouragement.

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PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST

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275-287

HEPATICS AND ANTHOCEROTES (BRYOPHYTA) OF TAMIA AND

PATALKOT VALLEY (DISTRICT CHHINDWAR A ), MADHYA PRADESH1

A.K. Asthana23 and Virendra Nath2’4

'Accepted October 2005

2Bryology Laboratory, National Botanical Research Institute (Council of Scientific & industrial Research), Lucknow 226 001,

Uttar Pradesh, India.

-'Email: [email protected]

JEmail: [email protected]

Observations and enumeration of liverworts and homworts of Tamia hills and Patalkot valley have been made for the

first time. Eighteen taxa belonging to orders Jungermanniales, Metzgeriales, Marchantiales and class Anthocerotae

have been reported to occur in this valley. Lophozia mayebarae (Hatt.) N. Kitag. is reported for the first time from

India, while Jungermannia tenerrima Steph. and Phaeoceros kashyapii Asthana et Sriv. are new additions to the

central Indian Bryoflora. However, a remarkable absence of epiphytic liverworts in the entire region surveyed has

been noticed. Characteristic features with illustrations of liverworts and hornworts have been provided.

Key words: Hepatics, Anthocerotes, Tamia, Patalkot, Madhya Pradesh

INTRODUCTION

Floristic studies on Bryophytes in general, and

liverworts and homworts in particular, have received very

little attention, and there is an urgent need to prepare regional

floras of Bryophytes of India. However, some contributions

have already been made by Pande and Srivastava (1952),

Bapna (1958), Bapna and Vyas ( 1 962), Hattori ( 1 966, 1971),

Kachroo (1969), Lai and Parihar (1979), Tewari and Pant

(1994), Parihar et al. (1994), Bapna and Kachroo (2000). As

far as floristic studies on Hepaticae of central India is

concerned, Pande and Srivastava ( 1952), and Lai and Parihar

(1979) have provided a list of Hepatics of Pachmarhi and

Amarkantak respectively. Studies on Hepatics and

Anthocerotes of Tamia hills and Patalkot valley have not

received any attention; however, pteridophytic flora of this

region was earlier provided by Vasudeva and Bir ( 1987), and

Khare (1999).

Tamia hills ( ca 1,000 m) and Patalkot valley (ca 400

m) are a part of the Satpura ranges. They are situated about

100 km south-east of Pachmarhi. The topography of Tamia

exhibits deep ravines (Khuds) between the red sand stone

hills made up of sedimentary rocks, composed mainly of red

and yellow clay mixed with gravel. Frequent perennial

streams flow in the deep ravines. The Patalkot valley is

unique, giving an appearance of a piece of land that abruptly

sank to a depth of 700 m; it is bordered by steep and straight

hills, like a well. The valley is isolated with only 12 villages

consisting of 265 families and about 1,614 individuals

of the Bharia tribe. The entire region is spread over

ca 79 sq. km.

The steep valley is endowed with dense forest cover,

providing suitable conditions for the growth of Bryophytes,

though only thalloid liverworts and mosses are dominant. A

river, locally known as Dudhi , flows down the Valley near

Rajakhoh, a hideout of a former king.

The region of Tamia hills and Patalkot valley is

neither too hot nor too cold (temperature ranges from

minimum 4 °C to 38 °C maximum) and remains pleasant

throughout the year. There is not much variation in climate

and altitude around Tamia region. The average annual

rainfall in this region is about 200 cm. The suitable

temperature, low light intensity, adequate soil moisture and

presence of perennial streams, collectively provide

favourable conditions for the luxuriant growth of liverworts.

Some liverworts like Dumortiera hirsiita (Sw.) R. Bl. et Nees,

Pallavicinia lyellii (Hook.) Gray and Riccardia santapaui

Udar et Sriv. flourish under the dripping water on the side

rocks of the deep ravines in Tamia. It is surprising to note

that despite all favourable conditions, epiphytic liverworts

are completely missing in these regions. This may be due to

either unsuitable nature of forest vegetation (tree bark and

leaves), or lack of specific conditions for epiphytic growth

of liverworts.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Plant specimens collected from Tamia and Patalkot

(Dist. Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh) have been

deposited in the Bryophyte Herbarium, National Botanical

Research Institute, Lucknow (LWG). Morphological and

anatomical studies were done by observing on Glycerine

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

mounted slides. Line drawing illustrations have been prepared

using Camera Lucida.

DESCRIPTIONS

I Jungermanniales Limpr.

A. Jungermanniaceae Reichenb.

a. Jungermannia L.

1 . Jungermannia (Luridae) tenerrima Steph., Spec. Hepat.

6: 93, 1917. (Fig. 1, 1-5).

Plants medium to large, up to 10 mm long; light green.

Stem simple, triangular in outline, 0.3 mm wide, 0.25 mm in

diameter, 7-8 cells across, cortical cells slightly thick-walled.

Rhizoids colourless. Leaves obliquely inserted, slightly

decurrent dorsally in a single row spreading horizontally,

ovate, 1 mm long and 1 mm wide, widest at base, obtuse at

apex; marginal cells 36-48 x 28 pm, median cells

40-44 x 28-40 pm, basal cells 64-80 x 24-28 pm, cells thin-

walled non-trigonous.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow on soil-covered

rocks under moist conditions near Rajakhoh at Patalkot valley.

Specimen Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Patalkot valley, Rajakhoh (ca 400 m),

20.xii. 1993. Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205725 (LWG).

Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

B. Lophoziaceae Cavers

a. Lophozia (Dum.) Dum.

2. Lophozia mayebarae (Hatt.) N. Kitag., J. Hattori Bot. Lab.

29: 106, 1966. (Fig. 1,6-12).

Basionym: Cephalozia mayebarae Hatt., J. Hattori Bot.

Lab. 3: 37, 1948.

Plants very small, light brown, in loose tufts. Stem up to

5 mm long, 0.6 to 0.8 mm wide. Stem, 5-6 cells across in

transverse section, formed of undifferentiated cells. Leaves

distantly arranged, transverse to obliquely inserted, non-

decurrent, quadrate to oblong-ovate 0.18-0.3 mm wide and

upto 0.3 mm long, bilobed, sinus 1/6- 1/3 the leaf length, lobes

more or less unequal, sub-acute obtuse. Under leaves lacking,

apical cells 15 x 12 pm, marginal cells 1 6-20 x 8- 12 pm, median

cells 28-32 x 12-24 pm, basal cells 40-48 x 20 pm cells thin-

walled non-trigonous, hyaline or brown. Perianth not seen.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow over dead logs

in shady habitat at Tamia.

Specimen Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia (ca 1000 m), 10.x. 1992. Leg. V. Nath &

A.K. Asthana. 205497 (LWG). Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

II Metzgeriales Schust. em. Schljak.

A. Aneuraceae Klinggr.

a. Riccardia S. Gray

3. Riccardia santapaui Udar et Srivastava, Rev. Bryol.

Lichenol. 39(1): 155-159, 1973. (Fig. 2, 1-2).

Thallus dark green, in dense and compact patches,

robust usually 35-50 mm long, 1-1.75 mm wide; closely

pinnately branched, branches opposite, margin entire, apices

slightly broader. Rhizoids scarcely present. Main thallus axis

is nearly biconvex in cross-section, 6-7 cells thick in the

middle, 2-3 cells wide and ultimately unistratose at the

margins, epidermal cells smaller and more or less rectangular

in shape.

Ecology and Distribution: Grows luxuriantly in dense

patches on rocks under dripping water at Tamia valley (near

Chhota Mahadeo).

Specimens Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia, on way to Chhota Mahadeo (ca 950 m),

10.x. 1992, Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205498, 205509,

205510 (LWG). Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana; 1 9.xii. 1993,

Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205693, 205696, 205697,

205699, 205700 (LWG). Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

4. Riccardia levieri Schiffn., Osterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 49: 130,

1899. (Fig. 2, 3-4).

Thallus usually green, up to 30 mm long and 1 .25 mm

wide, irregularly or pinnately branched, branches more or

less opposite, margin entire, apices broad and obtuse. Rhizoids

usually present. Main axis of the thallus convex below and

nearly concave or plain above in cross-section, about 6 cells

thick in the middle, thallus wing multistratose, becoming thin

towards margin, edges rounded or slightly acute, epidermal

cells smaller than the inner cells.

Ecology and Distribution: Grows under extremely wet

conditions on rocks under water stream at Tamia (on way to

Chhota Mahadeo).

Specimen Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia, on way to Chhota Mahadeo (ca 1000

m), 10.x. 1992, Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 2055 10 (LWG).

Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

B. Fossombroniaceae Evans

a. Fossombronia Raddi

5. Fossombronia wondraczekii (Corda) Dum. Rec. d’observ.

P. 11, 1835. (Fig. 2, 5-10).

Basionym: Jungermannia wondraczekii Corda in

Sturm, Deutschl. FI. Fasc. 2, Lfg. 19-20, 30, 1830.

Plants green or yellowish green. Stem 6 mm long with

a tendency of dichotomous branching, slightly thickened

towards apex, rhizoids hyaline to light yellow, densely

distributed over ventral surface. Leaves succubous, densely

arranged towards the apex, margin undulate, cells thin-walled.

276

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

Fig. 1 : 1-5: Jungermannia tenerrima Steph: 1 . A portion of plant, 2. Cross section of stem,

3. Marginal cells of Leaf, 4. Median cells of Leaf, 5. Basal cells of Leaf;

6-12: Lophozia mayebarae (Hatt.) N. kitag: 6. Dorsal view of plant,

7. Cross section of stem, 8-10. Leaves, 11. Apical cells Leaf, 12. Basal cells of Leaf

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

277

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

marginal cells 20-24 x 34-68 pm, median cells 34-42.5 x 85

pm and basal cells 42 x 153 (am. Monoecious. Antheridia not

seen. Pseudoperianth campanulate or inverted bell-shaped

with wavy margin. Seta elongated. Capsule spherical,

blackish-brown and exserted, dehiscence irregular, capsule

wall bistratose, cells of outer layer thin-walled without any

thickening, cells of inner layer in surface view with incomplete

thickening bands. Spores tetrahedral to spherical, 58 pm in

diameter, dark brown distal face with prominent, parallel

running lamellae, which sometimes form 1 or 2 reticulations

in the middle, perispore prominent and well-developed at

periphery, spines bold and pointed, proximal face devoid of

lamellae, but with scattered papillae, triradiate mark faintly

developed. Elaters 160 pm long, 20 pm broad, 2(3-4) spirate,

yellowish brown with obtuse end.

Ecology and Distribution: Grows on soil-covered rock

near Rajakhoh in Patalkot valley.

Specimen Examined: India: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Patalkot, near Rajakhoh ( ca 400 m), 6.x. 1992.

Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205474 (LWG). Det. V. Nath

& A.K. Asthana.

6. Fossombronia kashyapii Srivast. et Udar, Nova Hedwigia

26: 816(1975). (Fig. 2, 11-16).

Plants small, green or dull-green. Stem 7-8 mm long,

dichotomously branched, apical region often tuberous, ventral

surface covered with hyaline rhizoids. Leaves simple,

succubous, quadrate or sub-quadrate, obliquely inserted,

arranged in two lateral rows, margins undulate, marginal cells

28 (-62.4) x 24 pm, median cells 60 (-163) x 28-43 pm.

Dioecious. Antheridia not seen. Pseudoperianth campanulate,

margin irregularly lobed. Capsule spherical, dark brown,

dehiscence irregular, capsule wall bistratose, cells of outer

layer thin-walled, without any thickening, inner layer cells

in surface view with complete or incomplete thickening bands.

Spores 52 pm in diameter, dark brown with thick lamellae,

often forming reticulations in the middle region on distal face,

usually 5 reticulations across the diameter with a range of

1-8 lamellae continuous usually forked at periphery, spines

and perispore well-developed, proximal face devoid of

lamellae, with some short and scattered low lamellae and

faintly developed triradiate mark. Elater 160-258 pm long,

usually trispirate.

Ecology and Distribution: Grows on rocks under moist

and exposed conditions at Tamia.

Specimen Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia (ca 1,000 m), 10.x. 1992, Leg. V. Nath &

A.K. Asthana. 205487 (LWG). Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

C. Pallaviciniaceae Migula em. Schust.

a. Pallavacinia S. Gray

7. Pallavacinia lyellii (Hook.) Gray. J. Bot. Brit. Foreign 3:

302, 1865. (Fig. 3, 1-6).

Basionym: Jungermannia lyellii Hook., Brit. Jung. PI.

77, 1816.

Thallus prostrate, 70 mm long, 5 mm wide, light green,

dichotomously branched at apex, margin entire. Rhizoids

scarcely present. Thallus usually 11 cells high in the middle

and has a prominent midrib, which gradually passes on both

sides into a broad lamina, midrib more or less 0.5 mm broad

with central conducting strand composed of thick- walled cells,

cells usually 30 in number. Cup-shaped involucre having thick

fringe of hairs at mouth. Perianth and sporophyte not seen.

Ecology and Distribution: Grows on soil-covered

rocks under extremely moist conditions at Tamia, on way to

Chhota Mahadeo.

Specimens Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia, Chhota Mahadeo {ca 954-1000 m),

10.x. 1992. Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205501, 205502,

205504, 205505, 205506, 205510, 205511 (LWG);

1 9.xii. 1 993, Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205682, 205702,

205703, 205704 (LWG). Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

III. Marchantiales Limpr.

A. Targioniaceae Endl.

a. Targionia L.

8. Targionia hypophylla L. Spec. Plant. 1604, 1753. (Fig. 3,

12-16).

Plants yellowish green, thallus up to 10 mm long, 3 or

rarely 4 mm broad, ventral surface purplish; scales purplish,

delicate with or without appendage, pores nearly rounded.

Dioecious, male plants not seen in our collection. Female

thalli with dark, boat-shaped involucre around sporophyte

near the apex on ventral surface. Spores dark brown-black,

60-68 pm in diameter, sporoderm minutely reticulate, forming

a fine mesh all over, distal face with some larger reticulations,

usually 4-5 across the diameter, proximal face with irregular

folds or lamellae. Elaters usually 170-306 pm long with 2 or

rarely 4 spiral thickening bands.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grew over soil-

covered rocks under exposed conditions at Patalkot valley,

near Rajakhoh and at Tamia near Chhota Mahadeo.

Specimens Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Patalkot {ca 400 m), 6.x. 1992. Leg. V. Nath &

A.K. Asthana. 205472 (LWG) Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana;

Tamia {ca 952 m), 1 1 .x. 1 992. Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

205526 (LWG). Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

b. Cyathodium Kunze

9. Cyathodium cavernarum Kunze in Lehm., Pugillus 6: 17,

278

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

Fig. 2: 1,2. Riccardia santapaui Udar et Sriv.: 1. Plant, 2. Cross section of thallus; 3, 4. Riccardia levied Schiff.:

3. Plant, 4. Cross section of thallus; 5-10: Fossombronia wondraczekii (Corda) Dum.: 5. Plant, 6. Apical marginal cells of thallus,

7. Inner lining layer of capsule, 8. Spore (distal face), 9. Spore (proximal face), 10. Elater with bispiral thickening bands.

11 -16: Fossombronia kashyapil Sriv. efUdar.: 11. Plant, 12. Apical marginal cells of thallus, 13. Inner lining layer of capsule,

14. Spore (proximal face), 15. Spore (distal face), 16. Elater with trispiral thickening bands.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

279

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

1834. (Fig. 3, 7-11).

Thalli yellowish green, small, delicate, 3-5 or rarely

8 mm long, 2-3 or rarely 4 mm wide, dichotomously branched

at apex, repeated dichotomy results in a fan-shaped thallus,

cavernous in nature, midrib not present. Monoecious.

Antheridia not seen. Involucre present near the margin in the

apical region of thallus, globose, non-hairy, cleaved into two

lips, rim of involucre bordered with 2-3 rows of thick-walled

cells. Capsule ovoid, dark brown. Spores blackish brown,

52-56 pm in diameter, sporoderm spinose-baculate. Elaters

up to 561 pm long with bispiral thickening bands.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow on soil and soil-

covered rocks in damp pockets at Tamia near Chhota Mahadeo.

Specimens Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Patalkot, near Rajakhoh (ca 953 m), 6.x. 1992.

Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana 205469 (LWG); Tamia, Chhota

Mahadeo, 1 1 .x. 1992. Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 2055 1 8,

205527 (LWG). Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

B. Aytoniaceae Cavers

a. Asterella Beauv.

10 . Asterella wallichiana (Lehm. et Lindb.) Grolle. J. Hattori

Bot. Lab. 11:8, 1954.

(Lig. 4, 1-4)

Basionym: Fimbriaria wallichiana in Lehm., Pugillus

4: 4, 1832.

Plants green, thallus up to 30 mm long, 3 mm broad,

linear, dichotomously branched, dorsal surface nearly flat,

margin wavy usually purple, apex notched; pores large,

surrounded by 3 rings of 6 cells each; scales purplish,

triangular with an acuminate appendage, sometimes unequally

divided. Dioecious. Male plants not seen. Lemale receptacle

terminal at apex, with 2-5 lobes, stalked, stalk 2 mm long,

perianth nearly horizontal, membranous, beak-like, exserted.

Spores dark brown, 63 pm in diameter, sporoderm papillose

with a predominantly lamellate pattern, sometimes with a

tendency to form reticulations. Elaters yellow to light brown

with 1-2 spiral thickening bands, up to 150 pm long.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow over rocks and

soil-covered rocks in exposed as well as shady places at Tamia,

on way to Chota Mahadeo.

Specimens Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia, Chota Mahadeo (ca 1,000 m), 10.x. 1992.

Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205489, 205519 (LWG);

1 9.xii. 1 993. Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205680, 205681

(LWG). Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

b. Plagiochasma Lehm. et Lindb.

1 1 . Plagiochasma appendiculatum Lehm. et Lindb. Pugillus

4: 14, 1832. (Fig. 4, 12-15)

Thallus thick forming large patches, green to dark green

up to 32 mm long and 6 mm wide, dichotomously divided;

lobes obcordate, dorsal surface smooth with distinct pores,

concave, margins undulate, slightly crenulate; ventral surface

with purple tinge, scales in 1 row on each side of the midrib,

purple, widely lunate in shape with a large appendage,

constricted at base, obtuse, sometimes ovate with slightly

acute apex, midrib gradually passing into the lamina and

inconspicuous towards base. Male receptacles not seen.

Female receptacles with very short stalks up to 4 lobed (in

our specimens). Spores yellow, sporoderm lamellate -

reticulate 68-80 pm in diameter. Elaters yellowish-brown,

340-390 pm long with bispiral thickening bands.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow on soil-covered

rocks at Tamia, on way to Chota Mahadeo and at Patalkot.

Specimens Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia, Chota Mahadeo (ca 950 m), 19.xii. 1993.

Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana 205684, 205716, 205717

(LWG); Rajakhoh, Patalkot valley, Rajakhoh (ca 400 m),

20.xii. 1993. Leg. V. Nath. & A.K. Asthana. 205731 (LWG).

Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

12. Plagiochasma intermedium Lindbg. et Gott., Syn. Hep.

513, 1844. (Fig. 4, 5-11)

Thalli forming patches, green to dark green, 13-20 or

rarely 25 mm long and 3-5 mm wide, sometimes slightly

dichotomous; lobes strap-shaped with purple and thin margin,

nearly entire or dentate, dorsal surface green with distinct

pores. Ventral surface with purple tinge, scales purple, lunate

appendaged, usually with 2 small appendages, oblong,

constricted at base, entire with nearly acute apex. Midrib

gradually passing into wings. Male receptacles not seen.

Female receptacle with a very short stalk, dorsal in position,

with 1-4 involucres. Spores brown-dark brown, lamellate,

sometimes reticulate with a prominent wing, 60 pm in

diameter. Elaters yellowish, uniformly thickened without

spiral bands, up to 390 pm long.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow on soil-covered

rocks at Patalkot and at Tamia in shady as well exposed

conditions.

Specimens Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Patalkot valley, near Rajakhoh (ca 400 m),

6.x. 1992. Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205470 (LWG);

20.xii.1993. Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205728 (LWG);

Tamia, Chota Mahadeo (ca 950 m), 11.x. 1992. Leg. V. Nath

& A.K. Asthana. 205516, 205525 (LWG). Det. V. Nath &

A.K. Asthana.

C. Marchantiaeeae (Bisch.) Endl.

a. Dumortiera Nees.

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BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

2-4, 6

Fig. 3: 1 -6: Pallavicinia lyellii (Hook.) Gray.: 1 . Thallus with involucre, 2. Marginal cells of thallus, 3. Median cells of thallus,

4. Basal cells of thallus, 5. Cross section of thallus, 6. An enlarged portion of the same,

7-11 \Cyathodium cavernarum Kunze: 7,8. Thalli, 9,10. Spores, 11 . Elater with spiral thickening bands;

12-16: Targionia hypophylla L.: 12,13. Thalli with ventral involucre, 14. Spore (distal face), 15. Spore (proximal face),

16. Elater with bispiral thickening bands

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

281

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

13. Dumortiera hirsuta (Sw.) R. Bl. et Nees. Nov. Act. Leop.

Carol. 7: 410, 1824. (Fig. 5, 1-4)

Basionym: Marchantia hirsuta Sw., Prodr. FI. Ind.

Occid. 145, 1788.

Plants dark green. Thalli in large overlapping patches.

Thallus 40-50 mm (100 mm) long and 6-10 mm wide,

repeatedly dichotomously branched, apex deeply cleaved,

margin entire, undulate, translucent, midrib conspicuous.

Dorsal surface with some papillate cells. Midrib prominent

below, about 1 1 or more cells thick in the middle, gradually

passing into the lamina formed of large cells. Dioecious,

young female receptacles at apical articulation, sessile with

bristles. Mature female receptacles with sporophyte not seen.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow luxuriantly in

large patches on rocks under dripping water at Tamia, on way

to Chota Mahadeo.

Specimens Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia, on way to Chota Mahadeo ( ca 1,000

nr), 10.x. 1992. Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205507, 205508,

205511, 205514, 205515 (LWG); 19.xii.1993. Leg. V. Nath

& A.K. Asthana. 205701. 205714, 205715 (LWG). Det. V.

Nath & A.K. Asthana.

b. Marchantia L.

14. Marchantia linearis Lehm. et Lindb. in Lehman, Nov.

Stirp. Pug. 4: 8, 1832; Sp. Hep. 1: 187, 1900. (Fig. 5, 5-10)

Thallus thin, golden green in medium to large patches,

15-25 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, dichotomously branched,

midrib narrow, black, margin entire, undulate. Pores scarce,

small, up to 85 pm in diameter, bordered by 5-6 rings of cells.

Thallus 14-20 cells thick in the middle, gradually or

sometimes abruptly decreasing towards margins, sometimes

one mucilage cavity present. Ventral surface brown, scale in

4 rows, two median rows with appendiculate scales having

long decurrent base, appendages small hyaline or yellow,

nearly cordate at base, apex acute with 1-2 apical cells, margin

toothed usually with unicellular sharp teeth; laminal scales

hyaline or purplish, orbicular, apex obtuse or rounded. Gemma

cup at median region near apex, margin smooth.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow on moist soil

under shady conditions near Chota Mahadeo at Tamia.

Specimen Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia, Chota Mahadeo {ca 950 m), 19.xii. 1993.

Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205711, 205712, 205713

(LWG) Det. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana.

IV. Anthocerotae Endl.

A. Anthocerotaceae (Gray) Trev. em. Bharad.

a. Anthoceros (Micheli) L. em. Prosk.

15. Anthoceros bharadwajii Udar et Asthana, Proc. Indian

Natn. Sci. Acad. B51 (4): 484, 1985. (Fig. 6, 1-4).

Thalli fan-shaped to radially oriented, dark green,

margin dissected, radially oriented thalli up to 9 mm (10 mm)

wide, spongy in nature with prominent mucilage chambers

clearly seen along the margin of the thalli. Involucre up to 3

mm long with a narrow mouth. Epidermal layer of capsule

wall with 6-11 stomata / sq. mm, each stoma up to 65 pm

long and up to 50 pm wide with reniform guard cells,

surrounded by 6-7 more longer than broad epidermal cells

with uniformly thickened radial walls. Spores brown or dark

brown, 35-44 pm (55 pm) in diameter with spinulate to rather

blunt projections forming reticuloid pattern, proximal face

marked with distinct triradiate mark ending shortly before

the periphery, bordered with unsculptured stripe on both the

sides of ray, slightly arched. Pseudoelaters light brown, thin-

walled, 1 20 pm long, usually 4 celled, sometimes branched.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow luxuriantly on

soil-covered rocks under fairly moist conditions at Tamia.

Specimen Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia {ca 1000 m), 10.x. 1992. Leg. V. Nath &

A. K. Asthana, 205488 (LWG). Det. A.K. Asthana & V. Nath.

B. Phaeocerotaceae Bharad.

a. Phaeoceros Prosk.

16. Phaeoceros laevis (Linn.) Prosk. subsp. laevis Prosk.

Rapp, et Comm. 8. Congr. Intern. Bot. Paris 14-16: 69, 1954

(Fig. 6, 5-8)

Basionym: Anthoceros laevis Linn. Spec. Plant. 2:

1139, 1753.

Plants dioecious. Female thalli fan-shaped, light or dark

green, branched, up to 11 mm long, 8-10 mm wide at apex,

deeply lobed, margin entire-wavy, compact. Involucre cup-

shaped cylindrical, 2 mm (-5 mm) long with wide mouth,

compact, smooth, epidermal layer of capsule wall

stomatiferous with 6-7 stomata/ sq. mm, each stoma 50-75

pm long and 40 pm wide with two reniform guard cells,

surrounded by 5-6 more longer than broad narrow rectangular

cells having uniformly thickened radial and end walls. Spores

yellowish green, spherical or subspherical, 45 pm in diameter,

sporoderm minutely papillate with a prominent equatorial

crossitudo, proximal face with a distinct thin triradiate mark

bordered by minute papillae along the rays, triradiate rays

reaching to equatorial crossitudo. Pseudoelaters light brown

to brown, 4 celled, 168 pm long, thin-walled.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow on rocks near

streams at Chota Mahadeo, Tamia.

Specimen Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia, Chota Mahadeo {ca 950 m), 19.xii. 1993.

Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana. 205687 (LWG). Det. A.K.

Asthana & V. Nath.

282

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

Fig. 4: 1 -4: Asterella wallichiana (Lehm. et Lindb.) Grolle, 1 . Thallus with female receptacle, 2,3. Spores,

4. Elater with bispiral thickening bands; 5-11. Plagiochasma intermedium Ldbg. et Gott. 5. Thallus with female receptacle,

6. Ventral scale, 7,8. An enlarged view of the same, 9. Spore (distal face), 10. Spore (proximal face),

11 . Elater without thickening bands; 12-15: Plagiochasma appendiculatum L. et L. 12. Thallus with female receptacle,

13. Ventral scale, 14. Spore, 15. Elater with bispiral thickening bands

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

283

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

17. Phaeoceros laevis (Linn.) Prosk. subsp. carolinianus

(Michx.) Prosk., Rapp, ef Comm. 8. Congr. Intern. Bot ., Paris

14-16: 69, 1954. (Fig. 6,9-11)

Basionym: Anthoceros carolinianus Michx., FI. Bor.

America 2: 280, 1803.

Plants monoceious. Thalli fan-shaped light or dark

green, deeply lobed, usually 12 mm long and 10 mm wide

with fanning apex and narrowing base, compact. Androecial

chambers scattered irregular over the dorsal surface. Involucre

cylindrical, 2-4 mm long, smooth, compact, narrow at mouth.

Epidermal layer of capsule wall stomatiferous with 3-10

stomata/ sq. mm, up to 80 pm long and 40 pm wide, with two

reniform guard cells surrounded by usually 6 more longer

than broad epidermal cells, cells with thickened radial and

end walls. Spores yellowish green, 35 pm in diameter,

sporoderm minutely papillate with a prominent equatorial

crossitudo, proximal face with a distinct triradiate mark,

triradiate rays thin and bordered with minute papillae all along

its length, reaching up to equatorial crossitudo. Pseudoelaters

yellowish brown, thin-walled, up to 150 pm long with

irregular thickening bands.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants grow over soil-

covered rocks under moist conditions near Chota

Mahadeo.

Specimen Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Tamia, Chota Mahadeo (ca 950 m), 19.xii. 1993.

Leg. V. Nath & A.K. Asthana 205708 (LWG). Det. A.K.

Asthana & V. Nath.

18. Phaeoceros kashyapii Asthana et Sriv. Bryophyt.

Biblioth. Band 42: 129, 1991. (Fig. 6, 12-18)

Plants monoecious. Thalli light green, lobed up to 6

mm long and 2-4 mm wide, fanning above and narrow at

base, compact. Involucre cylindrical, smooth, up to 3 mm

long, compact. Epidermal layer of capsule wall stomatiferous,

each stoma with 2 reniform guard cells, surrounded by 5-6

more longer than broad epidermal cells having thickened

radial and end walls. Spores yellowish green, 37.5-40 pm in

diameter, sporoderm with lamellate projections and a

prominent equatorial crossitudo, proximal face with a

prominent and thin triradiate mark reaching to the inner border

of equatorial crossitudo. Pseudoelaters pale to light brown,

thin-walled, smooth, 72-100 pm long.

Ecology and Distribution: Plants were collected from

soil-covered rocks under moist conditions on way to Rajakhoh

at Patalkot valley.

Specimen Examined: india: Madhya Pradesh,

Chhindwara, Patalkot, on way to Rajakhoh (ca 400 m),

6.x. 1992. Leg. V. Nath and A.K. Asthana. 205475 (LWG).

Det. A.K. Asthana & V. Nath.

DISCUSSION

The investigation on the altitudinal distribution of

liverwort and homwort taxa growing at Tamia and Patalkot

revealed that Riccardia levieri , Fossombronia kashyapii,

Lophozia mayebarae , Dumortiera hirsuta and Anthoceros

bharadwajii occur at higher altitude (ca 1,000 m), while

Riccardia santapaui , Cyathodium cavernarum, Marchantia

linearis, Phaeoceros laevis subsp. laevis and subsp.

carolinianus occur at ca 950 m. Pallavicinia lyellii grows

between 954- 1 ,000 m. Apart from this, the low altitude loving

taxa like Jungermannia (Luridae) tenerrima, Fossombronia

wondraczekii, Targionia hypophylla and Phaeoceros

kashyapii grow at ca 400 m. The most adaptive taxa are

Plagiochasma appendiculatum and P intermedium, which

grow at a range of 400-950 m.

Lophozia mayebarae (Hatt.) N. Kitag. was earlier

described from Japan by Kitagawa ( 1966) and was considered

endemic; the present study, however, revealed the occurrence

of this taxon at Tamia (Chhindwara district), which is a new

record for India, hence extending the range of distribution of

this species from Japan to India. Indian specimens of the above

taxon closely resemble Japanese plants in plant size, stem

anatomy, leaf size and non-trigonous cells; but some

variations, in apical leaf cells (30-40 pm), middle and basal

cells (28-33 x 40-60 pm) have been observed, which may be

due to different climatic conditions of the two geographically

different locations.

Phaeoceros kashyapii Asthana et Sriv. was first

described (Asthana and Srivastava 1991) from Deoban

(Western Himalaya) at ca 3,300 m, but recent investigation

showed the occurrence of this taxon at remarkably low

altitude - ca 400 m - at Patalkot valley (Chhindwara

district), which is a new addition to the central Indian

bryoflora, and it shows the adaptability of this species to

grow widely in various bryogeographical regions of India.

A morphological variation in the specimens of Patalkot,

as compared to the plants of Deoban, is that the thallus is

smaller in size, in addition to variation in diameter of spore

and elater’s length. Jungermannia (Luridae) tenerrima is

also a new addition to the central Indian bryoflora, as

earlier it was known from western and eastern Himalaya

only.

The present study revealed that Targionia hypophylla,

Cyathodium cavernarum, Plagiochasma intermedium

and Plagiochasma appendiculatum are common at both

Tamia and Patalkot valley. This growth pattern exhibits the

adaptability of these taxa to grow at lower, as well as at higher

altitudes and in shady or exposed conditions as compared to

other taxa. Riccardia santapaui (Aneuraceae), Pallavicinia

284

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

Fig. 5:. 1-4: Dumortiera hirsuta (Sw.) R. Bl. et Nees: 1 . Thallus with young female discs, 2. Cross section of thallus,

3, 4. An enlarged view of the same showing papillate cells; 5-10: Marchantia linearis Lehm. et Lindb.:

5. Thallus with gemma cups, 6. Laminal scale, 7. Appendage of the scale, 8. An appendaged scale, 9. Cross section of thallus,

10. An enlarged portion of the same

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

285

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

Fig. 6: 1-4: Anthoceros bharadwajii Udar et Asthana: 1 . Thallus, 2. Spore (distal face), 3. Spore (proximal face), 4. Pseudoelater.

5-8: Phaeoceros laevis s. sp. laevis Prosk.: 5. Thallus, 6. Spore (distal face), 7. Spore (proximal face), 8. Pseudoelater.

9-11: Phaeoceros laevis s.sp. carolinianus (Michx.) Prosk.: 9. Monoecious thallus, 10. Spore, 11. Pseudoelater.

12-18: Phaeoceros kashyapiiAsthana et Sriv.: 12, 13. Thalli, 14, 15. Spores (distal face), 16. Spore (proximal face),

17,18. Pseudoelaters

286

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

BRYOPHYTES OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY

lyellii (Pallaviciniaceae) and Dumortiera hirsuta

(Marchantiaceae) respectively form the dominant liverwort

vegetation at Tamia, while Plagiochasma intermedium and

Plagiochasma appendiculatum exhibit dominance in the

Patalkot valley.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Director,

National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow for

encouragement and necessary facilities.

REFERENCES

Asthana, A.K. & S.C. Srivastava (1991): Indian Hornworts (A

taxonomic study). Bryophyt. Biblioth. 42: 1-230.

Bapna, K.R. (1958): Hepatic Flora of Mt. Abu. Cun: Sci. 27: 259-260.

Bapna, K.R. & G.G. Vyas (1962): Studies in the liverworts of Mt. Abu.

(India) I. A preliminary account. J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 25: 81-90.

Bapna, K.R. & P. Kachroo (2000): Hepaticology in India, I & II.

Himanshu Publications, Udaipur, Delhi. 439 pp. & 491 pp.

Hattori, S. (1966): Anthocerotae and Hepaticae. Pp. 501-536. In:

(Ed: Hara, H.). The Flora of Eastern Himalayas. The University

of Tokyo, Tokyo.

Hattori, S. (1971): Hepaticae. Pp. 222-240. In: (Ed: Hara, H.). The

Flora of Eastern Himalayas (Second Report). The University of

Tokyo, Tokyo.

Kachroo, P. (1969): Hepaticae of India. A taxonomic survey and census

I. Floristics and taxonomic considerations. Kashmir J. Sci. 6: 39-

55.

Khare, P.B. (1999): Tamia, Patalkot (M.P.) mein Pteridophyta ki lupt

hoti durlabh prajatiyan, ek adhyayan (In Hindi). Indian Sci. &

Indust. Res. Mag. 7(2): 86-90.

Kitagawa, N. (1966): A revision of the Family Lophoziaceae of Japan

and its adjacent regions II. J. Hattori. Bot. Lab. 29: 101-149.

Lal, J. & N.S. Parihar ( 1979): Hepatic flora of Pachmarhi. J. Indian

bot. Soc. 5: 1 10-114.

Pande, S.K. & K.P Srivastava ( 1952): Hepatic vegetation of Pachmarhi.

J. Indian bot. Soc. 31: 342-351.

Parihar, N.S., B. Lal & N. Katiyar (1994): Hepatics and Anthocerotes

of India. A new annotated checklist. Central Book Depot,

Allahabad. Pp. 1-106.

Tewari, S.D. & G Pant (1994): Bryophytes of Kumaon Himalayas.

Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun. Pp. 1-240.

Vasudeva, S.M. & S.S. Bir (1987): Ecological and taxonomical

observations on the Pteridophytic flora of Tamia hills and Patalkot

valley (Dist. Chhindwara), Madhya Pradesh, central India. Indian

Fern J. 4: 1-13.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

287

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

288-297

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED

SEA TURTLES AT VIZHINJAM, SOUTH-WEST COAST OF INDIA1

P. Kannan2 and M. Rajagopalan3

'Accepted May 2006

;Madras Research Centre of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR), 75, Santhome High Road, Chennai 600 028, Tamil

Nadu, India.

Present Address: Chennai Snake Park, Raj Bhavan (Post), Chennai 600 022, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: [email protected]

Ventral Marine Fisheries Research Institute, (ICAR) Kochi, 682 018, Kerala, India. Email: [email protected]

The paper deals with the size composition of incidentally captured sea turtles in different fishing gears, such as gill

net, hooks and line, boat seine, and other gears at Vizhinjant coastal area from September 1 998 to December 2001 . The

size composition and the relationships between various morphometric characters of the incidentally caught sea turtles

have been discussed. Size composition of 1,216 Olive Ridleys Lepidochelys olivacea , 56 Green Turtles Chelonia

mydas , 43 Hawksbills Eretmochelys imbricata and 5 Leatherback Turtles Dermochelys coriacea were studied. In the

carapace length, significant variations were found among the species (F=407.47; p<0.001), year (F=7.17; pcO.OOl),

gear types ( F= 1 0.40; p<0.00 1 ) and sex (F=272.43; p<0.00 1 ). In the weight, significant variations were noticed among

the species (F= 1,325. 18; pcO.OOl), and sex (F=345. 17; pcO.OOl ). Among the incidentally caught sea turtles, significant

differences were observed between the species, and sex in relationship between different morphometric characters

and weight.

Key words: morphometric measurements, sea turtles, size composition, fishing gears, analysis of variation, regression

equation

INTRODUCTION

The size frequency of a population is important and is an

essential parameter of that population’s demographic structure

(Bolten 1999). By analyzing the size composition of sea turtles,

habitat quality and physiological status can be understood

(Bolten 1999). Morphometric data on the incidentally caught

sea turtles can be used as a tool to estimate from the measurement

of one body part, the weight and measurement of other parts.

Morphometric characteristics of a population can help to identify

the population status and to find out the species and size group

that get entangled in the fishing gears. They also help to suggest

measures to reduce the mortality by altering the mesh size or by

any other effective conservation measures. Available information

on sea turtle morphometry is restricted to nesting Olive Ridleys

(Silas et al. 1983; James et al. 1989; Dash and Kar 1990) and

some reports on the Green Turtle, Hawksbill, and Leatherback

Turtle stranded along the Indian coast (Siraimeetan 1985;

Tripathy and Choudhury 2002; Bhupathy and Karunakaran

2003). However, considerable amount of work is available

on the morphometric measurements of sea turtles from Sri

Lanka (Deraniyagala 1953), North Carolina (Fahy 1954),

Queensland and Papua New Guinea (Limpus 1985) and from

Oceanic in Azores and Baleares Islands. The literature

available on the morphometry is very fragmentary in India

and there is no detailed work on the morphometry of

incidentally caught sea turtles. Therefore, the present study

was undertaken to analyze the size composition of the stranded

turtles from different fishing gears and to find out the

relationship between various morphometric characteristics of

incidentally caught sea turtles.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Measurements were taken from the incidentally caught

Olive Ridleys Lepidochelys olivacea , Green Turtles Chelonia

mydas , Hawksbills Eretmochelys imbricata , and Leatherback

Turtles Dermochelys coriacea at Vizhinjam of Kerala coast.

Data were collected from September 1998 to December 2001 .

On locating the stranded sea turtles, different morphological

measurements, such as curved carapace length and width,

plastron length and width were taken for all turtles. Bolten

(1999) was followed for taking measurements of different

parts of the body.

RESULTS

Size composition of sea turtles

The morphometric measurements and weight of sea

turtles incidentally caught in Vizhinjam, Kerala are given in

Table 1.

Morphometric Relationship between different species of

sea turtles

Multiway Analysis of Variance was applied to

investigate the difference in the morphometric measurements

among the four species of sea turtles. In the carapace length

significant variations were found among the species

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES

(F=407.47; pcO.OOl), year (F=7. 17; p<0.001), gear types

(F=10.40; p<0.001) and sex (F=272.43; p<0.001 ). Likewise

in carapace width, significant variations were found in species

(F= 180.82; p<0.001), gear types (F= 10.33; p<0.001) and sex

(F=276.07; pcO.OOl), in plastron length variations were

noticed among the species (F=336.00; p<0.001), year (F=6.80;

p<0.001) and sex (F=224.26; p<0.001) and plastron width

showed significant difference among the species (F-122.85;

p<0.001), sex (FA253.59; p<0.001). In the weight significant

variations were noticed among the species (F= 1,325. 18;

pcO.OOl), sex (F-345.17; pcO.OOl) (Table 2).

Relationship between the Morphometric Characters and

Weight

The relationship between morphometric characteristics

and weight of different species of turtles, incidentally caught

in various types of fishing gears, was tested using regression

equations. The fitted line was plotted on a scatter diagram

for different parameters.

The regression equations developed were i) Carapace

length vs. carapace width ii) Plastron length vs. plastron width

iii) Carapace length vs. weight iv) Carapace width vs. weight

v) Plastron length vs. weight and vi) Plastron width vs. weight.

The fitted linear and nonlinear regression equations for different

morphological characters are given in Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Olive Ridleys Lepidochelys olivacea

The carapace length vs. carapace width and plastron

length vs. plastron width of the Olive Ridleys Lepidochelys

olivacea at the Vizhinjam coastal area, Kerala showed linear

relationship, while carapace length vs. weight, carapace width

vs. weight, plastron length vs. weight, and plastron width vs.

weight showed quadratic relationship. All the regression

equations were highly significant (p<0.001) and explained

more than 61% of the total variation (Table 3 and Fig. 1).

Green Turtles Chelonia mydas

Out of the six regression equations developed on the

morphometric characteristics of the Green Turtles Chelonia

mydas in Vizhinjam, Kerala the first three regression equations

(i-iii) showed linear relationships, whereas the remaining three

(iv-vi) had a quadratic relationship. All the regression

equations were highly significant (pcO.OOl) and explained

more than 80% of the total variations (Table 4 and Fig. 2).

Hawksbills Eretmochelys imbricata

The morphometric characteristics of the Hawksbills

Eretmochelys imbricata in Vizhinjam, Kerala in the first three

regression equations (i-iii) had a linear relationship, and the

remaining (iv-vi) had the high order term with quadratic

relationship. All the regression equations were highly

significant (pcO.OOl) (Table 5 and Fig. 3).

Leatherback Turtles Dermochelys coriacea

The morphometric characteristics of the Leatherback

Turtles Dermochelys coriacea in Vizhinjam, Kerala had linear

relationship in all the regression equations. The regression

equations were significant (pcO.OOl) for all the body

characteristic features, except plastron length vs. plastron

width and plastron length vs. weight and plastron width vs.

weight (Table 6 and Fig. 4).

DISCUSSION

Silas et al. (1983) reported that the size of the stranded

Olive Ridleys along the Orissa coast during 1983 ranged from

Table 1: Morphometric measurements and weight of different species of sea turtles incidentally caught in Vizhinjam, Kerala

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

289

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES

Y= 1.68419 + 0.914234X

R-Sq = 0.910

C. Length

Y = -88.5544 + 4.08001X - 289E-Q2X"2

R-Sq = 0.896

Y = -73.3591 + 3.97494X - 3.32&02X"2

R-Sq = 0.671

Fig. 1 : Regression [

51 to 72 cm in curved carapace length (mean of 62.2 cm),

curved carapace width from 48 to 63 cm (mean 57.8 cm),

plastron length from 44 to 57 cm (mean 5 1 .8 cm) and plastron

width from 43 to 53 cm (mean 49.3 cm). The report by

Bhupathy and Karunakaran (2003) states that the size of the

Y= 243533 + 0.889523X

R-Sq = 0835

Y = -65.8474 + 3.1S69QX- 2.21E-02X**2

R-Sq =0.843

Y = -20,8432 + 1 92526X- 1 26E-02X"2

R-Sq = 0.618

; for Lepidochelys olivacea

Olive Ridley recorded from the Nagapattinam coast of Tamil

Nadu ranged from 50 to 77 cm in curved carapace length

(mean 68.7±2.5 cm). Dash and Kar (1990) stated that at

Gahirmatha, the range of carapace length for male olive

ridleys was 67.5 to 70.0 cm and for females, it was 66.0 to

290

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

Wei9ht Weight C.Width

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES

Y= 7.083a + 0751649X

R-Sq= 0843

P. Length

Fig. 2: Regression

76.5 cm. In the present study, the Olive Ridley curved

carapace length ranged from 32 to 72 cm with a mean of

60.7±7.6, which is slightly lower than that recorded by Silas

et al. ( 1 983), but differs much from that recorded by Bhupathy

and Karunakaran (2003); Dash and Kar (1990). Hasbun and

Vasquez (1999) quoted that the nesting Olive Ridleys in

Y = -3 68-02 + 0 90654QX

R-Sq= 0.952

plots for Chetonia mydas

Santiago beach had a mean carapace length of 68.9 cm (range

60-85 cm, sd = 4.52). When compared to those reported

sporadically from other geographical regions, the average

lengths of carapace and their range of sizes clearly show that

the Ridleys of the present study are smaller in size than the

Ridleys of other regions, such as the north-eastern Gulf of

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

291

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES

California (Caldwell 1962) and Honiara (McKeown 1977).

Pritchard ( 1 969) opined that the average size of Olive Ridleys

was slightly larger in the Indian Ocean than elsewhere; hence

it appears that there is some geographical difference in the

size of the Ridleys. This is also evident from the maximum

sizes recorded at Sri Lanka: 79.0 cm by Deraniyagala (1939).

However, compared to earlier records, in this study both sexes

showed lower carapace ranges. The Ridley is the smallest of

all the sea turtles; seldom has it weighed more than 50 kg and

very rarely more than 60 kg (Dash and Kar 1990). The present

study showed that the average body weight of males and

females were 42.7 ±3.3 kg (range: 30 to 49.5 kg) and 42.9

±3.1 kg (range: 33 to 50 kg) respectively. Pritchard (1969)

reported the average weight of 14 turtles as 78.28 ±7.58 kg,

with a range of 68-97 kg. Kar and Bhaskar (1982) found the

average weight of 291 turtles to be 43.4 kg. According to

Zwinberg (1976), a female from Surinam had a carapace

length of 69.0 cm and weighed 44 kg. McKeown (1977)

Table 2: Analysis of Variance to investigate the effect of species, year, gear types and sex

on the morphometric measurements of incidentally caught sea turtles

292

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

Weight Weight C.Width

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES

Y = 1.07785+ Q82B14SX

R-Sq = 0.323

Y = 327810+ Q0OO91©(

R-Sq = 0.ffi9

Y = -222283 + 0.915307X

R-Sq= 0.842

SZ

1

P. Length

Y = -47.8333 + 2 5CB2QX 185E0ZX"2

R-Sq = 0721

Y = -723290 + 4.27247X - 4.34&Q2X**2

R-Sq = 0.674

Y = -67 8660 + 4 3948 IX - 4 72E-C0C~2

R-Sq= 0.736

Fig. 3: Regression plots for Eretmochelys imbricata

mentioned a copulating male and female near Honiara with a

carapace length of 65 and 47.0 cm and weight 40 kg and

44.5 kg respectively. The weight of Olive Ridleys of the

present study is in consistence with earlier studies.

Little information is available, so far, in the literature

relating to the body size and weight of subadults of Olive

Ridley. Only few occasional stray individuals were captured

in fishing gears or were found dead on the coast of Islands or

mainland beaches. The only substantial sample of subadults

of Olive Ridleys from outside the Indian Ocean appears

to have been recorded near Japan (Nishimura et al. 1972)

and the carapace length ranged from 2 1 .0-62.0 cm. Nishimura

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

293

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES

etal. (1972) opined that the Pacific Ridley has a trend towards

the demersal life and the individuals that drifted to the

Japanese waters were subadults. Deraniyagala (1953)

mentioned that the dimensions of subadult female from

Mortuva, Sri Lanka, had carapace length of 49.0 cm, carapace

width of 45.0 cm and plastron length of 40.0 cm. Hughes and

Richard (1974) suggested that in South Africa most turtles

caught in shark nets were subadults. Hillestad et al. (1982)

stated that the turtles captured by trawlers in Georgia and

South Carolina from 1978 to 1979, were subadults. In the

present study, the size of the subadults ranged from 32.0-

56.0 cm (mean = 50.2 ±8.3 cm) and the weight from 13-

39 kg (mean = 28.4 ± 8.2 kg) and they formed a substantial

portion of the incidental catches.

Martin et al. (2002) recorded that the average carapace

length of the Green Turtle was 93.3 cm in Cuba. In India,

Siraimeetan (1985) pointed out that the curved carapace length

of Green Turtle males ranged from 33-81.5 cm and the most

dominant size group was 65-75 cm; the female ranged between

41-80.5 cm and the majority of the turtles belonged to the size

group 65-75 cm. The weight of the males ranged from 3.5-

55 kg and the females from 6.5 to 5 1 .5 kg. The modal weight of

Table 3: Regression equation models among the morphometric measurements and weight of the Lepidochelys olivacea

Table 4: Regression equation models among the morphometric measurements and weight of Chelonia mydas

294

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

Weight Weight C. Width

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES

Y = -201059 + 0753178X

R-Sq = 0.981

Y = 71.8974 + 3796-Q2X

R-Sq = 0001

Y = -115968+ 241973X

R-Sq = 0.978

Y = -108 636+ 3.22091X

R-Sq = 0988

_C

g>

d)

5

Y= 205046 + 0.30C231X

R-Sq = 0 148

Y = -11,4571 + 331429X

R-Sq = 0.829

Fig. 4: Regression plots for Dermochelys coriacea

both the sexes was observed as 40 kg. Tripathy and Choudhury

(2002) reported the curved carapace length of 58.2 cm, width

of 48.3, plastron length of 48.4 and plastron width of

43.5 cm of the Green Turtle, which was washed ashore in

Andhra Pradesh coast during February 2001 . In the present

study, the Green turtle carapace length ranged from 43.5-

96.0 cm, width 41.0-86.0 cm, plastron length ranged from

36.0-82.0 cm, width 32.0-76.5 cm and weight ranged from

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

295

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES

15.0-89.0 kg. Considerably larger Green Turtles were

recorded in the present study.

Karbari ( 198 1 ) reported that the Hawksbill Turtle which

landed in Bombay (= Mumbai) had a carapace length 78.3 cm,

width 61.3 cm, and weight of 80 kg. Ganapathy ( 1 994) recorded

a Hawksbill Turtle washed ashore near Thondi, Tamil Nadu in

Palk Bay had a carapace length 45 cm. Bellini et al. (2000)

observed that the Hawksbill in Sueste Bay in Brazil had a curved

carapace length of 74 cm and carapace width of 65 cm. When

compared to the previous studies it was noted that slightly

smaller sized Hawksbills were recorded during the present

observation.

Measurement of the Leatherback Turtle, which was

washed ashore in the Gulf of Mannar coast, revealed that the

carapace length was 1 62 cm, width 86 cm, plastron length

150, and width of 87 cm (Krishna and Kasinathan 1989).

Hasbun and Vasquez (1999) stated that the average curved

carapace length of Leatherback was 158 cm. Godley et al.

(1998) speculated that the mean curved carapace length of

Leatherback Turtle was 152 cm (range 120-2 10 cm). The sizes

of the incidentally captured Leatherback were thought to be

of adults or subadults (Boulon et al. 1996). When compared

with earlier studies, the present study showed that the mean

value of carapace length of Leatherback Turtle was 142 cm,

which is similar to the study by Godley et al. (1998).

James et al. (1989) recorded that higher percentage of

Olive Ridleys carcasses were in the size group of 61-65 cm

carapace length during 1984 and 1993, and 66-70 cm during

Table 5: Regression equation models among the morphometric measurements and weight of Eretmochelys imbricata

Table 6: Regression equation models among the morphometric measurements and weight of Dermochelys coriacea

296

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES

1985-1987. Regarding carapace width, higher percentage

frequency was in the size group 56-60 cm in 1983-1984 and

66-70 cm during 1985-87 seasons. The data on the size group

composition of the present study was similar to an earlier

study by James et al. (1989).

Regression equations were established in the present

study between the various morphometric characters of the

four species of turtles. Such equations were not attempted

earlier. These relationships will be helpful in determining

population structure of the turtles from different parts of the

world, if such data from those areas is also available for

comparison.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We acknowledge Prof. (Dr.) Mohan Joseph Modayil

and Dr. M. Devaraj, Former Directors of CMFRI, for their

encouragement and help. We also thank Dr. H. Mohamad

Kasim, Scientist in-Charge, Dr. E. Vivekanandan and Dr. P.V.

Sreenivasan, Principal Scientists, Madras Research Centre

of CMFRI, for their comments and suggestions. Dr. R.

Nagarajan, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Exeter,

U.K. Lecturer, PG and Research Dept, of Zoology and

Division of Wildlife Biology, A. V.C. College (Autonomous)

for his help in statistical analyses.

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412 pp.

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from Ceylon 2, Tetrapod Reptilia. Ceylon National Museum

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Fahy, W.E. (1954): Loggerhead turtles, Caretta caretta , from North

Carolina. Copeia 1954: 157-158.

Ganapathy, A. ( 1 994): On a Hawksbill Turtle washed ashore near Thondi

along Palk Bay coast, Tamil Nadu. Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T&E.

Ser 133: 19.

Godley, B.J., M.J. Gaywood, R.J. Law, C.J. McCarthy, C. McKenzi,

I.A.P. Patterson, R.S. Penrose, R.J. Reid & H.M. Ross (1998):

Pattern of marine turtle mortality in British waters (1992-1996)

with reference to tissue contaminant levels. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. UK.

78: 973-984.

Hasbun, C.R & M. Vasquez (1999): Sea turtles of El Salvador. Marine

Turtle Newsl. 85: 7-9.

Hillestad, H., J.I. Richardson, C. Mcvea & J. Watson ( 1982): World

wide incidental capture of sea turtles Pp. 489-495. In: (Ed.

Bjorndal, K.A.) Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles.

Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.

Hughes, D.A. & J.D. Richard (1974): The nesting of the Pacific Ridley

Turtle Lepidochelys olivacea on Playa Nancite, Costa Rica. Marine

Biol. 24: 97-107.

James, P.S.B.R., M. Raiagopalan, S.S. Dan, A. Bastion Fernando &

V. Selvarai (1989): On the mortality of marine mammals and

turtles at Gahirmatha, Orissa from 1983 to 1987. J. Mar. Biol.

Ass. India 31: 28-35.

Kar, C.S. & S. Bhaskar (1982): The status of sea turtles in the Eastern

Indian Ocean. Pp. 356-372. In: (Ed. Bjorndal, K.A.) Biology and

Conservation of Sea Turtles. Smithsonian Institution Press,

Washington DC.

Karbari, J.P (1981): On the rare occurrence of giant sized turtle off

Elephant Caves (near Bombay). Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv.. T&E. Ser

33: 17.

Krishna Pillai, S. & C. Kasinathan (1989): On two species of marine

turtles caught off Dhanushkodi, Gulf of Mannar. Mar. Fish. Infor.

Serv., T&E. Ser 102: 17-18.

Limpus, C.J. (1985): The Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, in Queensland:

Population structure in a coral reef feeding area. Pp. 47-52. In:

(Eds: Grigg G., R. Shine & H. Ehmann) Biology of Australian

Frogs and Reptiles Surrey and Sons, Sydney.

Martin, M., R.D. Fernandez, A.N. Konnorov, J.A. Ricardo,

J.A. Valdes, G.E. Lopez & J.P. Roberto (2002): Project update:

University project for the study and conservation of Cuban sea

turtles - completion of year 3. Marine Turtle Newsl. 95: 18.

McKeown, A. (1977): Marine turtles of the Solomon Islands. Ministry

of Natural Resources, Fisheries Division, Honiara, 47 pp.

Nishimura, S.K.. K. Shiraj, T. Tatsuki & C. Sugihara ( 1972): The Pacific

Ridley Turtle in Japan. Publ. Seto Mar. Biol. Lab. 19: 415-426.

Pritchard, P.C.H. (1969): Sea turtles of the Guinians. Bulletin of the

Florida state Museum 13: 85-140.

Silas, E.G, M. Rajagopalan, A. Bastian Fernando & S.S. Dan (1983):

Marine turtle conservation and management: A Survey of the

situation in Orissa 1981/1982 and 1982/1983. Mar. Fish. Inform.

Serv., T.&E. Ser. 50: 13-23.

Siraimeetan, P. (1985): Observations on the Green Turtle Chelonia

mydas along the Gujarat coast Pp. 290-297 . In: (Ed. Silas E G)

Proceedings of the Symposium on Endangered Marine Animals

and Marine Parks. Marine Biological Association of India, Cochin

682 031, India.

Tripathy. B. & B.C. Choudhury (2002): Recent sightings of the Green

Turtle Chelonia mydas on the coast of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Marine Turtle Newsl. 98: 3-4.

Zwinberg, A.J. (1976): The Olive Ridley, Lepidochelys olivacea

(Eschscholtz 1829): Probably the most numerous marine turtle

today. Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society 12: 75-95.

mam

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

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Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

298-310

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS: PRELIMINARY INVENTORY

AND DISTRIBUTIONAL PATTERNS'

Priya Davidar2-5, K. Yoganand3, T. Ganesh4 and K. Geetha Nayak2-6

'Accepted August 30, 2007

department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Pondicherry 605 014. India.

^Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag # 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001, Uttarakhand, India. Email: [email protected]

4ATREE, 659, 5,h A Main, Hebbal. Bengaluru 560 024, Karnataka, India. Email: [email protected]

5Email: [email protected]

6Email: [email protected]

The distribution of 78 species of resident birds from 27 families was recorded during a survey of 45 islands in the

Andamans. The species richness of birds in each site was recorded by repeated walks along transects until the species

accumulation curve reached an asymptote. Species restricted to larger islands were not recorded on smaller islands.

The number of species in the different islands groups such as the North, Middle, South and Little Andaman islands, did

not differ appreciably. Frugivores and omnivores tended to have a wider distribution than raptors, which tended to be

restricted to larger islands. This database will provide a baseline with which to compare species distributions in the

future.

Keywords: Andaman islands, avifauna, biodiversity assessment, island biogeography, species distribution

INTRODUCTION

Species on islands are more vulnerable to extinction

than those on continents because besides factors such as the

small population size of island species and lower chances for

immigration or recolonisation of islands, they have usually

evolved in isolation in a less complex ecosystem (e.g., with

fewer predators, diseases and competitors), and therefore

cannot face the multiple threats caused by humans. Many

birds endemic to islands have gone extinct due to habitat loss,

introduced diseases and introduced species (Pimm et al.

1995). Developing biodiversity inventories and monitoring

changes in fauna can help to identify rare and threatened

species, and those with declining populations.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which lie off

mainland India, have a rich biota which is facing serious

threats due to increasing human pressure and developmental

activities (Whitaker 1985; Saldanha 1989; Pande et al. 1991;

Davidar et al. 1995). Therefore, documentation of the

distributional patterns of species will provide information that

can be used for immediate conservation action and for

monitoring species over time. In this study, we provide

information on the patterns of bird distribution in the Andaman

Islands and interpret the results in the light of conservation

priorities.

Pioneering surveys conducted by Abdulali ( 1 964, 1981)

on the avifauna of Andaman and Nicobar Islands helped to

set up the foundation for more detailed assessments. Ripley

and Beehler (1989) analysed the avifauna from an omitho-

geographical perspective and listed 104 species of breeding

birds. These include 1 8 endemic species and 86 endemic races.

Davidar et al. ( 1995, 1996, 2001 and 2002) and Devy et al.

(1998) conducted ecological surveys of forest birds and

butterflies in the Andaman group in the 1990s. They showed

that there is a latitudinal gradient in habitat diversity, with

the southernmost islands in the Andaman group having a

higher proportion of evergreen forests than the northern

islands. They demonstrated that island size and the presence

of evergreen forests significantly influenced species richness.

The larger islands had more species, and rarer species, than

did small islands. The avifauna of smaller islands was a nested

subset of those on larger islands. Therefore, they suggested

that conservation efforts should be focused on protecting

forests on large islands, and evergreen forests in particular

should be prioritised for conservation efforts.

An omitho-geographic analysis on the Andaman and

Nicobar avifauna was conducted by Ripley and Beehler ( 1 989),

who concluded that the avifauna of the Andamans were

predominantly allied to that of Myanmar, whereas the Nicobar

avifauna was a subset of the avifauna of the Andaman Islands.

In this study, we present a preliminary island- wise inventory of

the avifauna of the Andaman Islands, with particular emphasis

on forest birds. We assessed the proportion of islands on which

each species was distributed with regard to island size, location

and the smallest island on which it was recorded. We also

assessed whether the distribution patterns of foraging guilds

differed with regard to island size and location.

STUDY AREA

The Andaman Islands lie between 10° 30'- 13° 41' N

and 92° 12'-93° 57' E, off the coast of south-east Asia in the

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS

Bay of Bengal. The northernmost islands are about 285 km

from Myanmar, and the southernmost is Little Andaman

Island, located between the Andaman group and the Nicobars.

Most of the land area of the Andamans consists of five large

and contiguous islands. North Andaman Island, Middle

Andaman Island, Baratang, South Andaman Island and

Rutland. The Little Andamans, another large island is about

100 km south of South Andaman island and is separated from

the Nicobars, which lie further south by the 140 km wide

10 degree channel.

The climate is tropical and oceanic with rainfall

from both the Southwest and Northeast monsoon winds. The

average annual rainfall is about 3,000 mm (Pande etal. 1991 ),

increasing from the northern to the southern islands

(Ellis 1989). This results in a north-south vegetation

gradient with predominantly drier forests in the northern

islands and wetter forests in the southern islands

(Davidar et al. 2002). Evergreen forests are usually confined

to large and medium sized islands, except towards the

south where some small islands have evergreen forest;

otherwise most small islands have dry forests (Davidar

etal. 1995, 2002).

METHODS

Bird survey

The sampling was focused on forest birds, and

therefore the sampling effort was concentrated within inland

forested habitats, and therefore mangroves, swamps, mudflats

and inland waterways, and nocturnal species were under

sampled. However, we are including all records in this paper

as a database for future reference.

A bird list for each island was compiled based on

sightings along line transects. The number of transects

depended on the size of the island, and several sites were

sampled on the large islands, whereas the entire area was

covered in case of small islands. In each site, the number of

habitats was assessed and transects were walked in each

habitat type in the mornings starting at dawn. A species list

for each island was compiled based on the transect walks.

All birds seen and heard were recorded and identified using

Ali and Ripley (1987), and King et al. (1975). Casual

sightings of birds were also used to compile the species list

of each island.

We placed species in a foraging guild, i.e. insectivore,

frugivore, raptor, based on observations and field notes from

Ali and Ripley (1987) and Davidar et al. ( 1996). We classified

birds of prey as raptors rather than carnivores based on the

conventional usage of the term raptors to describe

carnivorous birds.

Islands sampled

Forty-five islands in the Andaman group were surveyed

during the dry season, from February to May in 1992 and

1993 and in February of 1994. A list of islands surveyed along

with their area in sq. km is given in Table 1. This survey

covered all the large islands, from North Andaman Island in

the north to Little Andaman Island in the south, and most

islands in the associated archipelagos (Davidar et al. 1995).

For details of the survey methodology see earlier publications

(Davidar et al. 1995, 1996, 2001,2002).

The South Andamans and the Fabyrinth Archipelago

were surveyed from February to May 1992. Baratang,

Ritchie’s archipelago and seven islands off the North

Andamans were surveyed from February to May 1993, and

North Andaman Island and eleven associated islands were

surveyed in February 1994. Little Andaman Island was

surveyed in 1992 and 1994.

To facilitate data analysis we categorised the islands

by location: the North Andamans, Middle Andamans and

Baratang, South Andamans and Little Andaman island. Each

island was classified as large (>20 sq. km), medium (10 to

19 sq. km), small (0.1 to 9 sq. km) or very small (<0.1 sq.

km). There were 8 large islands, ranging from Peel (23 sq.

km) to South Andaman island (>1000 sq. km), 7 medium

islands ranging from Tarmugli ( 1 1 .5 sq. km) to Long (14 sq.

km), 25 small islands, ranging from Jolly Buoy (0.12 sq.

km) to Paget (4 sq. km), and 5 very small islands (Table 1).

We looked at the proportionate occurrence of species on

island groups, and different island size categories. The

smallest island on which a species tended to occur was noted,

and the minimum area requirements for all species were

estimated. The species recorded on all island sizes were

categorised as “all”. We looked at the distribution of species

in different foraging guilds with regard to island location

and island size.

RESULTS

Our inventory included 78 species of birds belonging

to 27 families from 45 islands of different size categories

(Appendices 1-3). Thirty of these species were not included

in our earlier publications (Davidar et al. 1995, 1996, 2001,

2002) because our survey had focused on diurnal forest birds

and these additional species were nocturnal species, were not

primarily forest dwelling or were wetland avifauna. Some of

the rare records were on the North Andaman group of islands.

The species distribution of birds on islands indicated

that 20 species were found in fewer than 5 islands, and fewer

than 5 species were found on over 40 islands (Fig. 1 ). Twenty-

seven species (34%) were recorded on islands of all size

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

299

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS

Table 1 : Area in sq.km of the islands surveyed

L-Large, M-Medium, S-Small, VS-Very small

classes (Table 3). The majority of species were restricted to

islands of particular size classes (Table 3). Fifty species (64%)

were not found on islands <0. 1 sq. km in area. Five species

(6%) were recorded only on islands >10 sq. km and 1 1 species

( 14%) on islands >20 sq. km in area.

The distribution of guilds was strongly influenced by

island size rather than by island location (Tables 2 and 4).

Similar numbers of species were recorded in the different

island groups, but Little Andamans had slightly fewer species

than the other island groups, probably because of its isolation.

Frugivores and omnivores tended to occur on islands of all

sizes (Table 4), whereas raptors tended to be restricted to larger

islands. A few species of insectivores and piscivores tended

to occur only on large islands (Table 4).

DISCUSSION

Our assessment of bird distributions in the Andaman

Islands indicates that the majority of species were restricted

to larger than smaller islands. This supports our earlier

observations that bird distributions in the Andaman Islands

are strongly influenced by island size (Davidar et al. 2001 ).

Ripley and Beehler (1989) stated that the avifauna of the

Andamans is a subset of that of Myanmar and consists

predominantly of widespread colonising species with high

dispersal ability. Our study shows that many species do not

Table 2: Number of species of each feeding guild in the four island groups

Island group Frugivore Granivore Insectivore Nectarivore Omnivore Piscivore Raptor

North 10 4 29 1 5 5 9

South 13 3 29 1 5 6 9

Middle 12 5 29 1 5 6 7

Little 11 2 23 1 4 5 8

300

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.f 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS

Table 3: Percentage of birds of each species recorded on 45 islands of different size classes

and minimum area requirements of species

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

301

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS

Table 3: Percentage of birds of each species recorded on 45 islands of different size classes

and minimum area requirements of species ( contd .)

Island size category

Family/Scientific name Common name Large Medium Small Very Minimum

(>20 sq.km) (10-19 sq.km) (0.1 sq.km) Small Island area

(N=8) (N=7) (N=25) (<0.1 sq.km) requirements

(N=5) (sq.km)

‘Species recorded in casual sightings on all islands (Davidar pers. obs.)

302

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS

Table 4: Smallest island size (sq. km) in which the different

feeding guilds were recorded

occur on smaller islands, probably due to the absence of their

preferred habitat. The avifauna on the small and very small

islands tends to consist of vagrants that are widely distributed

across all habitat types (Davidar et al. 1995, 2001, 2002;

Yoganand and Davidar 2000).

The restricted distribution of many species might be

due to low dispersal ability or the inability of smaller islands

to support viable populations of certain species. The raptors

that are at the top of the food chain, and occur at lower

densities, were less common on smaller islands (Thiollay

1997). It is quite possible that small islands are not able to

support viable populations of raptors, whereas frugivores that

depend on a resource that is spatially and temporally

Abdulali, H. (1964): The birds of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 91: 483-571.

Abdulali, H. (1981): Additional notes on Andaman birds. J. Bombay

Nat. Hist. Soc. 78: 46-49.

All S.A. & S.D. Ripley (1987): Handbook of the Birds of India and

Pakistan. 2nd Compact Edn. Oxford University Press, New

Delhi.

Davidar, P„ M.S. Devy, K. Yoganand & T. Ganesh (1995): Reserve

size and the implications for the conservation of biodiversity in

the Andaman islands. Pp. 287-303. In: (Eds: Boyle, T.J.B. & B.

Boontawee). Measuring and monitoring biodiversity in temperate

and tropical forests. CIFOR, Jakarta.

Davidar, P, K. Yoganand, T. Ganesh & N. Joshi ( 1996): An assessment

of common and rare forest bird species of the Andaman Islands.

Forktail 12: 135-142.

Davidar, P, K. Yoganand & T. Ganesh (2001): Distribution of forest

birds in the Andaman islands: Importance of key habitats.

J. Biogeography 28: 663-671.

Davidar, P, K. Yoganand, T. Ganesh & S.M. Devy (2002): Distribution

of forest birds and butterflies in the Andaman Islands: Nested

patterns and processes. Ecography 25: 15-17.

Devy, M.S., T. Ganesh & P. Davidar (1998): Patterns of butterfly

distribution in the Andaman Islands: Implications for

conservation. Acta Oecologica 19: 527-534.

Ellis, J.L. (1989): Project document of North Andaman Biosphere

unpredictable were widely distributed on islands of all sizes.

Frugivores tend to be very mobile and fly over large distances

in search of fruiting trees.

Certain species were only recorded on large islands,

regardless of feeding category. These species might be

specialised to particular habitats found predominantly on larger

islands, such as the wet evergreen forests. We found that many

species, such as Columba palumboides, Macropygia rufipennis,

Treron pompadora and Gracula religiosa were associated with

wet evergreen forests (Yoganand and Davidar 2000), and are

therefore not likely to be recorded on smaller islands that

tend to have scrubby or dry vegetation.

In conclusion, assessing the distributions of birds

on islands can provide insights into the factors that govern

their distribution. This database can provide baseline

information with which to record changes in species

distributions in the future, and thus has enormous importance

for conservation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was funded by a grant from the Ministry of

Environment, France. We thank Dr. J.M. Thiollay for

guidance and help with the avifaunal surveys, and Niraj Joshi

for help with field work. The French Institute of Pondicherry

provided logistical support and facilities.

Reserve in Andamans. Botanical Survey of India, Port Blair.

Unpublished.

King, B., M. Woodcock & E.C. Dickinson (1975): Collins Field Guide

to the Birds of South-East Asia. The Stephen Greene Press,

Lexington, MA. 480 pp.

Pande, P.A., A. Kotharj & S. Singh (1991): Directory of National Parks

and Sanctuaries in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. IIPA, New

Delhi. 171pp.

Pimm, S.L., M.P Moulton & L.J. Justice (1995): Bird extinction in the

Central Pacific. Pp. 75-87. In: (Eds: Lawton, J.H. & R.M. May)

Extinction Rates. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Ripley, S.D. & B.M. Beehler (1989): Ornitho-geographic affinities of

the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. J. Biogeography 16: 323-

332.

Saldanha, C.J. (1989): Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep. Oxford

and IBH, New Delhi, India.

Thiollay, J.M. 1997. Distribution and abundance patterns of bird

community and raptor populations in the Andaman archipelago.

Ecography 20: 67-82.

Whitaker, R. (1985): Endangered Andamans. Environmental Services

Group, WWF-India and MAB India. Department of

Environment, New Delhi.

Yoganand, K. & P. Davidar (2000): Habitat preferences and

distributional status of forest birds in Andaman Islands.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc 97: 375-380.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

303

Appendix 1: Distribution of avifauna in the North Andaman island group. Islands are arranged in a descending order of size, from left to right

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS

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Appendix 1 : Distribution of avifauna in the North Andaman island group. Islands are arranged in a descending order of size, from left to right (contd.)

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J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

305

- Species recorded during casual sightings on all islands (Davidar pers. obs.)

Appendix 2: Distribution of avifauna in the South Andaman island group. Islands are arranged in a descending order of size, from left to right

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS

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Appendix 2: Distribution of avifauna in the South Andaman island group. Islands are arranged in a descending order of size, from left to right ( contd .)

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Appendix 2: Distribution of avifauna in the South Andaman island group. Islands are arranged in a descending order of size, from left to right ( contd .)

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Appendix 3: Distribution of avifauna in the Middle Andaman island group. Islands are arranged in a descending order of size, from left to right ( contd .)

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309

Appendix 3: Distribution of avifauna in the Middle Andaman island group. Islands are arranged in a descending order of size, from left to right (contd.)

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- Species recorded during casual sightings on all islands (Davidar pers. obs.)

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

311-315

FAUNAL DIVERSITY IN PRAWNS AND CRABS IN DIGHA AND ADJACENT COAST

IN WEST BENGAL WITH NOTES ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF THEIR ABUNDANCE

WITH PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS'

T. K. Chatterjee23'4, Akmal Husain2'5 and Santanu Mitra36

'Accepted May 02, 2007

2Zoological Survey of India, Marine Aquarium & Research Centre, Digha 721 428, West Bengal, India.

’Zoological Survey of India, 27, J.L. Nehru Road, Kolkata 700 016, India.

JEmail: [email protected].

’Email: [email protected]

6Email: [email protected]

Studies on the diversity of prawns and crabs in Digha and its adjacent coast in West Bengal, which are rich in fauna,

were carried out from April 2000-December 2005. Twenty-four species of prawns, two species of lobsters, twenty

three species of brachyuran crabs and fourteen species of anomuran crabs were recorded. Attempts were also made to

determine the relationship of the abundance of some species with the physico-chemical parameters.

Key words: prawns, crabs, diversity, Digha coast, abundance, physico-chemical parameters

INTRODUCTION

Chandrasekhara Rao and Misra (1986) made a

preliminary investigation on the distribution and ecology of

the intertidal fauna of Digha Beach located in West Bengal.

They studied the composition, density and distribution of

the meiofauna and macrofauna of this beach during 1979-

1980. This paper aims at giving a detailed account of the

diversity in prawns and crabs found on Digha beach, based

on studies conducted from April 2000 to December 2005.

Attempts have also been made to correlate the abundance of

these animals with some physico-chemical parameters.

A variety of prawns and one species of lobster

belonging to the genus Panulirus dominate Digha and the

adjacent coast. The important species of prawn include

Penaeus monodon , Penaeus indicus, Penaeus merguiensis,

Penaeus semisulcatus, Metapenaeus monoceros,

Metapenaeus brevicornis and Macrobrachium rosenbergii.

Crabs constitute one of the most dominant

macrobenthic faunal components in the ecosystem; they

play several significant roles. The feeding activities of

detritivore crabs, particularly of the genera Uca,

Macrophthalmus, Dotilla, Sesarma , and Metaplax help in

the degradation of plant matter to detritus particles, and they

are themselves preyed upon by a number of predators such

as fish, reptiles, birds and mammals. The crabs also have a

positive effect on the brackish water zone of mangrove

ecosystem, due to their burrowing activities, the aeration of

soil increases. Another important role of crabs in mangrove

environments is the production of millions of meroplankton

which serve as potential source of food for a wide variety

of planktophagous organisms, including a rich fish

population.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The present study is based on monthly collection of

samples from April 2000 to December 2005 in Digha and the

adjacent coast. Digha is situated close to the mouth of the Ganga

at 21° 36' N and 87° 30' E. Samples were collected using shrimp

seed collection nets (shoot nets) from the following locations:

1 ) Paschim Gadadharpur, about 6 km west of Digha, 2) Udaipur,

about 5 km west of Digha, 3) Ongaria Ghat, about 3 km west

from Digha, 4) Jatranala Ghat, about 3 km west of Digha and

5) New Digha, about 2 km west of Digha. The prawns and crabs

were counted from the beach collections and Drag net hauls.

Buried crabs were collected from sand flats during low tide.

Specimens were collected using a square metallic frame of 25 x

25 cm, which was 5 cm deep. The quadrant was pushed into the

sediment and the enclosed deposit dug out. This process was

repeated at the same spot to get another 5 cm layer of sediment

below the top 5 cm of deposit.

RESULTS

Coastal West Bengal has a rich crustacean fauna in inshore

(including estuaries and mangroves) and offshore waters.

Around Digha, 26 species of prawns and 37 species of crabs

were recorded (Tables 1 and 2). The prawns belong to three

families, Penaeidae, Palaemonidae and Sergestidae. The

penaeids form the bulk of the crustacean catch, contributing

more than 50% of the total production. In the last two decades,

crabs have emerged as an important commodity of export. Apart

from prawns and crabs, there is a great demand for lobsters,

especially in the international market.

Prawns constitute a large group of crustaceans varying

in size from microscopic to about 35 cm long. Nearly 2,500

FAUNAL DIVERSITY IN PRAWNS AND CRABS IN DIGHA AND ADJACENT COAST

species are known (FAO 1984). The body is almost always

laterally compressed, the rostrum usually compressed and

toothed, and the abdomen longer than the carapace. The

antennules in most species bear a small scale or spine, the

stylocerite, at their base, and the antennal scales of the second

pair of feelers, the antennae, are generally large and plate-

like. The pereopods or legs are usually slender, but in some

species a single leg or a pair of legs may be stout, and some

pereopods (the chelipeds) end in pincers or chelae. The

pleopods are well developed and usually present on all the

five anterior abdominal segments.

Prawns are widely distributed, occurring in marine,

brackish and freshwater bodies from the equator to the polar

regions. Many are pelagic, but the majority are by far benthic,

living on a large variety of bottoms such as rock, mud, peat,

sand, fragments of shells or mixtures of these materials.

Twenty-four species of prawns and two species of lobsters

were recorded from the Digha coast (Table 1). These species

Table 1 : List of Prawn and Lobster species recorded

from Digha Coast

Prawns

Family: Penaeidae

Metapenaeus affinis (Milne-Edwards)

Metapenaeus brevicornis (Milne-Edwards)

Metapenaeus dobsoni (Miers)

Metapenaeus lysianassa (de Man)

Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius)

Parapaenaeopsis sculptilis (Heller)

Parapaenaeopsis stylifera (Milne-Edwards)

Penaeus indicus (Milne-Edwards)

Penaeus japonicus (Bate)

Penaeus merguiensis (de Man)

Penaeus monodon (Fabricius)

Penaeus penicillatus (Alcock)

Penaeus semisulcatus (de Man)

Family: Sergestidae

Acetes erythrina (Nobili)

Acetes indicus (Milne-Edwards)

Family: Palaemonidae

Exopalaemon styliferus (Milne-Edwards)

Macrobrachium equidens (Dana)

Macrobrachium javanicum (Heller)

Macrobrachium lamarrei (Milne-Edwards)

Macrobrachium malcomsonii (Milne-Edwards)

Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man)

Macrobrachium rude (Heller)

Family: Hippolytidae

Hippolysmata (Exhippolysmata) ensirostris (Kemp)

Alpheus malabaricus Fabricius

Lobsters

Family: Palinuridae

Panulirus ornatus (Fabricius)

Thenus orientallis (Lund)

Table 2: List of Crab species recorded from Digha coast

Brachyuran Crabs (True Crabs)

Family: Leucosiidae

Philyra syndactyla (Ortmann)

Family: Calappidae

Matuta lunaris (Hilgendorf)

Matuta planipes (Fabricius)

Calappa lophos (Herbst)

Family: Majidae

Dociea canalifera (Stimpson)

Doclea ovis (Fabricius)

Family: Parthenopidae

Parthenope (Platylambrus) prensor( Herbst)

Family: Xanthidae

Galene bispinosa (Herbst)

Family: Ocypodidae

Ocypode macrocera (Milne-Edwards)

Uca ( Deltuca ) rosea (Tweedie)

Uca dussumieri (Milne-Edwards)

Uca lactea (de Hann)

Uca triangularis (Milne-Edwards)

Dotilla blanfordi Alcock

Family: Portunidae

Scylla serrata (Forskal)

Portunus ( Portunus ) pelagicus (Linnaeus)

Portunus ( Portunus ) sanguinolentus (Herbst)

Charybdis ( Charybdis ) rostrata (Milne-Edwards)

Charybdis (Charybdis) affinis (Dana)

Charybdis (Charybdis) natator( Herbst)

Charybdis (Charybdis) feriatus (Linnaeus)

Family: Grapsidae

Varuna litterata (Fabricius)

Metaplax dentipes (Heller)

Anomuran Crabs (Hermit Crabs)

Family: Diogenidae

Clibanarius clibanarius (Herbst)

Clibanarius infraspinatus (Heligendorf)

Clibanarus padavensis (de Man)

Clibanarus olivaceus (Henderson)

Diogenes custos (Fabricius)

Diogenes affinis (Henderson)

Diogenes planimanus (Henderson)

Diogenes avarus (Heller)

Diogenes costatus (Henderson)

Diogenes investigatoris (Alcock)

Diogenes diogenes (Herbst)

Diogenes miles (Hersbt)

Diogenes rectimanus (Miers)

Family: Coenobitidae

Coenobita cavipes (Stimpson)

312

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

FAUNAL DIVERSITY IN PRAWNS AND CRABS IN DIGHA AND ADJACENT COAST

are abundant from June to August, with the peak in July.

Coastal aquaculture of prawns and other crustaceans is

commonly practiced in the region. The demand for prawns

in the world market is rapidly increasing. India has rich

crustacean resources which are exploited for export.

Lobsters

Lobsters include a variety of crustaceans ranging in

size from a few centimeters to more than 60 cm. They are

more or less elongate animals with cylindrical and flattened

bodies, and a prominent tail or abdomen consisting of six

movable segments and a terminal fan.

— 'Temperature

pH

-—•—Salinity

- - DO.

Fig. 1: Average temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen

(D.O.), recorded from the study area during the study period

(April 2000-December 2005)

DISCUSSION

The mean monthly values of the physico-chemical

parameters recorded in the study area from April 2000 to

December 2005 are given in Fig. 1. The monthly abundance

of four prawn and crab species during 2001 and 2004 are

given in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 respectively. The density and

diversity of macrofauna on Digha Beach is rich, due to the

Penaeus indicus

Acetes indicus

60

Month

■2001

O2004

Month

Penaeus monodon

40

35 j

30

? 25 j

20

15

10

nun nlll

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep

■2001

D2004

Macrobrachium rosenbergii

20 1

18 i

16 |

14 ,

2 8

Month

imnill

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

■2001

□2004

Month

Fig. 2: Comparative chart showing monthly abundance of four prawn species recorded from the study area during 2001 and 2004

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

313

FAUNAL DIVERSITY IN PRAWNS AND CRABS IN DIGHA AND ADJACENT COAST

relatively sheltered sand flat rich in organic detritus. Due to

the fine nature of the substratum, the majority of the species

colonising the beach are deposit and filter feeders

(Chandrasekhara Rao and Misra 1986). The abundant

occurrence of Donax-Odostomia populations in the middle

of the beach is probably related to the abundant supply of

detritus on the beach. Fine intertidal deposits are also known

to support rich populations of microorganisms forming food

for bivalves. The patchy distribution of macrofauna on the

beach seems to be due to the environmental preferences and

tolerances of the component species (McIntyre 1969). The

macrofauna shows some submergence in the beach towards

higher tidal levels, apparently seeking optimum conditions

of water saturation in the habitat.

Due to fluctuations in the biotic and abiotic factors of

the environment, seasonal changes in population density of

macrofauna are known to occur from season to season and

from year to year. Interestingly, the maximum counts of Uca

lactea in the present study were obtained during summer

probably related with higher temperatures and salinity. Uca

lactea counts were also higher from October to December

due to an undisturbed substratum. Scylla serrata, one of the

important commercial species, has the maximum count in

the summer. The species is known to prefer low salinity, hence

further studies are needed to understand its abundance during

the periods of high salinity in summer months. It was found

to occur in burrows during the daytime. The depth of the

burrows varied from 1 .0 to 1.5 m from the surface and the

Matula planipes

Uca lactea

Month

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Month

Ocypode macrocera

Scylla serrata

Fig. 3: Comparative chart showing monthly abundance of four crab species recorded from the study area during 2001 and 2004

314

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

FAUNAL DIVERSITY IN PRAWNS AND CRABS IN DIGHA AND ADJACENT COAST

diameter at the mouth from 8 to 16 cm. During low tide the

burrows are flooded with sea water. Dev Roy and Das (2000)

reported that the species also inhabits the muddy banks of

creeks, channels and mangroves. Another crab species, Vanina

litterata, had the maximum count during monsoon. The Red

Crab Ocypode macrocera is found throughout the year with

the peak in December-March, and the Two-spined Crab

Matuta planipes is found in the postmonsoon period. The

crab Chatybdis rostrata occurs in this area throughout the

year and dominates all the other species in number, with the

peak in the late monsoon period.

As stated twenty-four species of prawns and two species

of lobsters were recorded from the Digha coast. These species

occur in abundance from June to August, with the peak in

July. For meeting the increasing demand of prawn seeds for

prawn culture farms, the coastal population is greatly involved

in wild harvesting of prawn seeds, in particular seeds of

Penaeus monodon. From November to February, netting of

prawn seeds is done intensively. This wild harvest

undoubtedly destroys seeds of other species of prawn and

various finfishes.

The results of the present study agree with the findings

of Brady (1943), who showed that the distribution of fauna

varied with seasons, occurring in different tidal levels during

different seasons. The seasonal dynamics exhibited by the

Donax-Odostomia populations on Digha Beach apparently

follow a similar pattern.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to Dr. J.R.B. Alfred, former

Director, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata,

Dr. Ramakrishna, Director-in-Charge, ZSI for facilities and

to Dr. R.A. Khan, Additional Director, ZSI for encouragement.

REFERENCES

Dev Roy, M.K & A.K. Das (2000): Taxonomy, ecology and distribution

pattern of the Brachyuran crabs of mangrove ecosystem in Andaman

islands. Rec. zool. Surv. Ind. Occ. Pap. 185 : 1-209.

Brady, F. ( 1943): The distribution of the fauna of some intertidal sands

and muds on the Northumberland coast. J. anim. Ecol 12: 27-41.

Chandrasekhara Rao, G. & A. Misra (1986): The meiofauna and

macrofauna of Digha Beach. Rec. zool. Surv. India 83(3-4): 31-49.

FAO (1984): FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes.

Western Indian Ocean (Fishing area 51). 5 (Ed: Fischer W. &

G. Bianchi.). 131 pp.

McIntyre, A.D. ( 1969): Ecology of marine meiobenthos. Biol. Rev 44:

245-290.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

315

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

316-323

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR

URSUS THIBETANUS IN INDIA1

S. Sathyakumar2 AND A. Choudhury3

‘Accepted March 10, 2007

-Wildlife Institute of India, P.O. Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001, Uttarakhand, India. Email: [email protected]

'The Rhino Foundation, c/o Assam Co. Ltd., Bamunimaidam, Guwahad 781 021, Assam, India. Email: [email protected]

In 1994-1995, the first author evaluated the status and distribution of the Asiatic Black Bear in India and reported

presence of the species in 53 protected areas and 62 other localities. After 1 0 years, we assessed the status and distribution

of the Asiatic Black Bear through a questionnaire survey (n=90), results of recent field surveys, and expert knowledge.

The results of our 2005 survey (83% returned responses) indicate that the Asiatic Black Bear is found in 82 protected

areas and 98 other localities. Using rule-based modelling in a GIS, we estimated the potential Asiatic Black Bear

habitat range in India to be c. 270,000 sq. km and used densities of 1 bear /40 sq. km and 1 bear /50 sq. km to

extrapolate an estimated Asiatic Black Bear population of 5,400 to 6,750. After the 2005 survey, substantial information

has been added to the existing knowledge on the distribution and status of the Asiatic Black Bear in India. This

includes confirmation of its presence in 21 protected areas and 45 other localities for the first time. Poaching for illegal

trade in bear parts, retaliatory killings to reduce bear-human conflicts and habitat loss are the major threats to the

species in India. Asiatic Black Bear populations in India seem to be declining in many areas, although no quantitative

information on the population trend is available due to the lack of a regular monitoring exercise. We recommend that

control of poaching for the illegal trade in bear parts and retaliatory killings, and prevention of habitat degradation or

loss, and monitoring of bear populations be accorded top priority.

Key words: distribution, status, protected area, threats, conservation, management

INTRODUCTION

The Asiatic Black Bear has been reported to be

continuously distributed from southern and eastern Asia

westward through Pakistan and Afghanistan to Baluchistan

Province of Iran, and eastward to Indo-China through much

of China, Korea and Japan with an isolated population in

Taiwan (Cowan 1970; Servheen 1990; Mallon 1991;

Sathyakumar 2001). Schaller (1977) reported a wide

distribution for the Asiatic Black Bear from Russia and Korea

to Indo-China and from the forests of the Himalaya below

3,750 m west, as far as Afghanistan and Iran. The Himalayan

region and the hills of north-east India cover c. 591,800 sq.

km (18% of India) and probably hold one of the largest

populations of the Asiatic Black Bear in Asia. Johnsingh

(2003) has presented an excellent review on the status of all

four species of bear in India along with recommendations for

their conservation and management. He reported that the

Asiatic Black Bear is present in at least 56 protected areas

and estimated its habitat range, in India to be about 300,000

sq. km and its population to be a minimum of 3,000 animals.

In this paper, we review the distribution and relative

abundance of the Asiatic Black Bear in India based on a review

of the existing literature, results of recent field surveys, a

questionnaire survey, expert knowledge, and a few interviews

with scientists, researchers, forest and wildlife managers, and

field staff of the Forest Departments in northern and north-

eastern India. We compare the results of this survey with the

results of a similar survey carried out in 1994-1995

(Sathyakumar 2001 ) and make an assessment of the changes

in the information on the distribution of the Asiatic Black

Bear in India during the period from 1995 to 2005. We also

make a realistic estimate of the potential Asiatic Black Bear

distribution range and its population in India.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In 2005, a questionnaire was developed that requested

the following details: bear sightings or signs (faeces, feeding/

resting signs, tracks) in PAs such as national parks, wildlife

sanctuaries, conservation reserves and adjacent areas (forest

divisions, reserved forests); relative abundance of bears (very

rare, rare, fairly common, common or abundant) based on

the frequency of encounters and their signs in the area;

information on the past and present relative abundance; the

extent and magnitude of threats to the Asiatic Black Bear and

its habitats; bear-human conflicts; conservation and

management, and the season(s) or month(s) and duration of

time spent by the respondent in the Asiatic Black Bear habitat.

The questionnaire was sent to protected area (PA) managers

(n=90) who were then working, or who had worked for at

least 2 years in the Asiatic Black Bear range states of India,

namely Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,

West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR IN INDIA

Fig. 1 : Asiatic Black Bear distribution in northern India (states of

Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand);

Squares denote protected areas

Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura; 83% of the

questionnaire were returned. Informal interviews were held

with a few scientists and PA managers to validate and enhance

the available information. The information on the relative

abundance of the species in PAs was updated whenever

additional knowledge became available. The second author

has carried out extensive wildlife surveys in north-east India

since the early 1980s, and the information on the status and

distribution of Asiatic Black Bear was refined for north-east

India based on results of such recent surveys. An approximate

distribution range map for the Asiatic Black Bear in India

was prepared based on rule-based modelling (altitude range

limits and forest cover) using a GIS and refined from expert

knowledge and questionnaire responses. The rule-based

model works on the basis of Boolean logic, which relies on

well established available knowledge and determines the area

to be either suitable ( 1 ) or unsuitable (0). The altitude range

(1,200 to 3,300 m in the Western Himalaya, 70 to 4,300 m in

north-east India) that is potentially used by the Asiatic Black

Bear during summer was used in the model. Availability of

forest cover was the other parameter that was used in the

model. Asiatic Black Bear are also known to use relatively

productive habitats that are man-made, such as croplands and

orchards that are interspersed with or that lie adjacent to

forested habitats ( Sathyakumar 200 1 ; Johnsingh 2003 ). Arc/

Info was used to develop the distribution map.

RESULTS

Asiatic Black Bear: Distribution and Relative Abundance

In India, the Asiatic Black Bear inhabits forested

habitats ranging in altitude from 1,200 m to 3,300 m (Prater

1980), and also in areas below 1,200 m in the Siwaliks. Its

range overlaps with that of the Sloth Bear ( Melursus ursinus)

below 1 ,200 m and that of the Himalayan Brown Bear ( Ursus

arctos isabellinus ) above 3,000 m. In north-east India, the

range overlaps with both the Sloth Bear and the Sun Bear

(Ursus malayansis) (Choudhury 1997a, b). The Asiatic Black

Bear is distributed throughout the Himalayan ranges (Fig. 1 )

in the north-west (Jammu and Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh),

west (Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), middle (Sikkim

and northern West Bengal) and east ( Arunachal Pradesh). The

species is also present in the hills at the edge of the plains of

other north-eastern states of India (Fig. 2). The Asiatic Black

Bear distribution in the Indian subcontinent is contiguous with

those in Nepal (eastward from Uttarakhand to Sikkim) and

Bhutan (eastward from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh). At

present, the Asiatic Black Bear is continuously distributed in

North India, all along the Himalaya ( 1,200 to 3,300 m) and

the Eastern Himalayan ranges, and the hills of north-east India

(70 to 4,300 m). The results of the 2005 survey indicated that

the Asiatic Black Bear occurs in 82 PAs (Table 1) and over

Table 1: Asiatic Black Bear distribution in protected areas (PAs),

forest divisions (FDs) and reserved forests (RFs) in India, 2005

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

317

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR IN INDIA

98 forest divisions (FDs), reserved forests (RFs), and forested

valleys (FVs). PAs include national parks (NP), wildlife

sanctuaries (WS), conservation reserves (CR) and community

reserves (CMR).

Jammu and Kashmir: The Asiatic Black Bear is

reported from 16 PAs and 20 FDs, RFs, and FVs. Survey

respondents reported the status of the Asiatic Black Bear as

‘fairly common’. The best known populations of the Asiatic

Black Bear in India are in this state (Table 2a). The bear is

also reported from over 20 other areas and some of these

include FDs in Lidder (Pahalgam), Naranaga, Sindh. Wangat

and Anantnag, and the RFs (RF) of Gugnar, Bianoi, Pir Panjal,

Zaberwan, Bandipora and Kahai (M.S. Bacha, Department

of Wildlife Protection, Jammu and Kashmir, pers. comm, in

2005). The Asiatic Black Bear is reported from Banihal CR,

Sumchan Saphare WS and proposed PAs, such as Pir Panjal

NP, Ghambiar Mongtu WS, Dhera-ki-Gali WS, Ans River

WS, and Nowshera WS. In Jammu region, it is reported from

the FDs of Marwa, Rambandh, Batote, Doda, Badhruwa,

Kistwar, Poonch, Rajouri, Nowshera, Reasa, Mahor,

Udhampur, Jammu, Ramnagar and Bilwar (N.A. Kitchloo,

Department of Wildlife Protection, Jammu and Kashmir (pers.

comm, in 2005).

The responses of the 2005 survey have added substantial

information on the distribution of Asiatic Black Bear in this

state. The presence of the Asiatic Black Bear has been reported

from PAs that have no reported presence of Asiatic Black

Bear in the past and from five newly created CRs. Survey

respondents reported that Asiatic Black Bear feeding signs

and scats were commonly encountered in these areas and that

these were of bear-human conflicts. Saberwal (1989) reported

Asiatic Black Bear density of 1.3- 1.8 bears/sq. km in the

Lower Dachigam area of Dachigam NP during high fruit

abundance of 1988-1989. Bear encounter rates along transects

for the same period ranged from 0 to 3.5 bears/km and 25 to

40 bears were estimated to use Lower Dachigam from late

June through October (particularly in early September).

Himachal Pradesh: The Asiatic Black Bear is present

in and around 21 PAs (Sathyakumar 2001). Outside PAs,

Asiatic Black Bear is reported to occur in an additional 25

areas, including the forested areas of Pangi (Chenab

Catchment) and Bharmaur valleys (Ravi catchment) in

Chamba district; Dhaula Dhar Range (Beas Catchment), Bara

Bangal, Chota Bangal and Bir in Kangra district; Parbati

Valley, Pandrabis, Bashleo Pass (Sutlej Catchment), Solang

and Jagatsukh valleys in Kullu district; the upper catchments

of Bata and Giri in Solan and Shimla districts; the catchments

of the Sutlej and Yamuna, Shimla ridge, Karsog, Shali,

Kandyali, Hatu and Moral Kanda areas in Shimla district;

and the Ropa valley, and Kalpa and Kaksthal areas in Kinnaur

Table 2a: Asiatic Black Bear populations and their past and present

relative abundance in Protected Areas

(Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh) based on questionnaire

responses, recent surveys and interviews

(modified from Sathyakumar 2001 )

WS - wildlife sanctuary; NP - national park; CR - conservation reserve;

? - year unknown

318

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR IN INDIA

Fig. 2: Asiatic Black Bear Distribution in north-eastern India (states of West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh,

Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura); Squares denote protected areas

district (Sathyakumar 2001 ).

Vinod and Sathyakumar (1999) reported that Asiatic

Black Bear encounter rates along transects ranged from 0.01

to 0.02 bears/km in the Great Himalayan NP between 1996

and 1999. Survey respondents reported bear-human conflicts

to be high around the PAs. Chauhan (2003 ) on the basis of an

assessment of wildlife-human conflicts at the Great

Himalayan NP during the period 1 989- 1 998 has reported that

26% of livestock depredation was by Black and Brown bears

and this occurred primarily in alpine rangelands (58%) where

livestock grazing is generally unsupervised, with depredation

occurring largely during September (41%).

Uttarakhand: The Asiatic Black Bear is present in and

around 10 PAs (Table 2b): Bears are reported in 15 areas

outside PAs, including the FDs of Tons, Uttarkashi, Tehri,

Badrinath, Pithoragarh, Narendra Nagar, Chakrata, Ram

Nagar, Almora, Bageshwar, Nainital, and Kedamath Wildlife

Division. Bears have also been reported in the Yamunotri and

Gangotri valleys, the upper catchment of the Ram Ganga,

Ladhiya Valley and some parts of the Terai FD (Sathyakumar

2001).

Recent surveys have revealed that the status of the

Asiatic Black Bear has improved during a 10 year period in

Nanda Devi NP from no sightings or evidence in 1 993 to one

sighting and four scats in 2003 (Sathyakumar 2004). Asiatic

Black Bear encounter rates along transects in this NP ranged

from 0 to 0.66 scats/km during 2003. In the Valley of Flowers

NP and the buffer zones of Nanda Devi BR, 28 individuals

(including five females with cubs), were sighted during a one

month survey period (November-December 2005) and

encounter rates along transects ranged from 0 to 0.4 bear scats/

km (G. Pandey, Nanda Devi BR, Uttarakhand, India, pers.

comm, in 2006). In Rajaji NP, the Asiatic Black Bear range

overlapped with that of the Sloth Bear; the Asiatic Black Bear

was reported to be ‘rare’ (Table 2b). In Rajaji NP, Asiatic

Black Bear were photographed at remote camera traps on 1 0

occasions out of 900 trap nights (B. Pandav, Wildlife Institute

of India, Dehradun, India, pers. comm, in 2006).

West Bengal: Survey respondents reported that Asiatic

Black Bear occur in and around four PAs in the northern part of

West Bengal (Table 2b) and in the forested areas of Daijeeling,

Kalimpong Hills, Kolbang, Rehit and Pankasan RFs (V.K. Sood

and Tapan Das, State Forest Department, pers. comm, in 2005).

The status of the Asiatic Black Bear in Senchal WS is unknown,

but it has been reported to occur in this PA.

Sikkim: The Asiatic Black Bear is reported to be ‘fairly

common’ in Kanchendzonga NP (Gut Lepcha, Department

of Forests, Environment and Wildlife Management,

Government of Sikkim, pers. comm, in 2005). Sathyakumar

(2001) has reported that bears occur in suitable undisturbed

forested areas at elevations between 1,200 and 3,000 m in

Sikkim (Table 2b).

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

319

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR IN INDIA

Table 2b: Asiatic Black Bear populations and their past and present

relative abundance in protected areas (PAs: Uttarakhand, West

Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam) based on

questionnaire responses, recent surveys and interviews

(modified from Sathyakumar 2001 ).

WS - wildlife sanctuary; NP - national park; TR - tiger reserve;

BR - biosphere reserve; ? - year unknown

Assam: The Asiatic Black Bear occurs throughout the

hills of Assam and has been reported to occur in the plains

(Choudhury 1997a). Assam is not indicated in the 1994-1995

survey (Sathyakumar 2001) as it was believed that this state

did not hold any Asiatic Black Bears, although a few

individuals were thought to inhabit areas along the border

with Arunachal Pradesh. During the 2005 survey, we obtained

information on the presence of the Asiatic Black Bear in seven

PAs (Table 2). The Asiatic Black Bear is also fairly common

in the forested areas of Karbi Anglong district (Choudhury

1992) and North Cachar Hills district (Table 2b).

Arunachal Pradesh: With more than 80% of its

geographical area under forest cover, Arunachal Pradesh has

a nearly continuous distribution of the Asiatic Black Bear,

but there are serious threats from poaching. It is reported to

be ‘fairly common', occurring in suitable undisturbed habitats

throughout Arunachal Pradesh (Sathyakumar 2001). It is

reported to occur in 1 1 PAs in this state (Choudhury 2003)

(Table 2b). The Asiatic Black Bear has also been reported to

occur in other areas, such as Hot Spring, Ditchu (Lohit

district). Taley Valley RF, Anini Social FD and Siang district.

A survey of wild animal use by humans revealed that in two

villages of Lower Dibang Valley district, at least 52 bears

were killed in a single year (Choudhury and Rengma unpubl. ).

Mizoram and Meghalaya: The Asiatic Black Bear

distribution extends into Mizoram and Meghalaya where it

is reported to occur in five and three PAs respectively.

However, survey respondents reported the species as ‘rare’

in these areas (N.R. Pradhan, State Forest Department, pers.

comm, in 2005). In Meghalaya, the Asiatic Black Bear is

present in and around Balphakram NP, Nokrek BR and

Nongkhyllem WS (Sathyakumar 2001 ). It is reported as ‘rare’

in the Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia hills, Saipung RF and Narpuh

RF (S. Kumar, State Forest Department, pers. comm, in 2005)

(Table 2c).

Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland: The hill ranges in

Tripura contain small scattered populations. The Asiatic Black

Bear is reported in Trishna WS (S. Dasgupta, Wildlife Institute

of India, pers. comm, in 2004) Kailashahar FD, Manu,

Kanchanpur FD, Longthorai RF, and Deo RF, although the

status is unknown. Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and

Arunachal Pradesh are the only four states in India where the

distribution ranges of the Asiatic Black Bear and Sun Bear

overlap. In Manipur, the Asiatic Black Bear is found

throughout the hilly areas (Gee 1967; Choudhury 1992). Bears

are reported to occur in Kailam WS (Table 2c) and Kangpokpi-

Tamenglong Protected Forest (Thambou Kamei, State Forest

Department, pers. comm, in 2005). In Nagaland, the Asiatic

Black Bear is reported as ‘fairly common’ in Fakinr WS

(Ramesh Aima, State Forest Department, pers. comm, in

320

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR IN INDIA

2005), but is well distributed across the state. A survey of

patterns of animal use by humans revealed that large numbers

of Asiatic Black Bears are killed every year. A small sample

(/?= 15) of Phesama village had indulged in harvesting of at

least 52 bears in their lifetime (Choudhury and Rengma

unpubl.).

Habitat and population estimates

Based on the 2005 survey, we developed a distribution

range map for the Asiatic Black Bear in India using a rule-

based model in the GIS based on the forest cover, altitude

range limits of the species and recent information on the

presence/absence of this species in India (Figs 1 and 2). Based

on a literature survey, the survey results and expert knowledge,

we considered the altitude limits of the Asiatic Black Bear

distribution range as 1,200 m and the tree line (3,300 nr) in

northern India and as 70 m and the tree line (4,300 m) in

north-eastern India. Availability of forest cover was the other

parameter that was used in the model. The Asiatic Black Bear

is known to use relatively productive habitats that are man-

made such as croplands and orchards that are interspersed

with or that he adjacent to forested habitats (Sathyakumar

2001; Johnsingh 2003). Using this model, we now estimate

Table 2c: Asiatic Black Bear populations and their past and present

relative abundance in protected areas (PAs: Meghalaya, Mizoram,

Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland) based on questionnaire responses,

recent surveys and interviews (modified from Sathyakumar 2001 ).

WS - wildlife sanctuary; NP - national park; BR - biosphere reserve;

? - year unknown

the potential Asiatic Black Bear distribution range to be

269,350 sq. km (71,445 sq. km in the Western Himalayan

region and 191,445 sq. km in the Eastern Himalayan region

and Northeast Hills) or about 270,000 sq. km. Density

estimates for the Asiatic Black Bear in India varies

between 10 bears/100 sq. km (Dachigam NP) to

6 bears/100 sq. km (some areas in Arunachal Pradesh) and

2 to 3 bears/100 sq. km (most of the distribution range). Based

on these density estimates, we used densities of 1 bear /40 sq.

km and 1/50 sq. km to extrapolate an estimated Asiatic Black

Bear population in India of c. 5,400 to 6,750 animals. This

estimate appears to be more realistic considering the present

Asiatic Black Bear distribution and potential habitat range

available in India, compared to the earlier estimate of a

minimum of 3000 bears made by Johnsingh (2003).

DISCUSSION

Limitations of the questionnaire survey

After the 2005 survey, substantial information has been

added to the existing knowledge on the distribution of the

Asiatic Black Bear in India. This only indicates an increase

in the awareness on the importance of reporting the presence/

absence of the Asiatic Black Bear in an area, and does not

mean that the distribution range of this species has increased

in India. Asiatic Black Bear populations are declining in many

areas due to poaching for illegal trade in bear parts and habitat

loss/degradation. However, there is no quantitative

information available to indicate negative changes in the

population trend of the Asiatic Black Bear in India as no

regular monitoring exercise is in practice. The qualitative

assessment of the relative abundance of the Asiatic Black

Bears in a PAs is made by the PA manager based on the bear

sightings and bear sign encounters that he/she has recorded

and/or based on the sightings / bear sign encounters that were

recorded by the field staff. This may be inconsistent due to

varying levels of effort made and observer efficiency, and

therefore may not be a reliable indication of the actual status.

Prior to the 1 994- 1 995 survey, there was no information

on the relative abundance of the Asiatic Black Bear in PAs

(Sathyakumar 2001). After the 2005 survey, an assessment

of the changes in the relative abundance of bears in PAs

between the 1995 and 2005 surveys was made. It appears

that there has been a marginal improvement in the status

(qualitative relative abundance) of the Asiatic Black Bear in

24 PAs, no change in status in 30 PAs and a declining status

in 28 PAs. However, as mentioned above, such an

interpretation would be incorrect due to the inconsistency in

the reporting due to varying levels of effort made to record

bear sightings and/or bear signs by observers with varying

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

321

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR IN INDIA

efficiency levels. It would be ideal to have regular bear sign

surveys along transects/trails in different parts of a PA during

different seasons so that we can obtain estimates of bear

encounter rates along with the variance. Such estimates would

be of great help in monitoring changes in the Asiatic Black

Bear status or population in an area.

Human-Bear Interactions

Conflicts with humans'. One of the most serious limiting

factors for Asiatic Black Bear conservation in India is the

response of people to human-Asiatic Black Bear conflict.

Reports to the Forest and Wildlife Department of Asiatic Black

Bears killing livestock and attacking humans are common,

largely in the north-western and western Himalayan region.

For example, in Uttarakhand, Asiatic Black Bears accounted

for 28.5% of 540 attacks on humans by large carnivores

between 1991 and 2001. Of these attacks, 9% resulted in

human fatalities (Chauhan unpubl.). In the Great Himalayan

NP, 350 of 1,348 (26%) incidents of livestock predation during

1989-1998 involved Black or Brown bears (Chauhan 2003).

In Arunachal Pradesh, Asiatic Black Bears cause damage to

maize, which is a major crop for many hill tribe people.

Possible causes for the increased incidences in the reporting

of livestock depredation and attacks on humans by Asiatic

Black Bears are (1) shrinking habitat due to extension of

agricultural lands, other human encroachment, and habitat

degradation, which have led to increased use of agricultural

lands by bears; (2) increasing human and livestock

populations in and around PAs and forested areas, and

increased dependence on forests by humans leading

to increased frequencies of bear-human encounters;

(3) unsupervised livestock grazing; and (4) increased

awareness among local people regarding compensation paid

by the government for damage caused by wildlife, leading to

an increase in the proportion of incidents reported. As a result

of the above, any increase in Asiatic Black Bear population

in an area in the recent past is very unlikely with the exception

of a very few undisturbed areas (Sathyakumar 2001).

Poaching threats'. Asiatic Black Bear populations in

India are largely threatened due to poaching for the gall

bladder and skin. Although the former is believed to be of

medicinal value, the latter is used for trophy or ornamental

purposes. Many Chinese medical texts recommend the Asiatic

Black Bear as the source for medicinal bile. Although bears

are protected in India, it is difficult to prosecute in poaching

cases because of lack of prima facie evidence in the courts.

Poaching and the illegal trade across international borders is

thought to be widespread. India has long boundaries with

Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, often in

remote, rugged mountainous terrain, making it difficult to

police the borders and control the cross-border trade.

According to the Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES),

between 1975 and 1993 about 1,307 kg of bear gall bladder

was sold in international markets along with 1 1 ,667 kg, 44,2 19

units, 750 cartons and 500 boxes of bear derivatives (Mills et

al. 1995). For the same period, about 4,136 kg of gall bladder

is also reported from the Republic of Korea, which would

mean another 68,933 bears (at 60 grams of bile/bear) killed

for the trade. The retail price of bear gall bladder in California

in the USA is about US $l,200-2,000/gm and it is up to US

$500 /gm in South Korea (Mills et al. 1995).

The growing demand for bear products in Asia has led to

serious impacts on bear populations in India. In Arunachal

Pradesh and other north-eastern states, indigenous people hunt

the Asiatic Black Bear for its skin and meat. For example, the

'Nishi’ (earlier known as Daffla) people wear bear skins on the

back of their neck and use them in making ‘dao’ (knife) holders.

All huts of indigenous people have a display of wild animal

skulls and skins, many including parts from Asiatic Black Bears.

Habitat degradation'. Based on the 2005 estimate, the

potential Asiatic Black Bear distribution range in India is

estimated to be about 270,000 sq. km which is almost identical

to the estimate made by Johnsingh (2003). Of this total

potential Asiatic Black Bear habitat range in India, less than

10% is protected under the existing network of PAs.

Throughout India, there are major threats to Asiatic Black

Bear habitats. Habitat degradation is largely due to

development projects and human dependence on forests for

fuel wood and fodder (many of them bear food plants), as

well as the extraction of other forest products such as montane

bamboo ( Arundinariafalcata , Chimnobambusa jaunsarensis ,

Thamnocalamus falconeri, T. spathiflorus). In Arunachal

Pradesh and Sikkim, habitat loss is mainly due to development

activities. In the north-eastern states, jhum (shifting

cultivation) has led to serious impacts on Asiatic Black Bear

habitat. In Meghalaya, about 95% of the land is privately

owned and the state government has difficulties in protecting

wildlife or habitats in these areas (Sathyakumar 2001). Over

70% of the PAs with Asiatic Black Bear populations have an

extent ofless than 500 sq. km and suffer from anthropogenic

pressures from within and outside. Identifying forested areas

adjacent to PAs and forest corridors between PAs is crucial.

Conservation Recommendations

The recently amended Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act

of 1972 (Gol 2003) offers options for creation of new categories

of PAs such as CRs and Community Reserves and CMRs.

Crucial Asiatic Black Bear populations that occur outside the

PA network, but form corridors to existing population units,

322

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR IN INDIA

could be protected through creation of CRs and CMRs and by

community participation. The Jammu and Kashmir Government

has recently created ten CRs. Such efforts have to be taken up

in other states, particularly in north-east India.

To control poaching and smuggling, additional well-

trained wildlife staff are needed. Adequate facilities,

incentives, remote area allowances, equipment and motivation

are required for wildlife staff in all areas. Wildlife awareness

programmes for the Indian Army, border police personnel

and the general public are needed. The Government should

regulate all development activities, such as dam and road

construction in Asiatic Black Bear and other wildlife habitats

by ensuring completion of environmental impact assessment

studies prior to project approval. Additionally, the short cycle

of jhum (shifting cultivation) in north-eastern states needs to

be replaced with longer cycles (Sathyakumar 2001 ).

Status surveys should be conducted for the Asiatic

Black Bear in most parts of Sikkim, northern West Bengal,

Arunachal Pradesh and other north-eastern hill states. Regular

monitoring of Asiatic Black Bear populations based on direct

and indirect evidences should be carried out in PAs. Simple

indices of relative abundance, such as encounter rates based

on direct (sightings) and indirect evidence (bear tracks, scats,

rubbing signs, rake marks on trees, feeding signs and other)

could be obtained by sampling trails or transects in different

parts of a PA or RF regularly in different seasons. Scientific

research on the ecology of Asiatic Black Bear is necessary

because information on food and feeding habits, habitat

utilisation, bear-human conflicts and ranging patterns is

crucial for reducing conflicts and for the long-term

conservation and management of this species in India. An

assessment of the illegal trade in bear parts is also extremely

important to understand the extent and magnitude of impacts

on the wild bear populations in India.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank the Chief Wildlife Wardens of Jammu and

Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal,

Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur,

Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland for their help and support to

complete the questionnaire survey. We thank all those forest

and wildlife managers who had participated in the

questionnaire survey and the field biologists who provided

valuable information through interviews. From the Wildlife

Institute of India, we thank Mr. PR. Sinha, Director. Wildlife

Institute of India (WII) who provided us the necessary

encouragement and support. Additional thanks are due to

Mr. Panna Lai, GIS Centre, WII for his help with preparation

of distribution maps using the GIS. We thank Dr. R.B. Harris,

Dr. Matthew E. Durnin and Dr. N.P.S. Chauhan for their

comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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by Black and Brown Bears in the Indian Himalaya. 1989-98.

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Choudhury, A.U. (1992): Wildlife in Manipur-A preliminary survey.

Tigerpaper 19(1): 20-28.

Choudhury, A.U. ( 1997a): Checklist of the Mammals of Assam. Revised

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Choudhury, A.U. (1997b): The Status of Bears in Assam, India.

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Cowan, I. McT(1970): The status and conservation of bears (Ursidae) of

the world-1970. Int. Conf. Bear Res. and Manage. 2: 343-367.

Gee, E.P. (1967): A note on the occurence of the Malayan Sun Bear

Helarctos malayanus Raffles within Indian limits. J. Bombay

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Gol (2003): The Wildlife (Protection) Act as amended up to 2003.

Government of India, New Delhi. Natraj Publishers, Dehradun,

India. Pp. 218.

Johnsingh, A.J.T. (2003): Bear Conservation in India. J. Bombay Nat.

Hist. Soc 100(2&3 ): 190-201.

Mallon, D.P. (1991): Status and conservation of large mammals in

Ladakh. Biological Conser\>ation 56: 101-119.

Mills, J.A., S. Chan & A. Ishihara (1995): The bear facts: The East

Asian market for bear gall bladder. TRAFFIC International,

United Kingdom. Pp. 41 .

Prater, S.H. (1980): The Book of Indian Animals. Bombay Natural

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Saberwal, V. (1989): Distribution and movement patterns of the

Himalayan Asiatic Black Bear (Selenarctos thibetanus Cuvier)

in Dachigam National Park. M.Sc. Thesis, Saurashtra University,

Rajkot, India.

Sathyakumar, S. (2001 ): Status and Management of Asiatic Black Bear

and Brown Bear in India. Ursus 12: 21-30.

Sathyakumar, S. (2004): Conservation status of Mammals and Birds in

Nanda Devi National Park: An assessment of changes over two

decades. In: Biodiversity Monitoring Expedition Nanda Devi,

2003. A report to the Ministry of Environment and Forests,

Government of India. Uttaranchal State Forest Department,

Dehradun. 1-14 pp.

Schaller, G.B. ( 1977): Mountains Monarchs: Wild Sheep and Goats of

the Himalaya. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois,

USA. Pp. 425.

Servheen, C. (1990): The status and conservation of the bears of the

world. International conference of Bear Research and

Management Monograph Series 2.

Vinod, T.R. & S. Sathyakumar ( 1999): Ecology and Conservation of

Mountain Ungulates in Great Himalayan National Park,

Western Himalaya. In: An Ecological Study of the Conservation

of Biodiversity and Biotic Pressures in the Great Himalayan

National Park Conservation Area - An Ecodevelopment

Approach. Forestry Research Education and Extension Project

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Project Report, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. Vol. 3:

1-99 pp.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

323

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

324-327

STUDIES ON THE OCCURENCE, AVAILABILITY AND MARKETING OF CRAB ( SCYLLA SPP.)

BY CRAB MONITORING PROGRAMME OF RATNAGIR1 DISTRICT, SOUTH KONKAN COAST

OF MAHARASHTRA, INDIA 1

Vivek R. Vartak2"3, Narendra D. Chogale2 and Sharad G. Belsare2

'Accepted September 28, 2007

2Marine Biological Research Station, Peth Killa, Ratnagiri 415 612, Maharashtra, India.

-’Present address: Taraporevala Marine Biological Research Station, New Administrative Building, Third Floor, Bandra (E),

Mumbai 400 051, Maharashtra, India. Email: [email protected]

A short-term (45 days) crab (Scylla spp.) monitoring programme was conducted in 51 villages from five coastal

talukas of Ratnagiri district The survey revealed that two species, namely Scylla serrata and S. tranquebarica are

found along the coast of Ratnagiri districts where the former is abundant. The indigenous techniques of crab farming

and various crab harvesting methods were studied in the survey. The survey also conveyed the message of conservation

of crabs along the coastal villages of Ratnagiri district. The details are discussed in the paper.

Key words: crab monitoring, Scylla tranquebarica , Scylla serrata , marketing

INTRODUCTION

Crab fishery in India is yet to be recognised as a major

fishery despite the abundant occurrence of edible crabs all along

the Indian coast. There are about 600 crab species occurring in

Indian waters; only a few of them are used for human

consumption. The most important among these are Scylla

serrata , S. tranquebarica, Protunus pelagicus,

P. sanguinolentus, Charybdis crusiata and C. feriata

(pers. comm.). Among these, the Scylla spp., commonly referred

to as the Mud or Green Crab form the mainstay of the crab

fishery of India and are economically important

Crabs belonging to the genus Scylla inhabit brackish

waters, such as mangrove areas and estuaries, throughout the

Pacific and Indian oceans from Hawaii, South Japan, Taiwan,

Philippines and Australia to the Red sea and South Africa

(Chhapgar 1957;Motoh 1979;AiyunandSillang 1991). In India,

crabs are found abundantly on the east and west coasts in Kerala,

Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Orissa. In Maharashtra, two

species of genus Scylla have been recorded, namely S. serrata

and S. tranquebarica , along the Konkan coast. The former is a

well known species along the Konkan coast, but the latter has

been recorded only recently by the faculty of Konkan

Agricultural University in the north Konkan coast of

Maharashtra (Vartak etal. 2002; Singh etal. 2005). However,

information about its occurrence in the Konkan coastal region

is far from complete. Detailed information is essential as this

species is important from the aquaculture point of view. Hence,

a short-term crab monitoring programme was conducted along

Ratnagiri district with the aim of collecting information on the

occurrence of S. tranquebarica along the coast. This study also

aimed to collect information about the places where the seed of

this crab ( Scylla spp.) is available; this may be beneficial for

farmers in carrying out culturing and fattening activities.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This study was undertaken in a cluster of 51 villages

spread over five coastal talukas of Ratnagiri district, namely

Ratnagiri, Rajapur, Dapoli, Mandangad and Guhagar

(Fig. 1). Crab collectors were personally interviewed for

obtaining information on the occurrence of the Scylla spp.,

its seed availability and its marketing. In addition, information

was collected on existing crab culturing and fattening

practices if any. All the information was collected and entered

in the proforma of Appendix 1 .

RESULTS

Resources

The crab monitoring survey revealed that both Scylla

serrata and Scylla tranquebarica occur along the South

Konkan coastal region of Ratnagiri district. S. serrata occurs

plentifully as compared to S. tranquebarica. Scylla serrata

are collected throughout the year, and are abundant during

the monsoon season. The ratio of availability of both the

species differs with each taluka, e.g. it is 1 :4. 1 in Mandangad

and 1:8.2 in Ratnagiri. S. serrata and S. tranquebarica are

locally known by different names according to the region.

The region-wise local names for the two crabs are given in

Table 1 . This nomenclature is mainly based on the coloration

of the crabs. In some areas S. serrata is called ‘Lai Kurli’,

which means ‘Red Crab', and S. tranquebarica is called ‘Hirvi

Kurli', which means ‘Green Crab’

Methods of Crab harvesting along the Ratnagiri coast

Crabs are caught by various methods along the different

regions of Ratnagiri district. As S. serrata is found in plenty

along the coast, no special efforts are taken to catch them,

OCCURENCE, AVAILABILTY AND MARKETING OF CRABS, RATNAGIRI DISTRICT

Wlas

KekW

Ade

Anjaile'

paj.pa^

Burondi'

KoWtare

Dabhol

DhopavK^,

Veldur •

Gtthagax

Asg&lil

Uitdi

Yam ad#

Kachre

Nware

Kotwade

Kafcajdevi

mr

Bhatye

Wayang;

Ganes

Ambolgad

Jaitapur

P

Saga?

Fig. 1 : Map showing different villages of Ratnagiri district

surveyed under short-term crab ( Scylla spp.)

monitoring programme

whereas catching S. tranquebarica is different and expensive.

S. serrata is generally caught in a lift net. This net is made up

of an iron ring to which a polyethylene mesh net is fastened

to form a bag. The net is baited with trash fish, goat ears or

small pieces of shark flesh. The bait, which is tied to a twine

attached inside the net near the circular ring, attracts the crabs

towards the lift net. The crabs get attracted towards the bait

and start feeding on the bait; lifting the net at this moment

Table 1: Local names of Scylla serrata and Scylla

tranquebarica in different villages of Ratnagiri district

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

325

OCCURENCE, AVAILABILTY AND MARKETING OF CRABS, RATNAGIRI DISTRICT

traps the crabs. The time of lifting the net from the fishing

area is decided on the basis of experience and judgment.

Another method of catching S. serrata is hand picking.

In this method, the fishermen, check the holes made by crabs

during low tide. The presence of crabs inside the hole is

confirmed by checking the soil inside the hole. If the soil is

soft, there is a possibility of presence of a crab inside the hole.

After confirming the presence of a crab in the hole, the fisherman

widens the hole using an iron rod. After digging a little distance

the fisherman checks the hole using his hand, which is covered

with a cloth for protection against crab bites. If the crab is present,

it is taken out of the hole with great care and skill.

Gill nets are used to catch S. tranquebarica from

estuaries. Gill nets are laid at the bottom in which crabs get

entangled. The entangled crabs are removed from the net. A

crab with all appendages fetches a greater price than a crab

with missing appendages, hence the portion of the net where

a crab is trapped is trimmed to remove the crab safely with

all its appendages.

Indigenous Technique of Crab fattening in Ratnagiri

district

There has been a trade of S. tranquebarica for the last

five years along the Konkan Coast, but soft-shelled crabs do

not have much value. Therefore, crab collectors of this coast

have tried to fatten the crabs using the galvanized iron cage

string techniques unsuccessfully due to lack of technical

knowledge. The details of these techniques are discussed

below.

Crab fattening in galvanized cage :

In this method, eleven soft-shelled crabs (>500 gm)

were stocked in a galvanized iron cage (5x4x4 inches).

The crabs were fed with trash fish twice a day. The cage was

kept in a mangrove bush adjacent to an estuary with natural

water exchange. Eight of the crabs died due to cannibalism.

However, the survivors were not hard. The failure of the

technique was due to a lack of knowledge regarding the

stocking density and feeding of the crabs. The fisherman were

advised to stock one crab (>500 gm) per sq. m of cage for

better results.

String fattening technique :

In this technique, a single soft crab is tied with nylon

twine in such a manner that it can move and eat freely along

the estuarine bottom. The other end of the twine is fixed to a

mangrove tree. Such soft-shelled crabs are left freely in the

estuary and harvested after they become hard. The drawback

of this method is that they cannot protect such crabs from

poaching and natural calamities.

Marketing-.

The trade in crabs is well established in Ratnagiri

district. Each taluka has its own marketing strategy for

S. tranquebarica. It appears that the middlemen are common

to all the marketing channels in the district. The crab agent

of the region collects the crabs regularly in the morning from

the houses of crab collectors. The fishermen living far from

the main market carry the crabs at weekly intervals to a crab

agent. They use nylon mesh bags for transportation of crabs

to the market. They maintain the live crabs over a week in

plastic baskets without feeding them at all. This basket along

with the crabs is dipped in water for 10 minutes at 5 hour

intervals in order to keep the crabs wet. If this is not done

the crabs die. In Rajapur taluka a fisherman holds crabs

in a wooden box constructed on the bank of the estuary

where the water exchange depends on tidal influences.

Feeding was restricted as crabs were held by tying their

appendages.

The rates of hard-shelled and soft-shelled

S. tranquebarica range from Rs. 250 to 300 per kg and

Rs. 60 to 80 per kg respectively. The rates S. serrata weighing

more than 250 gm range between Rs. 200 and 250 per dozen.

Small sized S. serrata (c. 100 gm) are less expensive, and

range from Rs. 50 to 60 per dozen.

After collecting the crabs, the agents send them live in

bamboo baskets and polyethylene bags to either Mumbai or

Goa, from where they are exported live to Singapore and

Southeast Asian countries. Sometimes the crab collector is

himself the wholesaler.

DISCUSSION

This short term crab monitoring programme gives

substantial information on various aspects such as availability

of crab (Scylla spp.), method of crab collection, abundance

of species and indigenous knowledge. Chhapgar (1962) has

carried out considerable work on the method of collection

and the gear used for crab collection in Mumbai. Some of the

gear mentioned by Chhapgar (1962) is used in Ratnagiri

district. The survey also aimed at gathering information on

the number of crab collectors interested in expanding crab

culture/fattening activities. The crab collectors on the

Ratnagiri district coast are poor, and the fattening activity

could improve their livelihood by fetching a higher price.

Large-scale activities are not possible due to poor finances,

although fattening in cages made of bamboo or in cemented

tanks could help them. There is a need for demonstration of

such activities along the coastal region.

The marketing strategy in the district involves a

middleman who earns more than the actual crab collector. A

326

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

OCCURENCE, AVAILABILTY AND MARKETING OF CRABS, RATNAGIRI DISTRICT

taluka-wise market channel in the district will eliminate the

middleman and give greater benefits to the fishermen. The

indigenous techniques used by the fishermen deserve to be

appreciated, but technical knowledge needs to be provided

by local Institutes. Fishermen having the basic concept of

fattening and culture could be guided technically to improve

the success rate. In the present study, it was observed that a

fisherman tried fattening the crabs in a cage, but was

unsuccessful due to improper stocking of the crabs. He was

guided technically and succeeded subsequently using a cage

designed by himself. There is also a need for the creation of

a database on the actual number of fishermen involved in the

business. The database should have their addresses with

contact numbers, so that any information related to crab

culture can be easily transferred to them or vice versa.

This will also build a strong interaction between the

farmer and the Institute. In the present study, this was done

and a link was established between fishermen and the Institute.

Crab resources are abundant along the coast of

Ratnagiri district. But fishermen are also harvesting

under-sized crabs and berried crabs. There is an urgent

need to stop this practice by creating awareness among

the fishermen. The concept of conserving under-sized

crab should be explained to them. During the present

study fishermen were guided to conserve crab resources

by stopping the harvest of undersized or berried

crabs.

Such surveys will surely help in conservation as well

in bringing about sustainable socio-economic development

of the fishermen in the region.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Dr. RC. Raje, Associate Dean, College of

Fisheries, Faculty of Fisheries, Konkan Agricultural

University, Dapoli, India for financial support under the

Konkan Kalbaddha Scheme. Thanks are also due to the Senior

Scientific Officer, Marine Biological Research Station, Peth

Killa, Ratnagiri for providing guidance in conducting this

study.

REFERENCES

Aiyun, D. & Y. Sillang, (1991): Crabs of the China seas. China Ocean

Press, Beijing, China. 682 pp.

Chhapgar, B.F. ( 1957): On the marine crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) of

Bombay state. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 54: 399- 439.

Chhapgar, B.F. (1962): Crab fishing at Bombay. J. Bombay Nat. Hist.

Soc. 59(1): 306-309.

Motoh, H. (1979): Edible crustacean in the Philippines. 1 llh in a series

2, Asian Aquaculture. Pp. 5.

Appendix 1

Proforma for Crab monitoring

A) Name of taluka: B) Name of village:

i) Crab availability: Yes/No

If yes, which species 1 ) S. serrata:

2) S. tranquebarica:

3) Both:

4) Any other:

If both are present what is the ratio:

ii) Type of fishing operation: Boat or Manual operation or any

other method used

iii) Any crab culture operation in the area: Yes/ No

If yes, name of the farmer:

Type of culture operation: traditional/semi-intensive/

intensive:

Monoculture/Poly culture:

iv) Approximate quantity of crabs caught per day:

v) Awareness of species differences among farmers: Yes/No

If yes, what is the differentiating character?

vi) Whether farmers interested in crab culture: Yes / No

If yes, name of the farmer:

Observations (if any):

Singh, R.K., V.R. Vartak & A.K. Balange (2005): Occurrence of Mud

crab Scvlla tranquebarica (Fabricius) (Brachyura: Portunidae)

from the west coast of India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 102(2):

250-252.

Vartak V.R., A.K. Balange & R.K. Singh (2002): The rearing and

fattening of the Mud crab (Scylla spp.) in brackish water ponds

of North Konkan. In: National Seminar on low cost Aquaculture

Technology, 13-14 December 2002, Ratnagiri, India.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

327

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

328-333

ASPECTS OF NESTING BIOLOGY OF CROCODYLUS POROSUS

AT BHITARKANIKA, ORISSA, EASTERN INDIA1

G.V. Gopi2 , Bivash Pandav2-3 and Sangeeta Angom2

'Accepted

"Wildlife Institute of India, Department of Endangered Species Management, Post Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001,

Uttarakhand, India.

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

'WWF-International, P.O. Box # 7660, Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Email: [email protected]

The nesting biology of Saltwater Crocodiles Crocodylus porosus was studied at the Bhitarkanika mangroves, in Orissa,

for two consecutive seasons between March 2005 and September 2006. A total of 54 mound nests were surveyed and

monitored during this period. In Bhitarkanika C. porosus nest between April and August, during the wet season. The

mean dimensions of all the successful nests were: height 55.4 ±5.4 cm, longest axis of base 182 ±12.2 cm. Preferred nest

materials included Achrostichum aureum and Phoenix paludosa along with mud. Of the total number of 54 nests located

and monitored, 72.2% had wallows. The number of body pits increased with increasing distance from water (p < 0.05).

Of the complete clutches examined, the mean clutch size was 43.2 ±22. 1 and the mean egg dimensions were: egg length

71.95 ±5.5 mm; egg width 49.3 ±3.9 mm; egg weight 121.5 ±14.0 gm. Six false nests were found among the total of

54 nests (2006), and all were located at distances of < 50 m from the successful nests. Predation was higher for the nests

that were built closer to the water source than those built more inland (p = 0.001 ). Predation was relatively higher in the

Achrostichum patches than in the Phoenix patches (p = 0.001 ). The egg collection followed by the Forest Department

is discussed and a new strategy is recommended.

Key words: Saltwater Crocodile, Crocodylus porosus , nest biology, wallows, Bhitarkanika mangroves

INTRODUCTION

Saltwater Crocodile Crocodylus porosus has been

recorded from India, Indonesia, Indo-China, Malaysia,

Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Australia (Neill 1971;

Braizitis 1973). In India, it is distributed sparsely in the

Sunderbans (West Bengal), Bhitarkanika (Orissa) and

Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Of these areas, Bhitarkanika

has the highest density of Saltwater Crocodiles, with more

than 1,500 individuals, of which over 10% are breeding

individuals (Gopi 2007). Considering the potential vulnerability

of the crocodilian species in India, the Government of India

enforced protective legislation through the Indian Wildlife

(Protection) Act, 1972 to conserve crocodiles and to develop

crocodile farming in India. A captive breeding programme for

all three species of crocodilians found in India (Mugger

Crocodile Crocodylus palustris , C. porosus , and the Gharial

Gavialis gangeticus) resulted in the recovery of these species

in the wild. The restocking strategy of Saltwater Crocodiles

has thus resulted in the successful release of more than 1,500

crocodiles (Kar and Bustard 1989; 1991).

Crocodylus porosus is the only crocodilian that

deposits its eggs in a mound nest constructed of vegetation

with varying proportions of mud or soil (Kopstein 1929;

Deraniyagala 1939; Webb etal. 1977; Whitaker and Whitaker

1978; Lang 1980; Magnusson et al. 1980; Whitaker et al.

1980; Graham 1981). Nesting appears to be mainly during the

wet seasons, and total or partial flooding of nests is common:

a major cause of embryo mortality is drowning (Webb et al.

1977; Magnusson etal. 1978, 1980; Magnusson 1982). Studies

have been carried out on four nests located in Sri Lanka

(Deraniyagala 1939) and four nests were examined in Java

(Worrell 1952). Magnusson et al. (1978) and Ogilby ( 1904)

gave general descriptions of C. porosus nests in Australia.

Worrell (1952) gave general descriptions from India and

Myanmar. The nesting distribution of C. porosus was reviewed

throughout its range by Neill (1971).

A detailed review of the available literature confirmed

that there are no studies with empirical information on the

nesting biology of C. porosus in India, though scant records

of natural history information have been published as semi-

scientific notes and popular articles (Pandav 1998; Gopi 2007).

After research and conservation work on this species for

over 30 long years, all the information that we have pertains

only to the population status and conflict data. The nesting

phase is a critical stage in the crocodilian life cycle and difficult

to study owing to the harsh terrain and continuous presence

of the mother crocodile near the nests. Because of the lack of

information on Saltwater Crocodile nesting biology and

behaviour, the present study aimed to investigate and collect

preliminary information from the Bhitarkanika mangroves. The

findings are presented and discussed within the context of

ASPECTS OF NESTING BIOLOGY OF CROCODYLUS POROSUS AT BHITARKANIKA

Fig. 1: The Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, Orissa, India

the existing information relating to the Bhitarkanika

mangroves.

STUDY AREA

This study was carried out in the Bhitarkanika Wildlife

Sanctuary (Fig. I ), which is located between 20°30'-20°48' N;

86°45'-87°03' E in the deltaic region of the Brahman i and

Baitarani rivers in Kendrapara district of Orissa. The Sanctuary

encompasses an area of 675 sq. km of which I 15 sq. km is

under mangrove cover. The Sanctuary is bounded by the

rivers Dhamara to the north, Maipura to the south. Brahman i

to the west, and the Bay of Bengal in the east. The 35 km

coastline from the mouth of River Maipura up to Barunei

forms the eastern boundary of the Sanctuary. The annual

rainfall ranges from 920 to 3,000 mm (Fig. 2). Bhitarkanika

represents one of the richest and most diversified mangrove

flora in the country. Fifty eight species of mangroves have so

far been recorded in India, of which 55 are found in

Bhitarkanika (Bannerjee and Rao 1990). The existence of one

species each of Rhizophora , Heritiera and Avicennia , and

four species of Bruguiera is one of the interesting features

of the flora of Bhitarkanika. The dominant genera of

mangroves and their associates include Acanthus ,

Achrostichum , Aegialitis, Aglaia, Avicennia , Excoecaria ,

Brownlowia, Bruguiera , Ceriops , Rhizophora , Heritiera ,

Fig. 2: Monthly rainfall pattern at Bhitarkanika National Park

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

329

ASPECTS OF NESTING BIOLOGY OF CROCODYLUS POROSUS AT BHITARKANIKA

Hibiscus , Kandelia , Lumnizera, Phoenix , Sonneratia and

Suaeda.

Significant aspects of the fauna of Bhitarkanika

mangroves include the presence of India’s largest and oldest

known heronry (Gopi et al. 2007) and the occurrence of the

Water Monitor Lizard Varanus salvator , King Cobra

Ophiophagus hannah. Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus.

Striped Hyaena Hyaena hyaena , Sambar Cervus unicolor

among others. The eastern boundary of Bhitarkanika supports

the largest nesting ground in the world of the endangered

Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Lepidochelys olivacea (Bustard 1976).

Gopi and Pandav (2007) report the existence of 263 species of

birds in Bhitarkanika of which 87 species have been recorded

to breed here.

METHODS

Nests were located by walking along the river/creek

banks. Most nests were found by searching areas known to

have previously contained a nest. The extent to which the

located nests reflect the total number of nests is not known.

Lfpon location of the nests, the size of the nesting crocodile,

distance from the nearest water source and number of wallows

(body pits) made were recorded. Once the nesting crocodile

abandoned the nest after successful rearing of the hatchlings,

nest site characteristics were also recorded, which included

broad identification of the vegetation patch and canopy cover

above the nest site. Nesting adults were not caught and

sexed because it was likely that they would abandon the

nest. Tracks of only one size were present at each nest site,

and it was presumed that this indicates the same individual

in attendance. These tracks, combined with sightings,

indicated crocodiles between 1 .8 and 3.6 m in length, which

is consistent with the size of adult females of C. porosus.

Large tracks, presumably of adult males, were present along

the river banks, but not at the nest sites. Disturbance scores

of 0-3 were also assigned (Human activities > 91.44 m away

from the nest were ranked as 0; human activities > 60.96 m

away from the nest were ranked as 1; human activities >

30.48 m away from the nest were ranked as 2 and Human

activities > 15.24 m away from the nest were ranked as 3).

Nest monitoring was carried out every seven days till the

nesting crocodile abandoned the nest site. Notes were also

made on predator damage and flooding. Of the 54 located

nests, only 39 nests were chosen for regular monitoring due

to accessibility reasons. The clutch size and egg dimension

data were collected only from those nests that were collected

for a forest department managed hatchery. A total of

four nests were collected in two years, two each in 2005 and

2006.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Nesting period

Crocodylus porosus nests were constructed starting

from the dry season through the wet season with the earliest

on around April 20, 2005 and the latest on July 6, 2006

(Fig. 3). C. porosus nesting coincided with the annual wet

season in Australia and west Java (Worrell 1952; Kopstein

1929; Neill 1971). In Sri Lanka, C. porosus nests during the

hottest and driest period of the year (July/August), with

hatching commencing at the start of the wet season

(Deraniyagala 1939). But in Australia, where C. porosus starts

building the nests in the wet season, this is markedly different

(Webb etal. 1977). In Bhitarkanika, nesting commenced during

the hottest and driest period of the year (April-July).

Nest dimensions and materials

The mean dimensions of the successful nests were:

height 55.4 ±5.4 cm (n= 39, range 34 to 82), longest axis of

base 182 ±12.2 cm (n=39, range 136 to 261). Achrostichum

aureum and Phoenix paludosa leaves, both dead and fresh

green ones accounted for the bulk of the nest materials.

Achrostichum aureum , also called ‘Mangrove Fern’, grows

in huge clumps, up to 2 m tall. The leaves are large (up to 2 m

long), pinnate and bright red when young; fertile leaflets at

the tip are covered with red-brown sporangia, and blades of

sterile leaflets have a broadly rounded end terminated with a

short tip. Phoenix paludosa , also known as ‘Mangrove Date

Palm’, is a thorny unbranched, perennial palm, grows up to a

height of 5 m or more with top foliages and sharp spines in

the stem and leaf apices. The stems are used extensively in

the construction of small huts as roof rafters and the framework

of the wall. Worell (1952) and Ogilby (1904) described

C. porosus nesting materials in Australia as “leaf mould” and

“grape-vines grasses and other rubbish”, respectively.

Rushes, reeds and dead leaves are nest constituents in India

and Myanmar (Worell 1952).

Fig. 3: Monthly breakdown of the new nests found for two

consecutive years

330

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

ASPECTS OF NESTING BIOLOGY OF CROCODYLUS POROSUS AT BHITARKANIKA

Dead materials are used along with tall green grass or

herbaceous aquatic plants, most commonly in the Philippines,

Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (Neill 1971). In Java, the

nests were constructed among ‘man height’ grass and small

branches (Kopstein 1929). In Sri Lanka, there was an

association between C. porosus and the plant Lagenandra

toxicaria\ C. porosus built their nests from it, and the

eradication of the plant was closely followed by the

disappearance of C. porosus from a particular region

(Deraniyagala 1939). In Australia, Ischaemum australe var.

villosum appears to replace L. toxicaria (Webb et al. 1977).

Nests of C. porosus were similar in form and dimensions in all

parts of its range (Neill 1971; Kopstein 1929; Deraniyagala

1939; Webb etal\911).

Body pits/ Wallows

Crocodylus porosus builds body pits close to the nests

and stays there till the end of the nesting season. Of the total

of 54 nests located, 72.2% had wallows (mean = 1.1). The

number of body pits varied between 1 and 4. Pearson

correlation was performed to determine whether there is a

change in number of body pits with distance from water

source. The number of body pits increased with increase in

the distance from water p < 0.05 (Fig. 4). Wallows beside nests

were not mentioned in the study that was carried out in west

Java (Kopstein 1929). In Sri Lanka, they are similar to those in

northern Australia; some are shallow and seem to result from

scraping material for nest construction, while others are deep

and used as ‘guard wallows’ (Deraniyagala 1939). Wallows

were found beside nests next to a permanent water source

and nests at great distance from such a source (Webb et al.

1977).

- — — * -i . 1 1 1

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Distance from water (ft)

Fig. 4: Relationship between distance from water source and

number of body pits made by nesting Crocodiles

Clutch size and egg morphometry

Of the complete clutches examined, the mean clutch

size was 43.2 ±22.1 eggs (range 21-72), and the mean egg

dimensions of clutch means were: egg length 7 1 .95 ±5.5 mm

(n = 70; range 64.2-86.5 mm); egg width 49.3 ±3.9 mm (n = 70;

range 41.3-54.6 mm); egg weight, 121.5 ±14.0 gm (n= 70; range

68-138.72 gm). A total of six false nests were located and all

the false nests were located at a distance less than 50 m from

the completed nests with eggs. Our data on egg numbers and

sizes are consistent with other studies conducted elsewhere

(Kopstein 1929; Deraniyagala 1939; Webb etal. 1977; Worrell

1952). The between-nests variation was much greater than

within-nest variation (Kopstein 1929). Egg size (length and

width) between-nest variation were greater than within-nest

variations (p = 0.004).

False Nests

False nests had the same structural composition as that

of the completed nests with eggs. False nests were made by

small sized crocodiles ( 1 .8-2.4 m). The building of nests without

eggs is not clearly understood. This behaviour has been

observed in northern Australia (Webb et al. 1977). These

nests are complete and in all respects resemble nests with

eggs, suggesting they may be false nests. The most likely

explanations are the following: ( 1 ) They are made by immature/

young females. (2) They have been disturbed by humans or

other disturbances. (3) The site is not suitable, or change in

weather has caused the site to be abandoned.

Predation and flooding of nests

Bhitarkanika and Ragadapatia forest blocks had higher

disturbance in terms of human activities that include illegal

fishing, honey collection and fuel wood collection. Dangamal

forest block was the least disturbed zone due to the presence

of the forest department office near the nesting areas (Fig. 5).

Pearson chi-square tests showed significantly higher

predation (p < 0.01 ) in higher disturbance areas.

Predation was independent of tree and shrub

abundance across the nests (p= 0.400); however, predation

was relatively higher in the Achrostichum patches than in the

Phoenix patches (p = 0.00 1 ), which was evident while making

comparisons with the forest block on predation. Bhitarkanika

and Ragadapatia forest blocks accounted for higher predation

due to nest building in the Achrostichum patches compared

with Dangamal Forest Block where nests were built in Phoenix

bushes. As Achrostichum patches are softer it is easier for

predators to gain access to the nests in them, but in Phoenix

patches access is relatively difficult for predators due to the

spine and thorns associated with this patch. Predation was

higher for the nests that were built closer to the water source

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

331

ASPECTS OF NESTING BIOLOGY OF CROCODYLUS POROSUS AT BHITARKANIKA

than for the nests that were built more inland (p = 0.001).

Mother crocodiles that build nests closer to the water keep

entering the water source (creek, nalla/river) upon even a

slight disturbance, and they construct fewer wallows;

however, nest surveillance was higher for the crocodiles that

built the nests well inland and thereby prevented predation.

Observations on predated crocodile nests showed signs

of two major predators in Bhitarkanika namely Wild Boar (Sus

scrofa) and Water Monitor Lizards (Varanus salvator).

Predation on C. porosus eggs was minimal in northern

Australia (Webb etal. 1977). Varanid lizards were found to be

the major predators of C. niloticus eggs (Cott 1961; Pooley

1969).

The effect of flooding on C. porosus nests in northern

Australia is catastrophic (Webb et al. 1977). Flooded nests

were also found in Java(Kopstein 1929), whereas in Sri Lanka

flooding of nests posed very little danger to the nests

(Deraniyagala 1939). In Bhitarkanika, earlier nesting removes

the danger of flooding of nests.

CONCLUSION

Currently the Orissa Forest Department still manages

the crocodile hatchery in Dangamal forest block. During the

last two decades more than 5,000 eggs were collected from

the forest blocks of the Sanctuary of which 2,695 hatchlings

hatched (51%) and 2,488 crocodiles survived (92%). These

eggs have been collected from wild nests randomly over the

years. Currently two to four wild nests are excavated annually

and brought to the hatchery for its rear and release programme.

This study clearly shows predation to be higher in the softer

Acrostichum patches and in the nests that are built very close

to a water source (rivers, creeks and nallas). Efforts should be

made to carry out further collections in coming years from

these nests which have lower survival expectancy than in

nests collected randomly. Empirical studies pertaining to

hatchling and juvenile recruitment, and survival rates and

behavioural ecology could be carried out in future in the

Fig. 5: Relationship between disturbance score and forest block

Bhitarkanika mangroves, considering the existing gap in the

knowledge of Saltwater Crocodiles. With the prospect of

increasing man-animal conflicts in Bhitarkanika, the

information obtained will pave way for a robust scientific

carrying capacity assessment for Saltwater Crocodiles in

Bhitarkanika in the days to come.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was conducted during the ongoing Research

Project on Ecology of Colonial Nesting Waterbirds at

Bhitarkanika Mangroves. We thank the Director, Wildlife

Institute of India, the PCCF (Wildlife) of the Orissa Forest

Department and the DFO (Mangrove Forest Division),

Rajnagar for providing the necessary facilities, permission

and logistics to undertake this study. We are grateful to Rajah

Jayapal and Karthik Vasudevan, WII and S.K. Kar, Orissa

Forest Department for their guidance and constant

encouragement. Our sincere thanks are due to our field staff

Bijoy and Kirodh for being of immense help during the survey

and monitoring.

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Webb, G.J.W., H. Messel & W.E. Magnusson (1977): The nesting

biology of Crocodylus porosus in Arnhem Land, northern Australia.

Copeia 2: 238-249.

Whitaker, R. & Z. Whitaker (1978): Preliminary survey of the saltwater

crocodile (Crocodylus porosus ) in the Andaman Islands.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 76: 311-323.

Whitaker, R., Z. Whitaker & Y.B. Choudhury (1980): The biology

of the mugger, Crocodylus palustris. Proc. SSAR Symp. Reprod.

Biol. Conserv. Crocodilians, Milwaukee, Aug. (Abstract.)

Worrell, E. (1952): The Australian Crocodiles. Proc. Roy. Soc. New

South Wales 1951-1952: 18-23.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

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Journal of the Bombay Matural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

334-338

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

A NEW FAIRY SHRIMP SPECIES, BRANCHINELLA NALLURENSIS

FROM SOUTH INDIA1

C. S. Velu23and N. Munuswamy2

'Accepted December 04, 2007

’Department of Zoology, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India.

-’Current address: Division of Immunobiology, MLC 7038, Room S5.200, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333

Burnet Ave, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, U.S.A. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

The current study identifies a new fairy shrimp, which belongs to the genus Branchinella from Chengalpattu, Tamil

Nadu, India. Morphological variation was observed in frontal appendage, second antennae, penal structure in male

and egg ornamentation in female justifying this as a new species, Branchinella nallurensis. The variation observed in

the present study was confirmed by comparing with the well known species, B. kugenumaensis (Japan) and B. madurai.

Key words: Branchinella kugenumaensis , B. madurai, B. nallurensis sp. nov., egg ornamentation, new species, second

antennae, penal morphology

INTRODUCTION

Fairy shrimps belong to the genus Branchinella

(Anostraca: Thamnocephalidae) Sayce 1902, are widely

distributed all over India (Linder 1941; Quadri and Baqai

1956; Tiwari 1965; Bernice 1972). Branchinella

kugenumaensis (Ishikawa 1895) is originally identified as

endemic from Japan and is now reported to occur in majority

of Asian countries. Based on the size, number of

protruberances in the second antennae and frontal appendage

in Japanese population, Raj (1951, 1961 ) described the Indian

population as a new variety, B.k. var. madurai. The status of

B.k. var. madurai has been rejected by various researchers

( Radhakrishna and Prasad 1976; Belk and Esparaza 1995).

Despite these rejections it gained species status due to the

tremendous contribution of Brendonck and Belk ( 1997), who

named it as B. maduraiensis Raj. Recently, the nomenclature

for this species is further corrected as B. madurai (Martin

and Boyce 2004). Based on a detailed morphological

comparison to B. kugenumaensis and B. madurai ,

B. nallurensis nov. sp., is identified and reported in this study

as a natural population of Branchinella.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

About twelve animals were collected from Nallur

village (12° 42' N; 80° 0T E), Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu,

India during May 1997. The species was collected repeatedly

during 1998 and 1999, and invariably showed the same

morphology as the species reported from Madurai and Japan.

For observation purposes, they were brought to the laboratory

and fixed in 4% formalin. Holotype male (3. 1 cm) and females

(3.2 cm) (LIM/DZ/NM/FS 150 to 153) were used to study

the morphology. Total of five males (2. 8-3. 6 cm) and seven

females (3. 0-3. 4 cm) (paratypes) were observed and some

specimens were deposited in the Zoological Survey of India

(Cat # CA1ZSI/SRS).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Frontal appendage is divisible into three regions

(Fig. 1). The first part (basal) consists of 17-22 protruberances,

spiniform proximally and digitiform distally. Spines are seen

at the base of frontal appendage and in between the second

antennae. The second part (middle) branches out into two,

one at the upper region and the other in the lower part armed

ventrally with two rows of 16-22 widely spaced tubercles

(Fig. 1). Rami, the third part consist of 3-4 strong spines in

their ventral region. Each ramus is long, ensiform medial side

branch with spines on entire surface and one prominent spine

at the base. Lateral side branch (2L) equals to the main branch

(1M) and with spine at the tip (Figs 1, 2).

Dorso-lateral surface of the second antennae consists

of about 22-27 digitiform tubercles (Fig. 1). The second

antenna is divisible into apical (aj) and basal joint (bj)

(Figs 1, 3). Basal joint consists of a row of 3-5 tubercles

situated medially (Fig. 1). Medial antennal process (MAP)

reaches to the middle distal joint of antennae and are set with

9-10 long ventro-medial protuberances of which 5-6 are bifid

and located ventro-medially, 3 are anvil-shaped and 1 is

digitiform located distally (Figs 1,3). Eight long spiniform

protuberances observed, are located on the dorso-medial

surface (Figs 3, 4).

Antennal morphology of several species has been

proved as a valid character in taxonomy (Daday 1910; Linder

1941; Brtek 1974; Maeda-Martinez et al. 1995; Velu and

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

Fig. 1 : Camera lucida diagram showing the frontal appendage

and second antenna (outer and inner view) of male Branchinella

nallurensis. sp. nov. aj - apical joint; bj - basal joint; dj - distal

joint; 1 M - 1 main branch; 2L - lateral branch; sp - spines; FA -

frontal appendage; SA - second antennae; map - medial antennal

processes; dmp - dorso-medial processes; dlt - dorso-lateral

processes; I, II, III - 1st, 2nd, 3rd Segment

Fig. 3: Light microscopic photograph showing the inner lateral

view of second antenna of male Branchinella nallurensis sp. nov.

Fig. 2: Light microscopic photograph showing the rami of

frontal appendage in male. IM-main branch; 2L-side branch

Fig. 4: Higher magnification showing the dorso-medial

protuberances (p) on the second antenna

Munuswamy 2005). B. madurai Raj gained species status

mainly based on the morphology of male second antennae,

genital structure and egg ornamentation. A significant

difference in the size of 1M branch of frontal appendage and

morphology of ventro-medial protruberances in the antennal

process was observed (Brendonck and Belk 1997). Using the

same criteria, we distinctly show the variation between

B. nallurensis and other species (Tables 1-3). In addition, the

side branch 2L of the frontal appendage reach the tip of main

branch 1M, the digitiform protuberances on the medial side

of basal antennal joint resembles that of B. madurai. The third

section, ramus, in the B. nallurensis show spines on their

Table 1 : Morphological variations observed in the frontal and second antennae of Branchinella species

B. kugenumaensis B. madurai

B. nallurensis sp. nov.

Dorso-medial process

Medial antennal process

Medial side of basal joint

6 spiniform

10 digitiform protuberances,

7 ventro-medial, 3 distal

6 tubercles

7 digitiform

8 long protuberances, 5 bifid ventro-medially,

3 anvil-shaped distally

3 small tubercles

8-9 spiniform

9 long protuberances, 6 bifid,

3 anvil-shaped distally

8-10 tubercles

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

335

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

Fig. 5: Photograph showing the penal morphology of male

Branchinella nallurensis sp. nov. dl - distal lobe; p - penis

surface, which is seldom found in B. madurai. Dorso-medial

protuberances range to 6 in B. madurai and B. kugenumaensis ,

whereas in B. nallurensis sp. nov. the protuberances are 8 in

number. Moreover protuberances are spiniform in

B. kugenumaensis and B. nallurensis sp. nov.; they are

digitiform in B. madurai. Basal joint possesses 3-5 small

tubercles in B. nallurensis sp. nov., whereas B. madurai and

B. kugenumaensis possess 6- 1 1 and 5-8 tubercles, respectively

(Table 1).

Male genital morphology shows unique characteristic

features. The basal part of penis is long, widely separated

and with a pair of lateral linguiform outgrowth. A single

medial out-growth was seen in the inner side of non-retractile

basal part of penis. Eversible part of penis is lengthier and

bulged compared to that of the basal part and laterally set

with a long row of prominent spines, which are sharp and

flat structures (Figs 5, 6). Ventral, medial and dorsal surfaces

are covered with spinules, which are denser at the distal region

compared to the basal part. The penile structure is club shaped

and extends up to the 3rd abdominal segment. In

Fig. 6: Lateral view of the penal morphology (p) observed in

male Branchinella nallurensis sp. nov.

Fig. 7: Scanning electron micrograph showing the egg

ornamentation of the new species Branchinella nallurensis

p - pore; r - ridges

Table 2: Morphological variations observed in the peneal structure of different Branchinella species

B. kugenumaensis

B. madurai

B. nallurensis sp. nov.

Basal part shorter, widely separated Basal part short widely separated with small medial

with small medial process proximally process proximally

Basal part short widely separated with

small medial process proximally.

Eversible part is bulged compared to

that of the basal part

Lateral set with a long row of Conical lateral lobes almost as long as basal part. Conical lateral lobes in the distal part

prominent spines, conical near base Laterally with long row of spines

Sharp and flat in middle region scale Spines conical at proximal, scale-like distally Lengthy spines, scale-like distally

like distally

336

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

Table 3: Morphological variations observed in the cyst

of Branchinella species

branchinellids, the morphology of penis is only occasionally

presented (Quadri and Baquai 1956; Raj 1961;Tiwari 1971;

Belk and Sissom 1992; Brendonck and Riddoch 1997), and

is rarely described due to the difficulties in preparing

specimens, and drawing and orienting the penile structures.

Based on the penile structure (Table 2) we suggest that

B. kugenumaensis and B. madurai , might belong to the North

American species group which includes B. sublettei (Sissom)

and B. alachua (Dexter); whereas, B. nallurensis resembles

B. ondonguae , in which the basal part is slender and long,

swollen distally (Brendonck 1 997). Brendonck ( 1995a, 1997)

proved the penile morphology as a valuable taxonomic tool

in thamnocephalidae and suggested use of this characteristic

to diagnose each branchiopodid genus or when erecting a

new genus, apart from conventional characters. Moreover,

the relevance of using penile morphology to distinguish

anostracan genera was substantiated by referring the co-

evolutionary nature of the penis (Brendonck 1995b).

Female fairy shrimp lacks frontal appendage. Second

antenna is flat, small and rectangular unsegmented structure.

Brood pouch is pear shaped and elongate up to the 3rd

abdominal segment. Egg measures about 275-290 pm in

diameter and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) study on

the egg ornamentation reveals pentagonal shaped ridges with

a prominent volcano-like pore in the center (Fig. 7, Table 3).

Various studies have shown the importance of egg

morphology while defining natural groups, which can provide

taxonomic information (Thiery et al. 1995; Velu and

Munuswamy 2005), due to their independent sexual selection

(Belk et al. 1998).

Present taxonomic investigation clearly shows a marked

variation in the male second antennae, penile and egg

morphology in all three species of Branchinella. This led us

to erect a new species, Branchinella nallurensis sp. nov. under

the genus Branchinella. Besides this, through detailed

molecular analysis by random amplified polymorphic DNA

(RAPD) demonstrates and provides supportive information

on their new species status (Velu 2001).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Mr. A. Jayaraman, President, Nallur village,

Chengalpattu and Mr. S. Perumal, Asst. Librarian, University

of Madras, Chennai for their help to collect this species. Also

help rendered by Mr. Essaki and Mr. Janarthanan for their

technical assistant is gratefully acknowledged.

REFERENCES

Belk, D. & S. L. Sissom (1992): New Branchinella (Anostraca) from

Texas, U.S.A., and the problem of antenna like processes. J. Crust.

Biol. 12: 312-316.

Belk, D. & C. Esparaza (1995): Anostraca of the Indian subcontinent.

Hydrobiologia 298: 287-293.

Belk, D., G. Mura & S.C. Weeks ( 1998): Untangling confusion between

Eubranchipus vernalis and Eubranchipus neglectus

(Branchiopoda: Anostraca). J. Crust. Biol. 18(1): 147-152.

Bernice, R. (1972): Ecological studies on Streptocephalus dichotomies

Baird Crustacea: Anostraca). Hydrobiologia 39(2): 217-240.

Brendonck, L. (1995a): A new branchiopodid genus and species

(Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Anostraca) from South Africa. Zool.

J. Linn. Soc. 115: 359-372.

Brendonck, L. (1995b): An updated diagnosis of the branchipodid

genera (Branchiopoda: Anostraca: Branchiopodidae) with

reflections on the genus concept by Dubois (1988) and the

importance of genital morphology in anostracan taxonomy. Arch,

fur Hydrobiol./Suppl. 107(2): 149-186.

Brendonck, L. ( 1997): The Anostracan genus Branchinella (Crustacea:

Branchiopoda), in need of a taxonomic revision; evidence from

penile morphology. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 119: 447-455.

Brendonck, L. & D. Belk (1997): Branchinella maduraiensis Raj

(Crustacea, Branchiopoda, Anostraca) shown by new evidence to

be a valid species. Hydrobiologia 359: 93-99.

Brendonck, L. & B.R. Riddoch (1997): Anostracans (Branchiopoda)

of Botswana: morphology, distribution, diversity and endemicity.

J. Crust. Biol. 17(1): 111-134.

Brtek, J. (1974): Zwei Streptocephalus Arten aus Afrika und einige

Notizer zur Gattung Streptocephalus. Ann. Zool. et botan.

Bratislava 96: 1-9.

Daday, De Dee’s, E. (1910): Monographie systematique des phyllopodes

Anostraces. Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. 9(11): 491-499.

Ishikawa, C. (1895): Phyllopod Crustacea of Japan. Zool. Mag 7: 1-6.

Linder, F. (1941): Contributions to the morphology and the taxonomy

of the Branchiopoda Anostraca. Zool. Bidr. Uppsala. 20: 101-302.

Maeda-Martinez, A.M., D. Belk, H. Obregon-Barboza & H.J. Dumont

(1995): A contribution to the systematics of the Streptocephalidae

(Branchiopoda: Anostraca). Hydrbiologia 298: 203-232.

Martin, J.W. & S.L. Boyce (2004): Crustacea: non-cladoceran

Branchiopoda. Pp. 284-297. In: Yule, C.M. & Y.H. Sen (Eds.):

Freshwater invertebrates of the Malaysian region. Nature's Niche

Pte Ltd, Singapore.

Quadri, M.A.H.& I.U. Baqai ( 1956): Some branchiopods (Anostraca

and Conchostraca) of Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, with description

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

337

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

of new species. Proc. Pakistan Acad. Sci. 1(1): 7-18.

Radhakrishna,Y.& M.K.D. Prasad (1976): Anostraca (Crustacea:

Branchiopoda) from Guntur district and its environs. Mem. Soc.

Zool. Guntur 1: 79-87.

Raj, P.J.S. ( 1951): The first record of the genus Branchinella Sayce in

India and a new variety of Branchinella kugenumaensis (Ishikawa).

Curr. Sci. 20: 334.

Raj, P.J.S. (1961): Morphology and distribution of Branchinella

kugenumaensis (Ishikawa), var. madurai Raj (Branchiopoda:

Crustacea). Ohio J. Sci. 61: 257-262.

Thiery, A., J. Brtek & C'. Gasc (1995): Cyst morphology of European

branchiopodas (Crustacea, Anostraca, Notostraca, Spinicaudata,

Laevicaudata). Bull. Natl. Mus. Natur. His. (Paris) Series 4. 14:

107-139.

Tiwari, K.K. (1965): Branchinella kugenumaensis (Ishikawa, 1894)

(Phyllopoda, Anostraca) in Rajasthan, western India. Crustaceana

9(2): 220-222.

Tiwari, K.K. (1971 ): Occurrence of Branchinella hardingi Quadri and

Baqai, 1956 (Crustacea, Phyllopoda: Anostraca) in Madhya

Pradesh. ./. Zool. Soc. India. 23: 89-94.

Velu, C.S. (2001): Biodiversity, taxonomy and aquaculture potentials

of Indian fairy shrimps. Ph D. thesis, submitted to University of

Madras, Chennai, India.

Velu, C.S. & N. Munuswamy (2005): Updated diagnoses for the Indian

species of Streptocephalus (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Anostraca).

Zootaxa 1049: 33-48.

338

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

339-342

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF CERCERIS LATREILLE

(HYMENOPTERA: SPHECIDAE: PHILANTHINAE: CERCERINI)

ALONG WITH A NEW RECORD FROM INDIA1

A.Coumar2-3 and Debjani Dey2-4

'Accepted September 24, 2007

-National Pusa Collection, Division of Entomology, Indian Agricnltural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012. India.

-’Email: acoumar @yahoo.co.in

4Email: [email protected], [email protected]

A new species of Cerceris Latreille from India, namely Cerceris delhiensis is described and illustrated. Another

species, C. lunata is recorded for the first time from India. C. lunata is also redescribed with emphasis on certain

additional characters.

Key words: Cerceris, Hynrenoptera, Sphecidae, Philanthinae, Cercerini, India

INTRODUCTION

Family Sphecidae constitutes one of the most important

groups of predacious solitary wasps within the aculeate

Hymenoptera. The first modem classification of Sphecidae

was provided by Kohl (1896). At present, it has 1 1 subfamilies

of which Philanthinae is the largest, with around 1,100

described species under 1 1 genera and 6 tribes.

Tribe Cercerini of subfamily Philanthinae includes

small to large wasps, which are relatively common and

widespread, characterized by colourful markings and coarsely

sculptured integument, and are commonly found on or about

flowers. All species are ground nesting and provisions are

made with different kind of preys. It is interesting that the

Cercerini mainly feed on adult Coleoptera, although

Hymenoptera are used by a few species.

Genus Cerceris Latreille the largest of the genera of

Philanthinae, with about 850 species recorded so far, is well

represented in all major zoogeographical regions. The genus

Cerceris was erected by Linnaeus ( 1758) as Sphex , by Fabricius

( 1 775 ) as Crabro , and by Fabricius ( 1 793 ) as Philanthus. Finally,

it was Latreille (1802) who designated the genus as Cerceris

based on the type species Philanthus omatus Fabricius, 1 790.

This genus can be identified by the following

characters: clypeus of the female often with distal teeth or

other projections, ocellocular distance not reduced,

subantennal sclerite nearly always defined by lines from

antennal sockets through tentorial pits to clypeus, pronotum

raised, but often appressed to scutum, outer vein of the

submarginal cell III joining marginal cell at or before its outer

third, submarginal cell II nearly always petiolate in front,

first gastral segment usually forming a peduncle or sometimes

a narrow petiole, terga without median or submedian

transverse grooves, female sternum VI usually deeply cleft

at apex and male pygidial plate not denticulate laterally.

Cerceris delhiensis sp. nov. (Figs 1-7)

Description

Male: Length: 8.75-9.75 mm.

General coloration: Black; the following yellow: basal

three-fourth of mandibles, clypeus except at median apical

region, scape beneath, no stripe to anterior ocellus,

supraclypeal area, side of front to above antennal fossa, streak

on interantennal prominence, faint markings behind ocelli,

medially interrupted band on pronotal disk, band on scutellum,

post scutellum, all legs with a few faint brown markings,

except for dorsal apex of hind tibia, base of mid tibia, third,

sixth abdominal terga, faint band on apex of fifth sternum;

the following parts / areas yellowish brown: second abdominal

platform, basal part of third, fourth and fifth sterna: the

following reddish brown: propodeum, all abdominal terga

except apical carina and basal portions of all segments.

Head broader than thorax; median apical region of

clypeus transverse, clypeus, supraclypeal area and median

lobe reduced; sub-antennal suture well developed, long and

narrow; smooth and shiny head region with coarse shallow

punctures, pubescence scarce expect at lateral region of

clypeus.

Thorax smooth and shiny with a few coarse shallow

punctures; scrobal sulcus not deep, carination above the same

missing; propodeal enclosure glossy, smooth, punctation like

that of thorax, a few long hairs at lateral region; median groove

shallow, lateral groove well developed. Inner margin of hind

coxa with well developed carina.

Pubescence and punctures on abdomen like that of

thorax; basal plate of second, third and fourth abdominal

sterna smooth and shiny with fine punctures, declivous

laterally, apical plate of entire abdominal sternum with coarse

shallow punctures and long silvery pubescence.

Genitalia: 2.31 mm long; elongated; gonostyli 2x

broader at base than at apex, its sides narrow at middle but

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

Figs 1-7: Cerceris delhiensis sp. nov.

Holotype male head: 1. dorsal view, 2. lateral view, 3. propodeum, 4. genitalia; Female head:

5, dorsal view, 6. lateral view, 7. propodeum

widening towards apex, inner margin emarginated slightly at

apex, apex of gonostyli with a few sensory setae; aedeagus

only 0.92x as long as gonostyli, aedeagal lobes touching each

other at middle, but diverging at apex and ending in a club

shaped aedeagal head; volsella 0.76x as long as gonostyli,

outer margin depressed at middle and inner margin

emarginated at apex.

Female: Length 1 1.1 5-12. 1mm.

General coloration: Brown; the following yellow:

scape beneath, basal two-third of mandibles, clypeus except

at apical margin, supraclypeal area, streak on interantennal

lamella, scape beneath, side of face to well above antennal

fossae, entire mesopleuron, third abdominal terga, basal plate

of sterna; black oblique strip running from above antennal

fossa to anterior inner margin of eyes. All abdominal terga

and sterna brown. Apex of forewing with infumation beyond

marginal cell.

Mandibles with two prominent teeth; median apical

region of clypeus sinuate with blunt lateral tooth, with stiff

long hairs on inner margin, supraclypeal and side of front

slightly protuberant. Long silvery pubescence all over head,

thorax, abdominal terga and sterna.

Scrobal sulcus shallow in thorax without carina in lower

margin of upper part of mesopleural plate. Propodeal

enclosure smooth and shiny. Basal platform of abdomen well

developed in second abdominal sternum.

Distribution: india: Delhi, Bihar

Materials Examined: Holotype: India: Delhi, <?,

1 7.viii. 1 960, Coll., Menon, on wing. Paratvpes: Delhi: IARI,

4c? cf, 17.viii. 1960, 19.viii. 1 960, 4.ix. 1960, 4.ix. 1960, Coll.,

Menon, on wing; Delhi, d\ 2.vii. 1956, Coll., D.S. Bisht on

Lucerne. Bihar, Benhar, 2 9$, 3 .vii. 1919, 25.x. 1919, Coll.,

H. Inglis; Delhi: IARI, 3 9 9, 10. ix. 1956, 10. ix. 1956,

1 7. viii. 1 960, Coll., Menon, on wing.

Remarks: Males of this species resemble those of

C. instabilis except in the general body coloration which is

brownish, presence of concave band behind ocelli and temple,

band on scutellum, sharp scrobal sulcus and also variations

in male genitalia.

Etymology: This species has been named delhiensis

based on the type locality.

The type specimens of Cerceris delhiensis have been

deposited at the National Pusa Collection, Division of

Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New

Delhi, India 110 012.

Cerceris lunata Costa (Figs 8-17)

C. lunata hitherto known only from Europe and USSR

is being recorded for the first time from India. Further this

species is being redescribed with emphasis on certain

additional morphological characteristics like distribution

pattern of punctation on head, thorax and abdomen,

pubescence on the facial area, nature of sculpture on

propodeum and propodeal enclosures, extent of development

340

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

Figs 8-15: Cerceris lunata

Female head: 8. dorsal view, 9. lateral view, 10. propodeum, 11. pygidial plate; Male head: 12. dorsal view,

13. lateral view, 14. propodeum, 15. genitalia

E

o

of mesopleuron, nature of scrobal sulcus, nature and extent

of development of carina on mesopleural plate, extent of

development of carina on inner margin of hind coxae, and

shape of pygidial plate. The description has been adequately

supported with illustrations.

Female: Length 15.45 to 16.5mm

General coloration: Black; the following yellow: spot

on outer proximal part of mandibles, long strip at lateral region

of front to above antennal fossa, apical lateral region of

clypeus, narrow strip from anterior frontal lobe to just beyond

inter antennal prominence, pair of elongated spots behind

ocelli, pair of transverse band on anterior region of temple,

pair of small spots on pronotal disk, small spot on tegula,

anterior surface of fore tibia, midtibia, posterior margin of all

tibiae, middle region of basitarsus, medially separated broad

spot at apex; the following black: head, antennae, thorax, all

legs, propodeum, base of first abdominal segment; the

following brown: apex of wing with well diffused infumation

in both pair of wings, apical carina of each segment from

second to fifth and pygidial plate. Abdomen entirely reddish

brown.

Mandibles slender, inner margin of mandible without

teeth; median apical region of clypeus extended forward and

subtruncate, emarginated tridentate with small blunt lateral

tooth; clypeus and supra clypeus flat, shiny with small dense

silvery appressed pubescence all over except on median lobe of

clypeus and frontal lobe; punctures shallow and sparse on vertex.

Scrobal sulcus on thorax shallow, very dense strong

punctures on entire tergum of thorax, pleuron and sternum;

sternum with silvery pubescence. Apophyseal pit at middle

of metasternum, very long silvery pubescence on coxa,

trochanter and hind leg.

Propodeal enclosures raised, smooth with sparse

pubescence on lateral region; transverse rugulae not reaching

middle at anterior region; median and lateral grooves well

developed.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

341

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

Coarse deep punctures and long silvery hairs on first

abdominal segment; second segment shiny with shallow

punctures and small yellowish pubescence all over.

Male; 13.25- 14.45mm

General coloration: The following reddish yellow:

basal half of mandible, clypeus, supra clypeus, streak on inter

antennal carina, side of front to well above antennal fossa

extending to median ocellus from inter antennal carina,

antennae, big spot on temple, medially interrupted on pronotal

disc, tegula, scutum and scutellum, all legs except at bases of

coxae, spot above and below scrobal sulcus, lateral area of

propodeum, propodeal enclosure, entire second and third

abdominal segments and basal platform of abdominal

sternum; the following black: vertex, scutellum, first

abdominal segment, fourth and fifth abdominal terga except

basally and medially. Pygidial plate brown.

Median apical region of clypeus slightly arched, shallow

longitudinal depression at middle from base to apex; clypeal

brush well developed laterally. Antennae slender with sharply

pointed last flagellar segment.

Punctures on thorax as in female, scrobal sulcus well

developed, wings transparent unlike in female, apophyseal

pit at middle of metastemum, carina at inner margin of hind

coxa. Propodeal enclosure well raised with fine punctures.

Genitalia: Gonostyli 1 .52 mm long; outer four-fifth of

the gonostyli from base to apex slightly curved, basal one

fifth of gonostyli broad and rounded, middle portion relatively

slender but widening before finally tapering towards apex,

outer distal one third of the gonostyli provided with long and

curved sensory hairs; aedeagus 0.7 lx as long as gonostyli,

aedeagal arms highly divergent at base, but converging later

and ends in a pair of inflated structures; volsella 0.55x as

long as gonostyli, its outer margin depressed near middle and

inner margin emarginated near apex.

Distribution: india: Bihar: Benhar, Chapra.

Materials Examined: Bihar; Chapra, ?, Coll.

Mackenzie; Chapra, 8 d1 d* , H/4710, H/4769, H/4836, Coll.

Mackenzie; Bihar; Benhar, d\ 27.vii.1919, Coll. H. Inglis.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The senior author acknowledges the Junior Research

Fellowship received from ICAR during the course of his

studies.

REFERENCES

Fabricius, J.C. (1775): Systema Entomologiae. Kortii. Flensburgi et

Lipsiae. XXVIII + 832 .

Fabricius, J.C. (1790): Nova Insectorum Genera. Skrivter Naturhist-

Selskabet Copenhagen. 7: 213-228.

Fabricius, J.C. (1793): Entomologia systematica emendata et aucta,

etc. C.G. Profit, Hafniae. 2, pp. viii +519.

Kohl, F.F. (1896): Die Gattungen der Sphegiden. Ann. Naturhist

Hofmus. Wien, 77: 233-516.

Latreille, P.A. (1802): Histoire naturelle, generale et particuliere des

crustaces et des insects. F. Dufart, Paris. 3. pp. xii + 13 + 467.

Linnaeus, C.V. (1758): Systema Naturae Tenth edition. Tomus (Laurentii Salvii,

Holmiae). 1: 823.

342

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

343-382

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

1. FIRST RECORD OF LESSER FALSE VAMPIRE MEGADERMA SPASMA (LINNAEUS, 1758)

IN MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA1

K.R. Senacha2

'Accepted July 30, 2007

:Bombay Natural History Society, Hombill House, Shaheed Bliagat Singh Road. Mumbai 400 001, Maharashtra, India.

Email: [email protected]

The Indian False Vampire Megaderma spasma is a

carnivorous bat occurring in the Indian subcontinent and in

Southeast Asia. In India, it has been reported from the states

of Assam, Mizoram and West Bengal in the east, and

Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the

south, as well as the Andaman Islands (Fig. 1). Though

specimens of M. spasma have been collected from Andhra

Pradesh state, site specific information remains scanty (Bates

and Harrison 1997). However, there is no existing record of

its occurrence from central, western and northern parts of

the country. Recently I saw this species for the first time in

Madhya Pradesh state, central India (Fig. 1 ).

It was in the late afternoon of February 27, 2005, when

I, along with my colleague Mr. Anant Khot, explored bat

roosts along the southern bank of River Narmada near Bheda

Ghat, a tourist hotspot about 1 5 km west of Jabalpur in

Madhya Pradesh. The Lamheti village is situated 2 km east

of Bheda Ghat on the southern bank of the Narmada, and is

surrounded by lush green vegetation. On the eastern

periphery of this village is situated a temple of Lord Shiva

(23° 06' 11.79" N; 79° 50' 45.28" E, at 396 m above msl),

and a dilapidated building in its premises served as a mixed

roost for two microchiropteran, the Greater False Vampire

Megaderma lyra and the Lesser False Vampire Megaderma

spasma. We approached this roosting site at 1630 hrs

along with two local children and found a mixed colony of

bats roosting on the ceiling in a partially dark portion of

this building. The group consisted of around 80 individuals,

but the proportion of each species could not be assessed.

A few individuals hung separately while others roosted close

to each other forming a cluster at the centre of the ceiling.

They were disturbed by our entry, and the bats moved out

one by one to an adjoining building, but 1 could catch

three of them in a hoop net. All three individuals were studied

for morphological measurements (Table 1 ) and studied

closely for key characteristics and released back. Our

investigations showed that one of these individuals was a

Megaderma lyra , whereas the other two were Megaderma

spasma.

Though Megaderma lyra is distributed widely all across

India, M. spasma was previously understood to be restricted

to the southern and eastern parts of the country (Fig. 1 ). The

current finding represents the first record of M. spasma from

the state of Madhya Pradesh. It significantly extends the

distribution range of this species from west to central India,

371 km from the nearest site, Chanda in Maharashtra from

where it has been reported earlier (Bates and Harrison 1997).

Although Wroughton (1913) did find the two species together

Fig. 1: Distribution status of Lesser False Vampire Megaderma spasma in India with old and newly recorded roosting sites

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Table 1: Morphometric measurements (in millimetres) of

Megaderma lyra and Megaderma spasma specimens caught from

the temple roost in Lamheti village in Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh

inside a temple in Karnataka, the co-existence of M. lyra and

M. spasma has been rarely seen in India.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I extend my sincere thanks to my colleague Mr. Anant

Khot of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)

for assisting me in field work and Mr. Mayank and Mr. Rahul

of Lamheti village for guiding me to the above-mentioned

bat roost. I am also grateful to Dr. Asad R. Rahmani, Director,

BNHS, for his academic support to carry out this work.

REFERENCES

Bates, P.J.J. & D.L. Harrison ( 1997): Bats of the Indian Subcontinent. Harrison Zoological Museum, Kent, England. Pp. 51-55.

Wroughton, R.C. (1913): Report No. 6: Kanara (29-44). Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

22(1): 29-66.

2. SECOND RECORD OF ALBINO FIVESTRIPED PALM SQUIRREL

FUNAMBULUS PENN ANTI WROUGHTON FROM UDAIPUR, RAJASTHAN1

Satya Prakash Mehra2, Jitendra Singh Kharwar3 and Narayan Singh Kharwar3’4

'Accepted September 09, 2006

2Kesar Bhawan, 16/747, Plot No. 90. B/D Saraswati Hosp., Ganeshnagar, Pahada, Udaipur 313 001, Rajasthan, India.

Email: [email protected]

374, Navratan Complex, Bedla Road, Fatehpura, Udaipur 313 001, Rajasthan, India.

4Email: [email protected]. in

The Fivestriped Palm Squirrel Funambulus pennanti

has distinct five pale strips on its grayish-brown or olive-

brown body (Menon 2003; Prater 2005). A number of local

races are recognized on the basis of differences in the lightness

or darkness of the coat, or variations in the tones of the dorsal

strips (Prater 2005). Unlike the characters mentioned in the

guide books, we sighted a solitary, white Fivestriped Palm

Squirrel in the residential area of north Udaipur (Rajasthan)

from mid-July 2005. On close observation of the animal, we

found that the Squirrel was albino with only a small brownish

patch in the middle of the dorsal side of the body (Eds:

photographic evidence provided); the eyes were red. This is

the second case of albinism in the Fivestriped Palm Squirrel

from Rajasthan. Although, the first record of albino

Fivestriped from Rajasthan was by Sharma (2004); albinism

in the Fivestriped Squirrel has been reported only thrice in

India (Mahabal el al. 2005).

According to Mahabal et al. (2005), albinism is said to

Chaturvedi, Y. & A.K. Ghosh (1984): A case of albinism in the

Fivestriped Palm Squirrel, Funambulus pennanti Wroughton. Bull.

Zool. Surv. India 6(1-3): 321-322.

Mahabal, A., R.M. Sharma & M.S. Pradhan (2005): A case of total

albinism in the Fivestriped Palm Squirrel Funambulus pennanti

Wroughton in Smdhudurg District, Maharashtra State. J. Bombay

be rare in rodents. This is also evident from the earlier works

(Rajgopalan 1967;Pradhan 1975; Chaturvedi and Ghosh 1984).

The reported albino squirrel was sighted throughout a

cloudy day but its movement was restricted to morning and

evening hours on sunny days. This albino individual lived in

a house under construction

The solitary individual was very alert. As soon as we

approached, it would escape. A distance of more than 6 m

was maintained while taking observations and photographing.

How long it may be sighted after the house is occupied cannot

be predicted.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Dr. Satish Kumar Sharma and

Dr. Pratap Singh for valuable discussions. Also, we

are grateful to Mr. Praveen Sharma and Mr. Shambhu

Sharma for technical assistance in photography and videography.

NCES

Nat. Hist. Soc. 102(1): 98-99.

Menon, V. (2003): A Field Guide to Indian Mammals. Penguin Book

India (P) Ltd and Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Limited, Delhi.

Pp. 128.

Pradhan, M.S. ( 1975): Studies on Bombay Rats. Ph.D. Thesis, Bombay

University, Bombay. Pp. 335

344

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Prater, S.H. (2005): The Book of Indian Animals. 12lh Reprint. Oxford

University Press and Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai.

Pp. 200-201.

Sharma, S.K. (2004): Occurrence of Albino Common Palm Civet and

Northern Palm Squirrel in Southern Rajasthan. Zoos' Print Journal

19(5)\ 1483.

Rajgopalan, P.K. ( 1967): Acase of albinism in Rattus blanfordi (Thomas)

1881, (Rodentia: Muridae). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 64(3): 554.

3. OCCURRENCE OF ASIATIC BRUSHTAILED PORCUPINE ATHERURUS MACROURUS

(LINN. 1758) AT MIZORAM, INDIA1

Naresh Chaturvedi2, M. Sawmliana3 and Vinod Patil2’4

'Accepted March 29, 2006

^Bombay Natural History Society, Hombill House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, Mumbai 400 001, Maharashtra, India.

3Chanmari (West), Aizawl, Mizoram 796 007, India.

4Email: [email protected]

The Asiatic Brushtailed Porcupine Atherurus

macrourus is known to exist in Assam, India. Ellerman and

Morrison-Scott (1951) had recorded its distribution as Assam

(India), Tenasserim (Myanmar), China, Indo-China, Thailand

and Malaysia.

According to Choudhary ( 1 997 ) Atherurus macrourus

assamensis , a subspecies of the Asiatic Brushtailed Porcupine

is found in India. This is also endorsed by Molur etal. (1998).

In the checklist of Indian mammals, Nameer (2000) has also

mentioned Assam as its known distribution limit. Thomas

(1921) had described the specimen of Asiatic Brushtailed

Porcupine collected from Assam by Wells, during the

Mammal Survey of India. In his report, “Scientific results

from the Mammal Survey”, he had described it as a new

species Atherurus assamensis. But subsequently, it was given

the status of subspecies assamensis. Currently, the subspecies

assamensis is also considered as a synonym of Atherurus

Blanford, W.T. (1891): The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon

and Burma, Mammalia. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court Fleet

Street, London. 617 pp.

Choudhary, Anwaruddin (1997): Checklist of the Mammals of Assam.

Revised Edition (1997), Gibbons Books with Assam Science

Technology & Environment Council, 1997, 103 pp.

Ellerman, J.R. & T.C.S. Morrison-Scott (1951): Checklist of

Palaearctic and Indian Mammals, 1758-1946. British Museum

ofNatural History, London, 810 pp.

Molur S., P.O. Nameer & S. Walker (Eds) (1998): Report of the

macrourus (Wilson and Reeder 1993). Untill now, the known

distribution of the species was only Assam. Recently, one of

us (M. Swamliana) sent a photograph of an animal taken at

Hmuifang, Aizawl, Mizoram for identification to the BNHS;

where it was identified as Atherurus macrourus. The

occurrence of A macrourus in the Aizawl district of Mizoram

state is a new distribution record for the species which was

so far known only from Assam. Interestingly, Mizoram and

Myanmar share a common boundary.

The Bombay Natural History Society’s collections has

a male specimen (Reg. No. 8997) of this species collected at

Tenasserim, Myanmar on 20.xii. 1913.

According to Blanford (1891), this species was

restricted to the east of Bay of Bengal. He further states,

“the genus must have existed in the Indian Peninsula, for its

teeth have been found in the Pleistocene cave-deposits of

Kurnool”.

Workshop “Conservation Assessment and Management Plan for

Mammals of India”, Zoo Outreach Organisation, Conservation

Breeding Specialist Group, Coimbatore, India. 176 pp.

Nameer, P.O. (2000): Checklist of Indian Mammals. Kerala Forest

Department. 90+xxv pp.

Thomas, O. (1921): Scientific results from Mammal Survey XXV.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3): 596-598.

Wilson, D.E. & D.M. Reeder (1993): Mammal Species of the World: A

Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 2nd edn., Smithsonian

Institution Press, Washington, 1206 pp.

4. PREDATION ON CHITAL AXIS AXIS BY WILD PIG SUS SCROFA IN BANDHAVGARH NATIONAL PARK1

Satyaranjan Behera2’3 and Rajendra Prasad Gupta2,4

'Accepted October 23, 2007

2Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, P.O. Box 18, Dehradun 248 001, Uttarakhand, India.

3Email: [email protected]

4Email: [email protected]

On April 12, 2006, while we were at Bandhavgarh group of six to seven Chital Axis axis grazing near a

National Park to estimate Tiger population, we observed a water hole at around 1 700 hrs. A group of 12-13 Wild Pigs

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

345

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Sus scrofa came near the same water hole. The sounder

consisted of various age groups adult females, males and

young ones. As the Pigs approached the Chital, one of

the adult female Pig suddenly charged and caught an adult

female Chital by her hind quarters. Two other adult Pigs

joined in the attack and started eating the Chital that

died after 15 minutes of the attack. The remaining Chital

group gave warning calls, stood at some distance and

watched.

Wild Pigs are omnivorous and are known to scavenge

on kills made by large carnivores (Prater 1971: the book of

Indian animals, BNHS). They are likely to predate on young

and helpless prey as well, but attacks on adult healthy large

prey are rare. This observation shows that Wild Pigs are

capable of bringing down large prey and can cooperate to

improve hunting success.

5. COMMENTS ON - DEBARKING OF TEAK TECTONA GRANDIS LINN. F. BY GAUR BOS GAURUS

H. SMITH DURING SUMMER IN A TROPICAL DRY DECIDUOUS HABITAT OF CENTRAL INDIA

BY PASHA, M. K. S„ G. ARINDRAN, K.P. SANKARAN, & Q. QURESHI, 2002: JBNHS 99(2): 238-244'

Hilaluddin-

' Accepted January 06, 2004

229-D/3-B. Ward No. 01, Neela Hauz Road. Mehrauli, New Delhi 110 030 Email: [email protected]

This article is based on an extensive research study done

by the authors in Pench Tiger Reserve. The article, however,

contains significant number of errors, which fall into three

main categories.

Potentially misleading computations

The authors have used incorrect formulas to calculate

areas of bark and debarked sampled teak trees (see p. 239).

I fail to understand the author’s logic of multiplying the area

of a rectangle and/or square by a constant 71 to compute surface

area of debarked portion. The calculations based on these

formulas, obviously, have yielded bark and debarked areas

3.14 times than the actual areas. Thus, it is likely that proportions

available to debark and utilized for debarking might give rise

to spurious differences in GBH (girth at breast height) categories

for preference and avoidance by Gaur (see Table 2).

Consequently, it is possible that majority of preference ratings

given in this table might be changed so as value of chi-square

goodness of fit test (X2) given in the text (see p. 241). Further,

the surface area of a cylinder is 2 7T x radius x height (where 7t

= 3.14). Since radius of a cylinder is equal to its circumference

upon 2 71 (Sharma and Trivedi 2002), therefore surface area

of cylinder would be circumference x height, and not 7t x

diameter x height as used in the analysis (see page 239).

The t values (debarked plots t6| = 365.41, p < 0.0001;

un-debarked plot t6| = 540.3, p < 0.0001) on p. 241 appear

to be very high. The t value at 61 degree of freedom should

be between 3.4 and 3.5, which is statistically significant at

0.001 level of significance. I hope that t values given at new

level of significance (p < 0.0001) in this article ought to be

printing errors and not an expansion of the table of statistics

by the authors.

The authors' present food habits of Gaur in Pench Tiger

Reserve (see Table 1 ) as % observations (see column 3). The

sum of values in this column works out to be 96.7% and not

100%.

Peer reviewing errors

Prima facie , the last line in the Introduction section

(see p. 238) is inappropriate in its current position. It should

have been in results as it projects field observations of

the authors. At the best, this line should have been struck off,

as it is re-mentioned in the discussion on p. 242. Further,

Table 1 shows three grass species, whereas, in the text (results)

the authors have claimed to record four grass species besides

other plant biomorphs as summer food plants of the Gaur.

It is not clear anywhere in the article up to what age the

authors have considered young Gaur as calves. Similarly, it

is not understood from the perusal of the article as to what

the authors mean by debarked and un-debarked plots (see

Table 3). By debarked plots, do they mean sample plots that

contained at least one tree debarked by Gaur? Also do

un-debarked plots mean plots devoid of any debarked tree?

Further, one fails to understand how the number of trees (93 1 )

in the available category (Table 2) exceeds actual sample size

(630). Also, units of area have been left open to the reader’s

choice.

Significant amount of text in the article is irrelevant.

For instance, “forest fire is known to affect the cambial tissue

of trees ... No mortality of debarked tree was noticed as a

result of low intensity forest fire” (see p. 242). How is such

discussion relevant in the context of the present study,

especially, when its basis does not find any place in the

methods and results sections?

346

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Doubtful results and discussion

This article claims that “among the plant parts eaten by

Gaur, teak bark was the most frequent i.e 14% (see p. 240).

It, however, is evident from the data in Table 1 that teak bark

was a supplementary for some and the main forage item by

Gaur in Pench comprised of other plant parts (86%),

specifically leaves (52.7%).

The authors suggest that teak bark was advantageous

to Gaur over other plant parts as it has high mineral content

(see Table 4, p. 242). However, no values for browsed parts

of other plant species have been presented to support the

argument. Further, they fail to enlighten the reader if mineral

and protein contents in the barks of other available tree

species were analysed, and whether they were found to

contain lesser protein and other minerals than their

corresponding values existed in teak bark. Further

investigations can confirm if there are other reasons for the

Gaur to consume teak bark.

The statement “it was easy for the gaur to strip the

bark in large quantity and to reach the phloem and cambium

layers that are rich in nutrients” (see p. 242) seems to be

illogical. It gives an impression that Gaur also removes

cortex, endodermis and phloem layers completely in order

to reach the hard cambium layers, which are found between

phloem and xylem tissues. For a layman who has some

knowledge of dicotyledon’s stem anatomy, bark is mainly

composed of dead phloem cells and remnants (if any) of the

peridermis.

6. A SIGHT RECORD OF MEW GULL LARUS CANUS IN GOA1

Paul Holt2

'Accepted February 22, 2005

2Bracken Dean, Pendleton, Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 1PT, U.K.

Email: [email protected]

The mouth of River Chapora at Morjim, Pernern, north

Goa ( 1 5° 37' N; 73° 44' E) is a regular haunt for large numbers

of gulls. Brown-headed Gulls Lams brunnicephalus usually

form the bulk of the birds present, with variable numbers of

up to six other species often being encountered.

As the leader of Sunbird Tours, 1 have visited Morjim

about 30 times. During one such visit, on December 14, 1996,

1 found a first-winter Mew Gull Lams canas among the

several thousand gulls that were roosting on the beach. The

bird was watched for about 20 minutes, at ranges down to

about 40 m by Paul Hyde, six other observers and me. We

used a variety of optical equipment between us. 1 used a pair

of 7 x 42 binoculars, and a telescope with magnification of

up to almost 60x. Since many of the other observers and I

lived in Britain, the Mew Gull was a species which we were

very familiar with, and the bird presented no identification

problems. Nevertheless, I recognized its local rarity, took

some notes and made a hurried field sketch. I had previously

seen one other Mew Gull in India, a second-winter bird with

other gulls on the Ganges, at Garhmuktesar, Uttar Pradesh

(28° 48' N; 78° 06' E) on March 05, 1 993. This latter sighting

has not been published other than as a brief report (Robson

1993).

Description

When perched, the bird appeared perhaps 5-10% larger

than most of the neighbouring Brown-headed Gulls and

noticeably bigger than all of the Black-headed Gulls Lams

ridibundus present, yet was significantly smaller and more

daintily proportioned than all the accompanying large gulls

(both Heuglin’s Gull Lams heuglini and Caspian Gull Lams

cachinnans). Beside a more neatly rounded head and slimmer

legs, the Mew Gull also had a proportionately shorter, neater

bill, with a much reduced gonys, when compared with these

larger birds.

The mantle, back, and most of the scapulars were a

uniform blue-grey colour and were obviously darker and bluer

in hue than the upperparts on all the small gulls present.

Several of the bird’s lower scapulars were still juvenile and

retained the scaly, brownish, pale fringed appearance typical

of that age.

The white forehead and loral area shaded into denser

streaking over the crown and ear-coverts extends down onto

the paler nape. There was a dark, almost blackish spot on the

lores immediately in front of the eye, while the streaking on

the lower hind neck swept around the front to form a weakly

defined breast band of larger chevron-shaped scaling. The

remainder of the bird’s underparts were whitish, although the

longer, lateral undertail coverts were also marked with

conspicuous, rear pointing, brownish chevrons. Rump,

uppertail coverts and most of the tail were also white, and

there was a neat, and rather narrow, dark brown terminal tail

band (the latter covered approximately one quarter of the tail’s

total length).

The folded wings were essentially brown, but on closer

inspection, all of the smaller coverts were intricately

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

347

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

patterned, each with a darker brown shaft and pale fringe.

There was a noticeably paler greater covert panel, the tertials

were contrastingly dark brown and neatly fringed with white,

this fringe being broadest around the tips of these feathers.

The folded primaries were even darker brown than the tertials

and appeared similar in shade to the tail band.

The legs were dull pink, as was the bill base. The distal

third of the bill was neatly tipped black, and the eyes were dark.

The bird appeared indistinguishable from the nominate

western Lams canus canus, which we see abundantly in

Britain, but on range is most likely to have been the very

similar Lams canus heinei. These two subspecies are not

safely distinguishable in the field.

Status

This is perhaps only the fourth of the five sightings in

India, and is currently probably the southernmost anywhere

in Asia. Kazmierczak and van Perlo (2000) map four records

for India, while Grimmett et al. ( 1 998) map the three earliest

sightings, and there is an additional, more recent record. In

date order these are:-

Afirst-winter visitor on the River Yamuna at Okhla, Delhi

(28° 34' N; 77° 17' E) on January 19, 1992 (Alstrom 1994).

Alstrom, P. (1994): Common Gull Lams canus Linnaeus recorded in

India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 90: 509-510.

Grimmett, R., C. Inskipp & T. Inskipp (1998): Birds of the Indian

Subcontinent. Christopher Helm, London. Pp. 504.

Inskipp, C. & T. Inskipp (1985): A Guide to the Birds of Nepal. 2nd edn.

Christopher Helm, London. Pp. 1 58.

Kazmierczak, K. & B. van Perlo (2000): A Field Guide to the Birds of

A second-winter on the Ganges at Garhmuktesar, Uttar

Pradesh (28° 48' N; 78° 06' E) on March 05, 1993 (Robson

1993).

A first-winter visitor seen by Per Underland at the

Harike Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, Punjab (31° 10' N; 74° 57' E)

on January 9-15, 1994 (Robson 1994).

The River Chapora at Morjim, Pemem, Goa (15° 37' N;

73° 44' E) on December 14, 1996.

An adult at Pong Wetland, Kangra district, Himachal

Pradesh (32° 05' N; 76° 00' E) on February 06, 2004 (Jan

Willem den Besten in lift. December 2004 Unpublished data).

Elsewhere in the region, the species is considered to be

a vagrant to Nepal, where Inskipp and Inskipp (1985) list three

records, all in January-February between 1979 and 1983. The

Mew Gull is rare in Pakistan, where Roberts (1991 ) noted five

records, involving six birds, including a probably exceptionally

sighting as late in the season as April 04, 1984.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Krys Kazmierczak for helping with the

references and proof reading this short note and Jan Willem

den Besten for providing information on his sighting.

the Indian Subcontinent. Pica Press, Sussex. Pp. 130.

Olsen, K.M. & H. Larsson (2003): Gulls of Europe, Asia and North

America. Helm, London. Pp. 65-92.

Roberts, T.J. ( 1991 ): The Birds of Pakistan, Vol. 1 Non-passeriformes.

Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 375-376.

Robson, C. (1993): From the Field. Oriental Bird Club Bull. 17: 51 .

Robson, C. (1994): From the Field: Oriental Bird Club Bull. 20: 57.

7. WINTERING RANGE EXTENSION OF WHITE-THROATED BUSHCHAT

SAXICOLA INSIGNIS GRAY IN INDIA1

Kulojyoti Lahkar2 and Mridu Paban Phukan3

'Accepted January 27, 2006

2JETABAN, Arya Nagar, P.O. Gopinath Nagar, Guwahati 781 016, Assam, India. Email: [email protected]

'Milan Nagar, Naharkatia 786 610, Dibrugarh district, Assam, India. Email: [email protected]

The wintering range of the globally Vulnerable White-

throated Bushchat Sax i col a insignis Gray in India was known

to be from Haryana to Jalpaiguri, north West Bengal ( Ali and

Ripley 1987) before two records in Assam extended its

wintering range further east to Manas National Park (26°

40'-50' N; 90° 50'-91° 25' E) (Narayan and Rosalind 1997),

and later to Kaziranga National Park (26° 30'- 45' N; 93° 5'-

40' E) (Sarma et al. 1997). Recent observation of this bird in

eastern Assam has further extended its wintering eastern range

to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (27° 35'-50' N; 95° 10-

40' E) and Merbil (27° 19'N;95° 18' E) near Naharkatia. The

White-throated Bushchat has also been observed in other areas

of Assam other than these two places.

In the afternoon of January 25, 2004, a male was

observed in Merbil near Naharkatia, foraging on an Alpinia

allughas grove and calling “ tsek ... tsek ... tsek’'. The bird

was observed at about 4 m height from the water level.

A female bird was observed on the northern edge of

Deepar Beel Bird Sanctuary (26° 05' N; 91° 40' E) on February

02, 2003 by the first author. It was foraging among short

348

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

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Fig. 1 : Past and present wintering sites of White-throated Bushchat

grasses and ground close to the water. Later, on January 01,

2004, one male was observed in the same area. Again on

January 01, 2005, one female was observed on an Ipomoea

aquatica grove in the northern edge of the Sanctuary close to

the Satmile.

On another occasion, a male was seen by the first author

on February 10, 2004 near the Jia Dhal river (27° 25' N; 94°

30' E) close to National Highway 31 and 10 km west of

Dhemaji town. The bird was perched on Vetiveria zizanioides

grass. There were other short grasses and small scrubs in the

area.

In Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, a lone male was

observed foraging on April 04, 1997 at Kolomi grassland near

Kolomi camp (27° 37’ N; 95° 21' E). Then on March 01, 1999

two males were observed at Kundaghat area and a lone male

was observed near Kolomi (27° 38' N; 95° 20' E) on April 15,

2000. The habitat of the area was Salix Salix tetrasperma

swamp forest mixed with grassland. Later, on December 19

and 20, 2004 a female was observed at Toralimukh (27° 38' N;

95° 20' E) at about 1030 hours. All observations in the Dibru-

Saikhowa National Park were made by the second author.

From these observations it is clear that the easternmost

winter range of the White-throated Bushchat in India extends

at least up to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (Kolomi

grassland 27° 37' N; 95° 21’ E) and Merbil (27° 19’ N;

95° 18' E) of Assam. Another important point is that a small

population of Saxicola insignis regularly visits both Deepar

Beel Bird Sanctuary and Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

However, there has been no recent report of this species in

Manas and Kaziranga national parks after the sightings of

Narayan and Rosalind (1997), and Sarma et al. (1997).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Dr. Asad R. Rahmani, Director, BNHS for

his comments on the manuscript. Dr. Anwaruddin Choudhury

for his comments on an earlier draft. Kulojyoti Lahkar thanks

Mrs. Indu Phukan and her family for hospitality at Naharkatia

and Devasish Thakur of Wildlife Conservation and Study

Centre for accompanying to Deepar beel.

REFERENCES

Ali, S. & S.D. Ripley (1987): Compact Handbook of the Birds of the

India and Pakistan. Oxford University Press, Mumbai, pp. 584-585.

Narayan, G. & L. Rosalind (1997): Wintering range and time extension

of Hodgson’s Bushchat Saxicola insignis Gray in India.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 94(3)\ 572-573.

Sarma, P., M. Barua & V. Menon (1997): Orangebilled Jungle Mynah

and Hodgson’s Bushchat in Kaziranga National Park. J. Bombay

Nat. Hist. Soc. 94(1): 156-157.

8. FOREST WAGTAIL DENDRONANTHUS INDICUS IN JAMNAGAR MEDICAL CAMPUS'

Maulik S. Varu2, Jalpan C. Rupapara3 and Purvesh K. Kacha4

'Accepted July 21, 2005

2c/o S.N.Varu, Junavas, Temple Street, Madhapar (Bhuj-Kutch) 370 020. Gujarat, India. Email: [email protected]

3c/o Chetan H. Rupapara, Behind Srinath Nagar, near Manas Nagar, Junagadh 362 002, Gujarat, India. Email: [email protected]

4c/o Kishorbhai P. Kacha, Saraf Bazar Main Road, Vanthali (Sorath), Junagadh 362 610, Gujarat, India. Email: [email protected]

On February 23, 2005, at 1430 hours, we sighted a

Forest Wagtail Dendronanthus indicus on a Neem tree in our

hostel campus. We photographed the bird (Eds: photographic

evidence provided) and observed it for the next three days at

the same place.

Dendronanthus indicus is mostly recorded in evergreen

and deciduous forests. In Gujarat, it is recorded in the Gir

and Dang forest (Dharmakumarsinhji 1954, 1963).

Himmatsinhji (1967, 1970) had seen this bird at Bhuj in his

garden on January 10, 1967 and again at Vijay vilas, Mandvi

on December 31,1 969. Khacher ( 1 989) had seen it at Jasdan

in his compound on November 19, 1967.

Our campus is in the middle of Jamnagar city, hence

this sighting is worth recording.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

349

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

REFERENCES

Himmatsinhji, M.K. (1967): Some interesting migrants in Kutch. /. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 65: 225.

Himmatsinhji, M.K. (1970): Grey-headed Myna in Kutch. ./. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 67: 332-333.

Dharmakumarsinhji, R.S. (1954): Birds of Saurashtra. Published by Dharmakumarsinhji, R.S. and Printed in Times of India, Bombay. Pp. 434.

Dharmakumarsinhji, R.S. (1963): Forest Wagtail in Gir Forest. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 60(1): 261.

Khacher, Satyajit (1989): Forest Wagtail at Jasdan, Gujarat. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 86: 453.

9. FURTHER RECORDS OF GREAT KNOT CALIDRIS TENU1ROSTRIS AND

RED KNOT CALIDRIS CANUTUS FROM THE NORTH-EAST COAST OF INDIA1

S. Balachandran2-3 and P. Sathiyaselvam2-4

'Accepted October 03, 2006

"Bombay Natural History Society, Hombill House, S.B. Singh Road, Mumbai 400 001, Maharashtra, India.

’Email: [email protected], [email protected]

4Email: sathiyaselvam 1 1 @rediffmail.com

In 2002-03, many interesting records of uncommon

waterbird species were obtained from Chilika Lake (19° 28'-

19° 54' N; 85°05'-85°38' E, Orissa, India) during our research

project entitled “Habitat evaluation of Chilika Lake with

special reference to birds as bio-indicators” involving

bird-banding technique as one of the objectives to assess the

population dynamics of waterbirds. On November 25, 2002,

one Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris was trapped from the

soggy land in Parikud area of the Lake. It was ringed, aged,

measured, weighed and examined for moult before release.

Interestingly, we recaptured the same bird exactly after

17 days from the same place. A few individuals were also

sighted in 2004-05 season. These records helped to plug the

gap in the status and distribution of this species in the Indian

wintering grounds, especially along the east coast. As per

the available records (Ali and Ripley 1983), the Great Knots

migrate from their breeding grounds in Siberia to the Indian

subcontinent during winter. This species is also recorded from

Assam, Kolkata, Chennai, Andaman and Lakshadweep

Islands (Ali and Ripley 1983). Until Balachandran (1997)

reported the Great Knot as a regular winter visitor to the

south-east coast of India, the status of this species was known

as a rare winter visitor to the east coast of India, with a few

stray records at Point Calimere (Ali and Hussain 1981 ) and

Pulicat Lake (Mohapatra and Rao 1993). Recently, this

species was found occurring regularly at Point Calimere as

was evident from the number of birds ringed during the bird

banding training programmes organized between 1999 and

2002 (Daniel and Balachandran 2002). A total of 250

individuals were sighted at Jumbodweep of Sunderbans

during a field visit by us in October 2004, and 20 individuals

were sighted from the same place during the first week of

January 2005 by the Spoonbilled Sandpiper Expedition Team

(Zockler et al. 2005). A flock of 54 birds were seen by this

team during the mid-winter Waterfowl Count-2005 carried

out at Bhitarkanika. These records of this species at Chilika,

Bhitarkanika and Sunderbans helped to establish this species

as a regular, uncommon winter visitor to the entire eastern

coast. Moreover, the record at Chilika Lake is the first record

for this species.

Similarly, three individuals of the Red Knot Calidris

canutus were caught at Nalabana Island on February 25,

2003. Recapture of one of the individuals after 16 days in

the same area is interesting and worth mentioning. A total of

twenty three and a single Red Knot were recorded during

October 2004 and January 2005 respectively from

Jumbodweep of Sunderbans. For the Red Knot, Balachandran

(1990) and Rao and Mohapatra (1993) have revised the ‘rare

vagrant’ status assigned by Ali and Ripley (1983) and Cramp

and Simmons (1983) to a regular uncommon winter visitor

to the south-east coast. Further extension of the wintering

range up to Sunderbans was established through the ringing

of Red Knots at Chilika and sighting at Sunderbans (Zockler

et al. 2005).

The measurements of Red Knots ringed at Chilika

tallied with that of the measurements obtained for the

subspecies rogersi reported by Balachandran (1998) in the

south-east coast wintering ground of India. Though the

sample size is small, it is helpful to predict that the subspecies

found in the entire east coast may belong to rogersi , which

breeds in east Siberia and winters in Australia.

ACKNOWI.EDGEMENTS

We are grateful to Mr. J.C. Daniel, Honorary Secretary,

BNHS for going through this manuscript. We would like to

express our sincere thanks to the Chilika Development

Authority, Govt, of Orissa, for funding this project, and Chief

Wildlife Warden of Orissa for granting necessary permission

to the study. We are also thankful to the International

Spoonbilled Sandpiper Expedition Team, and especially to

the team leader Dr. Christoph Zockler.

350

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

REFERENCES

All S. & S.A. Hussain ( 1981 ): Studies on the movement and population

structure of Indian avifauna. Annual Report 1 . Bombay Natural

History Society, Bombay. Pp. 98.

Ali, S. & S.D. Ripley (1983): Handbook of the Birds of India and

Pakistan. Compact edition, Oxford Univ. Press, New Delhi.

Pp. 168-169.

Balachandran, S. (1990): Studies on the coastal birds of Mandapam

and the neighbouring islands (Peninsular India). Ph.D. Thesis,

Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, India. Pp. 138-143.

Balachandran, S. (1997): Population, Status, Moult and Measurements

of Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris wintering in south India. The

Stilt 30: 3-6.

Balachandran, S. (1998): Population, Status, Moult, Measurements

and subspecies of Knot Calidris canutus wintering in south India.

Wader Study Group Bull. 86: 44-47.

Cramp, S. & K.E.L. Simmons (Eds.) (1983): The Birds of the Western

Palaearctic. Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. New Delhi.

Pp. 268-282.

Daniel, J.C. & S. Balachandran (2002): Bird Banders Training

Programmes. Final Report Bombay Natural History Society,

Bombay. Pp. 27.

Mohapatra, K.K. & P. Rao (1993): Some waders records from coastal

Andhra Pradesh. ./. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 89: 250-251.

Rao, P. & K.K. Mohapatra ( 1993): Occurrence of the Knot (Calidris

canutus ) from Andhra Pradesh. ./. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 90:

509.

Zockler, C„ S. Balachandran, GC. Bunting, M. Fanck, M. Kashiwagi,

E.G. Lappo, G. Maheswaran, A. Sharma, E.E. Syroechkovski &

K. Webb (2005): The Indian Sunderbans: an important wintering

site for Siberian waders. Wader Study Group Bull. 108: 42-46.

10. UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE OF FULVOUS WHISTLING-DUCK

DENDROCYGNA BICOLOR (VIEILLOT 1816) AT CHILIKA LAKE1

P. Sathiyaselvam2

'Accepted October 03, 2006

2Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, S.B. Singh Road, Mumbai 400 001, Maharashtra, India.

Email: sathiyaselvam 1 1 @rediffmail.com

We were in the northern sector of the Chilika Lake in a

motor boat from Kaluparaghat to Tinimuhani (Confluence

point of three tributaries of the River Mahanathi, namely

Daya, Bhargavi and Nuna), around 1130 hrs, when we saw a

large congregation of birds in the open water. From a distance

they looked like Gadwall Anas strepera. But, when we

reached closer, we found that they were darker than the

Gadwall and the twittering sound was diagnostic. They were

brownish black and had a rusty- whitish collar around the

foreneck like in the Fulvous Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna

bicolor ; I could confirm the identity from the white band

formed by the upper tail coverts in flight. Meanwhile, our

boatman moved the boat closer to the flock. This congregation

consisted of c. 7,250 Fulvous Whistling-Duck. The unique

composition without any other species was amazing to watch.

I marked the exact geographical location of the area with the

help of Global Positioning System (GPS) as 19.83° N;

85.47° E. Without disturbing the flock, we moved around the

congregation and determined the water depth in three places.

The depth varied between 30 and 40 cm. Further south-east

we observed two more flocks of c. 1 ,500 and 4,600 individuals

each at 19.83° N; 85.47° E and 19.83° N; 85.48° E respectively.

These, however were mixed flocks; the other duck species in

the flock were, Gadwall Anas strepera , Northern Pintail Anas

acuta , Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata, and Tufted Duck

Aythya fuligula .

Ali and Ripley (1983) mention the Fulvous Whistling-

Duck as a resident and nomadic species which breeds in

Bengal, usually less common than the Lesser Whistling-Duck

Dendrocygna javanica , and occurs in smaller flocks. But the

sighting of 7,250 birds in a single flock similar to other

dabbling and diving ducks is a rare phenomenon for this

species. However, such a congregation of the Fulvous

Whistling-duck was never observed thereafter. Altogether the

total number observed (14,490) was over 70% of its

geographical population as per the estimates given by the

Wetlands International (2002).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to Dr. S. Balachandran, Assistant Director,

Bombay Natural History Society and the Principal

Investigator of the project (Habitat evaluation of Chilika Lake

with special reference to birds as bio-indicators) for his

guidance and comments on this manuscript. I thank

Mr. J.C. Daniel, Honorary Secretary for his comments on

this manuscript. I am also thankful to the Chilika

Development Authority, Govt, of Orissa, for funding this

Project, and Chief Wildlife Warden of Orissa for granting

necessary permission to the study. I greatly appreciate the

hard work rendered by our field assistants Mr. P. Guruswamy

and Mr. Niranjan Dalei.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

351

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

REFERENCES

Au, S. & S.D. Ripley (1983): Handbook of the Birds of India and Wetlands International (2002): Waterbird Population Estimates. Third

Pakistan. Compact edition, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Edition. Wetlands International Global Series No. 12,

pp. 139-141. Wageningen, The Netherlands. Pp. 68.

1 1 . COMMENTS ON THE REVIEW BY ASAD RAHMANI, ON

•HANDBOOK ON INDIAN WETLAND BIRDS AND THEIR CONSERVATION’1

C. Radhakrishnan2

'Accepted August 08, 2006

"Western Ghats Field Research Station, Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode 673 002, Kerala, India.

Email : zsicalicut @ sancharnet.in

While reviewing the ‘handbook on Indian wetland

birds and their conservation’ by Kumar et al. (2005),

published by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), the

reviewer commented, “unfortunately the ZSI is also

famous for bringing out boring tomes, full of jargon and

technical descriptions of new species which interest only

the subject experts. This is now changing, thanks to the book

brought out by Dr. Arun Kumar and his team” (Rahmani

2005).

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s

dictionary, the word ‘tome’ means a large heavy book,

especially scholarly or serious one. A scholarly or serious

book becomes boring only to the illiterate ignorant. Obviously,

it is to the interest of subject experts only.

As rightly pointed out by the reviewer, the mandate of

ZSI is to document the animal diversity of the country. In the

Convention on Biodiversity of 1992, and later in several new

global agreements, the message of conservation and

sustainable use of biodiversity has been on the prime agenda.

The sole reference system for biodiversity interpretation is

catered by the science of Taxonomy (Narendran 2006). Faunal

documentation, including describing new species, as practiced

by ZSI has to follow the principles of taxonomy using the

technical or specialized words particular to that branch of

science. Every branch of science uses its own recognized

terminologies, however difficult it may be for others to

understand.

If the taxonomic descriptions are boring to the reviewer,

being the Executive Editor of the Journal of the Bombay

Natural History Society , why the reviewer provides a section

called New Descriptions in his Journal that uses only the

taxonomic jargon? Obviously, it is to the interest of subject

experts only.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is grateful to the Director, Zoological Survey

of India, Kolkata, for facilities and encouragement.

REFERENCES

Kumar, A., J.P. Sati, PC. Tak & J.R.B. Alfred (2005): Handbook of

Indian Wetland Birds and their Conservation. Director,

Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. pp. i-xxvi, 1-468.

Narendran, T.C. (2006): An introduction to Taxonomy. Director,

Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. pp. 1-80.

Rahmani Asad R. (2005): A Handbook on Indian Wetlands Birds

and their Conservation. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 102(2):

214-215.

12. FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS OF THE GREEN TURTLE CHELONIA MYDAS

IN RELATION TO MARINE PLANTS IN THE GULF OF MANNAR BIOSPHERE RESERVE, INDIA1

P. Kannan2and M. Rajagopalan3

'Accepted November 17, 2005

"Regional Centre of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR), Mandapam Camp 623 520, Tamil Nadu, India.

Present Address: Chennai Snake Park, Raj Bhavan (Post) 600 022, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: [email protected]

"Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, ICAR, Kochi, 682 018, Kerala, India. Email: [email protected]

Introduction

Green turtles are the most abundant sea turtles in the

Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay (Deraniyagala 1939; Kuriyan

1950; Carr 1953; Jones and Fernando 1968; Agastheesapillai

and Thiagarajan 1979; Bhupathy and Saravanan 2001 ), they

are primarily herbivores, feeding on a variety of marine algae

352

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

and sea grasses in selected grazing areas (Russel and Balazs

2000). Young Green Turtles are believed to occupy open ocean

pelagic habitats, perhaps in association with sargassum rafts

in some areas, after leaving the nesting beach (Walker 1994).

They are omnivorous with a strong tendency to carnivore

during this life stage (Bjorndal 1985). Green Turtles leave

pelagic habitats and enter benthic foraging areas at a size of

20 to 25 cm carapace length, at this time they shift to

herbivorous diet (Bjorndal and Bolten 1988; Limpus et al.

1994). Studies are available on the diet of Green Turtles in

Oman (Diez and Dam 1992). In Australia, feeding of Green

Turtles was discussed by Limpus et al. (1994). Records of

the diet of Green Turtles are available from a number of

locations in the Pacific (Kurata etal. 1978). In the Caribbean,

the sea grass is the primary diet species for the Green Turtle

(Bjorndal 1982). About 271 genera and 1,153 species of

marine algae belonging to four groups of algae namely

Chlorophyceae, Rhodophyceae, Phaeophyceae and

Cyanophyceae have been recorded so far from Indian waters.

The standing crops of sea weeds from intertidal and shallow

waters of all maritime states and Lakshadweep was estimated

as 91,339 tonnes wet weight (Kaliaperumal and Kalimuthu

1 997 ).This note provides information on the diet of Green

Turtles as well as the present status of marine plants in the

Gulf of Mannar area.

Study Area

The Gulf of Mannar extended from Cape Comorin

(8° 4' 40" N; 77° 33' 4" E) to Dhanushkodi (9° 9' 9" N; 79° 261

46" E) and has about 250 km of coastline. Extensive coral

reefs and patch reefs rise from shallow areas of the seashore.

Fringing reefs are located mostly at a distance of 50-100 m,

from the Islands and are narrow. The Gulf of Mannar Marine

Biosphere Reserve is India’s first Marine National Park. The

luxuriant growth of several species of green, brown and red

algae occur in the Gulf of Mannar. There are 147 species of

seaweeds and 52 species of sea grass recorded in this area.

The area between Rameswaram and Kanyakumari provides

75,372 tonnes (wet wt) of seaweeds in an area of 1,863 sq.

km (Kaliaperumal and Kalimuthu 1997).

Samples were collected from the incidentally caught

Green Turtles during fishing operations. These turtles had

died due to incidental catch, forced submergence in fishing

nets, being hit by boats and simultaneously washed ashore.

Their carcasses were salvaged for research purpose.

Observations on stomach contents were made during April

and May 2004 near CMFRI Jetty and Dhanushkodi along the

Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve. The stomach contents of

six Green Turtles (2 male, 3 females, and 1 subadult) were

collected. The morphometric measurements such as curved

Fig. 1: Volumes of marine plants recorded in the stomach of

green turtle Chelonia mydas at Gulf of Mannar

carapace length and width, and plastron length and width were

also collected, as suggested by Bolten ( 1999).

Partially digested seaweeds and sea grasses were

noticed in the digestive tract and gut of six individuals of

green turtles. Algae are characterized according to their

general colours: 27% of red algae (Rhodophyta), 30% green

algae (Chlorophyta), 16% brown algae (Phaeophyta) and

27% sea grasses. A qualitative list of the component present

in the diet sample was prepared. The mean weight of the food

items of the six turtles was as follows, Gelidiella acerosa

200 gm, Hypnea valentiae 37 gm, Solieria robusta 60 gm,

Sargassum spp. 38 gm, Pocockiella variegata 66 gm, Dictyota

dichotoma 100 gm, Halimeda macroloba 112 gm, Caulerpa

fergusonii 58 gm, Ulva reticulata 29 gm and sea grasses, such

as Halophila ovalis 192 gm, Thalassia hemprichii 205 gm

and Cymodocea serrulata 89 gm. The curved carapace length

of Green Turtle ranged from 50-104 cm and weight from

20-65 kg.

Discussion

By knowing the food and feeding of green turtle, one

can understand the feeding ecology and physiology of the

turtle. Data obtained from such studies can provide insight in

to questions relating to habitat utilization, digestive

physiology, estimation of diet contaminations, trophic

ecology, endoparasitic load and health of the individuals

(Forbes and Limpus 1993). Differences in diet either in quality or

quantity is believed to cause the difference in mean growth rates of

Green Turtles from different foraging areas (Balazs 1983).

An herbivorous diet has important consequences for life

history parameters and survival outlook of Green Turtles and

it has major effects on the nutrient cycling and community

structure in their foraging habitats (Bjorndal 1985). Russell

and Balazs (2000) reported that the Green Turtles feed mostly

on marine algae in selected grazing grounds. Stomach samples

taken from Hawaiian green turtles had 275 species of green

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

353

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

algae, brown algae, red algae, blue green algae and sea grasses

(Russell and Balazs 2000). Studies made by Balazs (1985),

Balazs et al. (1987), Russell and Balazs (1994) provided

information on list of seaweed species found in the stomach

of Green Turtles. Based on the study of Forbes and Limpus

(1993), the diet of 518 green turtles feeding on the reef

surrounding Heron Island, Australia, was composed of 38

species of red algae, 21 species of green algae and 10 species

of brown algae. The digestive tract of seven Green Turtles

captured off the coast of Colima and Jalisco, Mexico contained

green and red algae (Fritts 1981).

Studies by Agastheesapillai and Thiagarajan (1979)

reveal the occurrence of several species of seaweeds in the

stomach contents of Green Turtles collected from Kilakarai

and Vedalai areas in the Gulf of Mannar. Fifteen species of

seaweeds and sea grasses recorded from the stomach contents

of Green Turtles showed the preference of these species. When

compared with the earlier studies, the present study confirms

REFE

Agastheesapillai, A. & R. Thiagarajan (1979): Biology of the green

turtle Che Ionia my das (Linnaeus) in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk

Bay. J. Mar. biol. Ass. India 21(1 & 2): 45-60.

Balazs, George H. (1983): Recovery records of adult green turtles

observed or originally tagged at French Frigate Shoals, North-

western Hawaiian Islands. U.S. Dept. Commerce, NOAA-TM-

NMFS-SWFC-36. 42 pp

Balazs, George H. (1985): Status and ecology of marine turtles at

Johnston Atoll. The Smithsonian Institution, Atoll, Research

Bulletin No. 285, 46 pp.

Balazs, George H., R.G. Forsyth & A.K.H. Kam (1987): Preliminary

assessment of habitat utilization by Hawaiian green turtles in their

resident foraging pastures. U.S. Dept. Commerce, NOAA TM-

NMFS-S WFC-7 1 , 107 pp.

Bhupathy, S. & S. Saravanan (2001 ): A report on the status of sea turtles

along the Tamil Nadu coast. Pp. 70-74. In: Shanker. K. & B.C.

Choudhury (Eds:). Proceedings of the National Workshop for the

Development of a National Sea Turtle Conservation Action Plan,

Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. Wildlife Institute of India. Dehradun. India.

Bjorndal, K.A. (1982): The consequences of herbivory for the life

history pattern of the Carribean Green Turtle Chelonia mydas.

Pp. 111-116. In: Bjorndal, K.A. (Ed:) Biology and conservation

of sea turtles. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington DC.

Bjorndal, K.A. (1985): Nutritional ecology of sea turtles. Copeia 1985:

736-751.

Bjorndal, K.A. & A.B. Bolten (1988): Growth rates of immature green

turtles, Chelonia mydas , on feeding grounds in the southern

Bahamas, Copeia 1988: 555.

Bolten, A.B. (1999): Techniques for measuring sea turtles. Pp. 110-1 14.

In: Eckert, K.L., K.A. Bjorndal, F.A. Abreu-Grobois & M.

Donnelly (Eds:). Research and management techniques for the

conservation of sea turtles. IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist

Group Publication: 4.

Carr, A. F. ( 1953): Handbook of Turtles. Ithaca. N.Y., Cornell LTniversity

Press. 542 pp.

Deraniyagala, P.E.P. ( 1939): The tetrapod reptiles of Ceylon, Colombo.

412 pp.

Diez, C.,E. & R. Van Dam (1992): Foraging ecology of juvenile and

the earlier observations that the seaweeds and sea grasses are

the major food for the endangered green turtle Chelonia

mydas. Sea weeds are exploited for commercial purposes only

from southeast coast of India, especially from Vedaranyam

to Kanyakumari coast, which resulted in the depletion of

standing crops and species diversity (Kaladharana and Reeta

2003). Despite rich resources of the sea weeds, the

exploitation is not uniform in many areas; overexploitation

is actually felt in the Gulf of Mannar, southeast coast of India.

Effective conservation measures should be mandatory for the

conservation of marine plants and green turtle..

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Dr. N. Kaliaperumal, Scientist-in-Charge and

Principal Scientist and Shri. J.R. Ramalingam, Technical

Assistant, Mandapam Regional Centre of CMFRI for going

through the manuscript.

subadult hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). Preliminary

Research report.

Fritts, T.H. (1981): Pelagic feeding habits of turtles in the eastern

Pacific. Marine Turtle Newsl. 17: 4.

Forbes, G A. & C.J. Limpus (1993): A non-lethal method for retrieving

stomach contents from sea turtles. Wild Res. 20: 339.

Jones, S. & A. Bastin Fernando (1968): Present status of the turtle

fishery in the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Bay. Pp. 712-715.

In: Proceedings of the Symposium of Living Resources of Seas

around India. Special Publication, Central Marine Fisheries

Research Institute, Cochin.

Kaliaperumal, N. & S. Kalimuthu (1997): Seaweed potential and its

exploitation in India. Seaweed Res. Utiln. 19(1 &2): 33-40.

Kaladharan, P. & Reeta Jayasankar (2003): Seaweeds. Pp. 228-239.

In: Status of Exploited Marine fishery resources of India. Mohan

Joseph, M. and A. A. Jayaprakash (Eds:). Central Marine Fisheries

Research Institute, Kochi 682 014, India.

Kuriyan, G.K. (1950): Turtle fishing in the sea around Krusadai Island.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 49: 509-512.

Kurata, Y., S. Yoneyamma, K. Tsutsumi, J. Kimura & S. Hosokawa

(1978): Experiments to increase number of green turtles throughout

the release of the young. Ogasawara Fishery Centre. Tokyo

Metropolitan Government. Research Report 3: 58.

Limpus, C.J., P.J. Couper & M.A. Read (1994): The Green Turtle,

Chelonia mydas in Queensland: Population structure in warm

temperate feeding areas. Mem. Queensland. Mus. 35: 139.

Russell. Dennis J. & G.H. Balazs (1994): Colonization by the alien

marine algae Hypnea musciformis in the Hawaiian Islands and its

utilization by the Green Turtle Chelonia mydas L. Aquatic Botany

47: 53-60.

Russell, Dennis J. & GH. Balazs (2000): Identification manual for

dietary vegetation of the Hawaiian green turtle Chelonia mydas.

NOAA Technical Memorandum, NMFS: 1-47.

Walker, T.A. (1994): Post hatchling dispersal of sea turtles. Pp. 79.

In: Proceedings of the Australian Marine Turtle Conservation

Workshop held at Sea World Nara Resort, Gold Coast, Queensland.

Department of Environment and Heritage, and Australian Nature

Conservation Agency, Queensland, Australia.

354

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

13. FIRST RECORD OF SLENDER RACER COLUBER GRACILIS (GUNTHER, 1862)

(SERPENTES: COLUBRIDAE) FROM RAJASTHAN1

Satish Kumar Sharma2 and Shailesh Nagar3

'Accepted August 08, 2006

"Foundation for Ecological Security, 18, New Ahinsapuri, Fatehpura, Udaipur 313 001, Rajasthan, India.

"Email: [email protected]

On December 22, 2004 in Nal Sandol Reserve Forest,

near Dimri village, Jhadol tehsil, Udaipur district (24° 20' 37.74"

N; 73° 29' 55.64" E; 690 m above msl), we came across a snake

about 750 mm long that had been injured by labourers. It was

slender bodied, and had two pale brown, black edged, forward-

pointing V-shaped marks on top of the head followed by white

coloured black-edged cross bars, which widen on the sides to

join with adjacent bands. Towards the hind body, the bands

were replaced by narrow, sometimes broken blackish cross lines.

The belly scales were glossy white. The snake was identified as

the Slender Racer Coluber gracilis based on its scalation:

midbody scales in 2 1 rows; ventrals 217; subcaudals 131, paired;

anal divided; preoculars 2, of unequal size; postoculars 2;

temporals 2+2; supralabials 9 (5th and 6th touching eye). A black

stripe was present below each eye at the meeting line of 6th and

7th supralabials. Subcaudals were more than recorded ( 1 1 8-127)

by Whitaker and Captain (2004).

The specimen was deposited in the Department of

Zoology, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur. Rajasthan.

The snake was seen in a hilly, highly degraded

deciduous forest, with a network of dry nullahs. Anogeissus

latifolia, Madhuca latifolia, Feronia limonia and Butea

monosperma grow on the slopes and at the foothills. Sterculia

w ens , Lannea coromandelica and Ficus amottiana are present

higher up on the hills. Thickets of Lantana camara are also

present randomly. The grass Aristida adscensionis is common

owing to degradation, but patches of Themeda quadrivalvis,

Apluda mutica and Heteropogon contortus are also seen.

Coluber gracilis is endemic to India. Presently, this

species has been recorded from a few localities in India; Pune

district, Nane Ghat and Phaltan all in Maharashtra, and Asirgarh,

Madhya Pradesh (Whitaker and Captain 2004). Literature

scanning reveals that C. gracilis is a new record for Rajasthan

( McCann 1 946; Sharma 1 999, 200 1 ; Sharma el al. 200 1 ; Sharma

et al. 2002). The presence of C. gracilis in southern Aravallis in

Rajasthan is interesting and worth mentioning.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Jagdeesh Rao, Dinesh Reddy and

B.K. Sharma [Foundation for Ecological Security] for providing

facilities. Thanks are due to referees for useful suggestions.

REFERENCES

McCann, C. (1946): The rains come to the Abu hills. J. Bombay Nat.

Hist. Soc. 43: 641-647.

Sharma, S.K. (1999): Reptilian and amphibian fauna of Sajjangarh

Wildlife Sanctuary, Udaipur, Rajasthan. Cobra 38: 14-17.

Sharma, S.K. (2001): Survey of herpetofauna of Kela Devi Wildlife

Sanctuary, Machiya Safari Park and Bardod Closed Area,

Rajasthan. Cobra 46: 26-32.

Sharma, S.K., F.S. Rathor, K. Chawda & S. Patel (2001 ): Preliminary

survey of the reptilian fauna of Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary

and snake conservation efforts in Mount Abu town. Cobra 44:

5-10.

Sharma, S.K., K. Chawda & S. Patel (2002): Sighting of Forsten’s Cat

Snake ( Boigaforsteni ) at Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary, Sirohi

District, Rajasthan. Cobra 48: 7-9.

Whitaker, R. & A. Captain (2004): Snakes of India. Draco Books,

Chennai, India. Pp. 1-479.

14. POSSIBLITY OF BREEDING GROUNDS OF MAHSEER IN THE PAISUNI R. (CHITRAKOOT DHAM), ITS

ECOLOGY, AND STATUS OF TOR TOR (HAMILTON) IN THE NORTH VINDHYAN RIVERS'

P Nautiyal2-4, A.C. Dwivedi3, A. Shivam2-5 and K.R. Singh2-6

'Accepted October 14, 2004

"Department of Zoology, HNB Garhwal Unversity, Srinagar 246 174, India.

3 Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Riverine Division, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Email: [email protected]

"Email: [email protected]

6Email: [email protected]

The genus Tor, known as Mahseer, is widespread from

Afghanistan in the west through India, Pakistan, Nepal,

Bhutan to Southern Asia (Thailand and Malaysia) in the east,

and is also present in China. All the Mahseers are presently

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

355

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

#STUDY AREA

BANDA -25 20 N, 80 22' E

CHITRAKOOT- 25 32 N, 8038 E

MEJA-2510N, 82 10 E

Fig. 1 : Rivers draining from north Vindhyan region

classified as endangered/threatened species (Sinha 1992,

1994), and have spectacular sporting qualities and table value.

Desai (2003 ) has described 1 0 valid species of Mahseer. Khan

and Sinha (2000) are of the opinion that the distribution of

Mahseer is governed by temperature (6-30 °C) as it influences

the rate of development and growth, duration of the life history

stages, longevity as well as the size and form of individual.

This is a broad generalization. Taking common occurrence

as a criterion, each species is distributed in a specific river

system; Tor putitora and T. progenius are common in the

Ganga and Brahamputra river systems along the Himalaya,

T. mosal along eastern India (Mahanadi river system), T. tor

in central India (Narmada), and T. khudree and T. mussullah

in the Deccan (Cauvery, Godavari, Krishna).

Considerable information has been generated on

T. putitora and T. tor over the last few decades, especially

from the Sutlej (Johal and Tandon 1981; Johal et al. 1999),

and the Ganga river system in the Himalaya, north-west India

(Nautiyal 1994; Bhatt et al. 2000) in case of T. putitora , and

from the Narmada in case of Tor tor ( Desai 2003). The deep-

bodied Tor tor is present in the rivers and reservoirs north of

the Narmada-Paisuni (Grover and Gupta 1977), Ken

i %

'Frequency

40

35

30 i

25

20

15

10

5-

0

& o LJ L

Paisuni

Tons

size class

Fig. 2: Size composition (as %) of Tor tor in the Vindhya rivers,

Tons and Paisuni. 20-50 cm size was prevalent in these rivers

(Srivastava et al. 1970), and the Gandhi Sagar Reservoir in

Madhya Pradesh (Anon. 1968).

There is no information on its breeding grounds in north

Vindhya rivers. Hence, it was considered appropriate to

generate some information on the population dynamics of

T. tor from rivers draining the north Vindhyan region

(Fig. 1 ). These rivers arise in the hills north of Narmada, and

drain into the Yamuna, and its principal tributary the Chambal.

Though devoid of high mountains, the elevated plateau does

provide a gentle gradient and the rocks a stony substratum, a

favourite haunt of Mahseers. Paisuni is a 100 km long river,

draining the northern extremity of the Vindhya flowing

through forests in the upper stretch and cultivated land in the

lower stretch. In the upper stretch it is 1 0-20 m wide, the bed

is rocky and depth varies from 1 -2 m, and the water is clear,

indicating the oligotrophic nature of the river. The

macrophytic vegetation also occurs along banks or in patches.

Epilithic algae (1543 cells per sq. cm) were represented by

species of Achnanthes (over 50%) and Cymbella. The bottom

fauna of the upper stretch (355 individuals per sq. km)

comprised nymph of Ephemeroptera, larvae of Diptera and

Trichoptera. Oligocheate-annelids and molluscs, primarily the

gastropods, were rare. The physical quality during December

(2003) was as follows, water temperature (16.5-21.5 °C), air

temperature (11.0-21.5 °C), current velocity (1.0-30.94 cm

per/s), pH (7. 0-8.0), discharge 1.10 cusecs. The organisms

found in the Paisuni indicate pristine nature of the water

attributed to religious protection by virtue of its pilgrimage

status (Chitrakoot Dham) and Reserved Forest (Madhya

Pradesh).

Preliminary studies on the size composition indicated

that fish measuring 18-82 cm and 18-65.3 cm were found in

the Tons and Paisuni, respectively. In the Tons, 76.9% of the

population was constituted by fishes measuring 20-50 cm,

while in the Paisuni 86.4% comprised this size range. The

size classes 30-40 and 40-50 cm were dominant in the Tons

while only 30-40 cm in the Paisuni (Fig. 2). It is obvious that

Tons had better size composition, but Paisuni had a good share

of brooders (36.4%), even the previous size class 20-30 cm

was quite good (29.5%) compared with 26.9% in each of the

size group of Tons sample. This can be attributed to the

religious sanctuary provided by the temples along the river

at Chitrakoot Dham. Fishing is prohibited. Since the Mahseer

are known to exhibit rheotropism (tendency of upstream

migration, Nautiyal 2002) for breeding, this protected stretch

of the river (upstream of Chitrakoot Dham, the Ramghat,

Kanch Ka Mandir, Sphatic Shi la and Sati Ansuiya are temple

destinations), and its upstream section can be the only possible

breeding grounds in the Paisuni. As such fishing and unwanted

human activities are prohibited for a considerable stretch, and

356

j, Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

it seems to be an ideal place for the fish to breed.

However, observation during the first monsoon

showers revealed that the fish which is a common sight on

flour baiting, especially at Sati Ansuiya, was not sighted even

once after an hour long baiting schedule. This suggests that

in the Paisuni river the fish probably breeds upstream of Sati

Ansuiya; this is a densely forested area lacking habitation.

Since it is not accessible, it serves as a perfect sanctuary

with undisturbed breeding grounds for T. tor, in particular,

and fish assemblages in general. Also the origin of the river

is quite near. The Tons on the other hand has habitation all

along its course, and therefore the fish population is relatively

low. Also breeding grounds, which must be in the upper

Anon. (1968): Report in the Fisheries Development of Gandhi Sagar

Dam (Multipurpose River Valley Project). Government of Madhya

Pradesh Fisheries Department, Bhopal. Pp. 16.

Bhatt, J.P., P. Nautiyal & H.R. Singh (2000): Population structure of

Himalayan Mahseer, a large cyprinid fish in the regulated foothill

section of the river Ganga. Fish. Res. 44: 267 -27 1.

Desai, V.R. (2003): Synopsis of biological data on the Tor Mahseer Tor

tor (Ham. 1822). FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 158.

Grover, S.P. & S.K. Gupta (1977): Fish and Fisheries of Banda district

(U.P.). Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. India 47(B) IV: 204-218.

Johal, M.S. & K.K. Tandon (1981): Age, growth and length-weight

relationship of Tor putitora (Ham.) from Gobindsagar, Himachal

Pradesh, India. Ph. Fish. Bull Special Publication ‘Coldwater

Fisheries Seminar’ organised by C.E.F.E. at Chandigarh, January

18-19, 1981: Pp. 43-48.

Johal, M.S., K.K. Tandon & G.S. Sandhu ( 1999): Age and growth of

an endangered cold water fish Mahseer Tor putitora (Ham.) from

Gobindsagar, Himachal Pradesh, India. Pp. 59-73. In: Saksena,

D.N. (Ed:). Ichthyology: Recent Research Advances. Oxford &

IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi, Calcutta.

Khan, M.A. & M. Sinha (2000): Status of Mahseer fisheries in north

and north-eastern India with a note on their conservation. J. Inland.

reaches, suffer from acute human interference (agriculture).

Studies on population structure are in progress to understand

how exploitation affects age distribution and ecological

health.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are thankful to Dr. P. Gaur Professor and

Head, and Prof. H.R. Singh former Head, Department of

Zoology, University of Allahabad for providing all the

research facilities. We also thank Mr. Girish Yadava, Fishery

Inspector, Karwi, Chitrakoot for his cooperation in this

study.

Fish. Soc. India 32( 1 ): 28-36.

Nautiyal. P. (1994): The Himalayan or Putitor Mahseer Tor putitora

(Ham.). Pp. B4 section 43. In: Nautiyal, P. (Ed:). Mahseer - the

Game Fish. Jagdamba Prakashan, Dehradun.

Nautiyal, P. (2002): The Himalayan Mahseer: Migratory pattern in

relation to ecological characteristics of the Ganga river system in

Garhwal Himalaya. Pp. 172-195. In: Vass, K.K. & H.S. Raina

(Eds:). Highland Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management.

National Research Centre on Coldwater Fisheries (ICAR), Bhimtal.

Nautiyal, P. (2006): Assessment of ecological health offish populations

of the upper reaches of Ganga (Garhwal Himalaya). Pp. 211-238.

In: Dutta Munshi J.S. & H.R. Singh (Eds:). Advances in Fish

Research. Vol 4. Narendra Publishing House, Delhi.

Sinha, M. ( 1992): Mahseer fishery in the North eastern states. Ph. Fish.

Bull. 16(1): 66-69.

Sinha, M. (1994): Threatened coldwater species of north-eastern region

in India. Pp. 172-176. In: Dehadrai, P.V., P. Das & S.R. Verma

(Eds:). Threatened Fishes of India. NATCON Publication,

Muzzafamagar.

Srivastava, C.B., R. Chandra & S.K. Visharad (1970): On a collection

of fish from river Ken in Banda District (U.P.). Rec. Zool. Sur\'.

India 64 (1-4): 131-134.

15. ON THE RECORD OF GARRA CEYLONENSIS BLEEKER 1863:

A SRI LANKAN CYPRINID FISH FROM INDIA1

K.V. Radhakrishnan2 3 and B. Madhusoodana Kurup2 4

'Accepted February 07, 2005

’School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin University of Science and Technology. Kochi 682 016, Kerala, India.

’Email: [email protected]

4Email: [email protected]

Introduction

Twenty four fish species under genus Garret have been

reported so far from the Indian subcontinent (Jayaram 1999),

of which nineteen species are found in India. Several new

species and new records of the fishes under this genus have

been reported in the past two decades. Remadevi and Indra

( 1 984) described Garra menoni from the Silent valley, Kerala,

India; Vishwanath and Sarojnalini (1988) discovered Garra

manipurensis from Manipur; Garra kalakadensis was

discovered from the Kalakad Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu

(Remadevi and Indra 1992); Garra surendranathani from the

Chalakkudy river of Kerala (Shaji et al. 1996) and Garra

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

357

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

periyarensis by Gopi (2001) from Periyar. However, so far,

there is no report of the Sri Lankan species, Garra ceylonensis

from Indian waters. During the species inventory surveys

conducted in the rivers of Kerala, as part of the NAT-ICAR

project on ‘germplasm inventory, evaluation and gene banking

of freshwater fishes’, the authors collected eight specimens

of Garra ceylonensis (Bleeker 1863) from the Pooyamkutty

tributary of River Periyar.

The specimens were collected using a cast net of 1 2 nun

mesh size, and gillnet of 32 mm mesh size from Pooyamkutty.

Morphometric measurements were recorded with a dial reading

calliper with an accuracy of 0. 1 mm. This data has been presented

as percentages, with the range followed by the mean in

parentheses. Meristics were counted following Talwar and

Jhingran (1991). Revisionary work on the fishes of genus Garra

by Menon ( 1964) was also consulted.

Description: Based on 8 specimens collected from

Pooyamkutty, Periyar river, ranging from 101.04 mm-

121.4 mmSL.

D.II 8; P.12-13; V.I 7; A. I 5; C.17

Body elongate and slender. Depth of body 16.38-21.26%

in SL (19.12%), mental disc well developed, length of the disc

98.41-99.79% (99.1%) in its own width and the latter

41.4-49.08% (44.24%) in the width of head. Snout pointing,

tip marked by a transverse groove, horny tubercles on snout

and sides in front of nostrils. Barbels two airs, rostral barbels

equal to or greater than diameter of eye. Eyes moderately

large, not visible from ventral side of head, diameter 15.61-

20.08% (17.60% of head length, 39.33-48.07% (45.52%) in

interorbital distance. Interorbital distance slightly concave

and is 32-41.78% (36.21%) in length of the head. Scales

moderate sized. Distance of the vent from anal fin origin 35.9-

38.21% (37.03%) in that between anterior origins of ventral

fin and anal fin. Caudal peduncle length 11.52-14.86%

(12.72%) in SL, 39.4-43.31% (41.85%) in head length and

its least depth 84.78-95.74% (90.69%) in its own length.

Squamation: 34-35 scales along lateral line, 4-4.5 from

origin of dorsal to lateral line, 3.5 between lateral line and

pelvic fin origin, predorsal scales 1 1-23, prevental scales 13

Gopi, K.C. (2001): Garra periyarensis , a new cyprinid fish from Periyar

Tiger Reserve, Kerala, India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 98(1):

80-83.

Jayaram, K.C. (1999): The Freshwater Fishes of the Indian Region.

Narendra Publishing House, New Delhi. 551 pp.

Menon, A.G.K. (1964): Monograph of the Cyprinid fishes of the Genus

Garra Hamilton. Mem. Indian. Mas. 14(4): 260.

Remadevi, K. & T.J. Indra (1984): Garra menoni, a new cyprinid

fish from Kerala, South India. Bull. Zool. Surv. India 5(2 & 3):

121-122.

Remadevi, K. & T.J. Indra (1992): Garra kalakadensis. a new Cyprinid

and preanal scales 26, circumpeduncular scales 12. Breast

and belly scaled.

Fins: Dorsal fin inserted closer to snout than to caudal.

It is equal to head length. Pectorals slightly smaller than head

and form 78.03-88.08% (83.86%) in it. Ventral fins smaller

than head, and form 74.19-93.72% (81.73%) in it and in

pectoral fin length. Distance between pectoral and ventral is

26.22-31.88% (30. 12%) in SL. Distance between ventral and

anal fins 24.24-26.56% (25.63%) in SL. Caudal forked.

Coloration: In life, olive green on the back and dull

white underneath. A dark brownish black lateral band from

the snout through eyes extending to caudal fin rays. This is

bordered above and below by narrow yellowish stripes. Very

light dark stripes are also seen on either side of the yellow

bands which sometimes appear as small spots arranged in

series. A black spot at the upper angle of gill opening present.

Fins generally yellowish with rays have red orange tinge on

their bases.

Distribution: Sri Lanka, India: Kerala, Periyar river.

Remarks: According to Menon (1964), Garra

ceylonensis (Bleeker 1 863) is closely related to Garra mullya

in body stature and to some extent in its colour pattern, but

strongly differs in interorbital width to head length ratio — 2 or

less than 2 times in head length in Garra mullya , but greater

than 2 times than Garra ceylonensis. Also, the width of

suctorial disc to head width ratio is lesser in Garra ceylonensis

as compared to Garra mullya.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors express their sincere thanks to the Officer-

in-Charge, and Dr. K. Remadevi, Senior Scientist, ZSI for

their help rendered in identifying the species. The financial

support given by the NAT-ICAR Project for the present study

is acknowledged. Thanks are also due to Prof. (Dr.)

Ramakrishnan Korakandy, Director, School of Industrial

Fisheries for providing the necessary facilities for carrying

out this study. The assistance of M.D. Mahesan during the

survey is acknowledged.

fish from Kalakad Wildlife Sanctuary, Tirunelveli district, Tamil

Nadu. Rec. Zool. Surv. India 91(2): 239-245.

Shaji, C.R, L.K. Arun & P.S. Easa ( 1996): Garra surendranathani - A

new cyprinid fish from the southern Western Ghats. J. Bombay Nat.

Hist. Soc. 93(3): 572-575.

Talwar, RK. & A.G. Jhingran (1991): Inland Fishes of India and

Adjacent Countries. Vol. 1 , Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., New

Delhi. 1-541 pp.

Vishwanath W. & Chungkhan Sarojnalini ( 1988): Anew cyprinid fish,

Garra manipurensis, from Manipur, India. Japanese J. lchthyol.

35(2): 124-126.

358

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

16. RANGE EXTENSION OF SALMOSTOMA SARDINELLA

(OSTEICHTHYES: CYPRINIDAE) TO STREAMS OF TAMIL NADU,

KERALA AND KARNATAKA PART OF WESTERN GHATS1

M. Arunachalam2,3, J.A. Johnson2, A. Manimekalan2, A. Sankaranarayanan2, R. Soranam2,

P. SlVAKUMAR2 AND P.V. KALAVATHI2

'Accepted July 14, 2003

2Sri Paramakalyani Centre for Environmental Sciences. Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Alwarkurichi 627 412,

Tamil Nadu, India.

'Entail: [email protected]

Valenciennes ( 1 842) described Salmostoma sardinella

from Myanmar. Day (1875-1878) recorded it from the

Irrawadi river at Myanmar. Talwar and Jhingran (1991)

reported its distribution in Ganges, Brahmaputra drainage,

and Orissa. Distribution of this species was from West Bengal

(Ganges river system), Assam (Brahmaputra river system),

Orissa (Mahanadi river basin) and from Bangladesh,

Myanmar, Pegu and Moulmein Myanmar (Jayaram 1999;

Menon 1999). Recently, it has been recorded from Mondai

stream in Maharashtra (Arunachalam etal. 1999). The present

record of the species is from Manjal stream (11° 42' 8.7” N;

76° 22' 4.6" E) in Muthanga (Wynaad) Wildlife Sanctuary,

Sivasamudram (near Ganganachukki bluff in Karnataka

(12° 14.5' N; 77° 9' E) Pillur dam and Moyar river

(Gugalthurai 10° 45' N; 76° 53' E) in Tamil Nadu.

Description

D iii 7; A iii 17-18; P 12; V i 7

Body elongated and compressed; depth 4.25 to 4.5 times

in standard length; dorsal profile equally convex as ventral

profile. Abdomen keeled from below pectoral fin to vent.

Head small, its length 3.9 to 5.3 in SL. Mouth supraterminal,

oblique; lower jaw with a rudimentary symphysial process.

Gill rakers 15 to 18 on first arch. Dorsal fin inserted just

opposite to the origin of anal fin. Scale medium; lateral line

with 48-51 scales; lateral transverse scale rows; 7 rows of

scales between lateral line and dorsal fin base, and 2 rows of

scales between lateral line and pelvic fin base; predorsal scales

27. Morphometric characters of the specimens examined are

given in Table 1 .

Colour: In life, dorsa greyish-green, flanks silvery and

Table 1: Morphometric measurements of Salmostoma sardinella in four streams in the Cauvery river basin

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

359

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

fins yellow. After preservation, dorsa pale brown, flank pale

yellow, and fins remain yellow.

Distribution: Irravadi river (Myanmar); Poonpun river,

Patna, Ganga, Brahmaputra drainage, Mahanadi river (Menon

1999), Mondai stream in Maharashtra (Arunachalam et al.

1999), Manjal stream in Kerala; (Gaganachukki bluff)

Sivasamudram (Gaganachukki bluff) in Karnataka, Bhavani

(Pillur) and Moyar rivers in Tamil Nadu.

Remarks: Salmostoma sardinella prefers closed

riparian cover except in Sivasamudram Falls; the habitat

parameters are given in Table 2. Though the extension range

covers Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka parts of the Western

Ghats, the distribution of Salmostoma sardinella is still

confined to the tributaries of Cauvery basin originating from

these three states.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Senior author (M. Arunachalam) is grateful for financial

assistance from NATP under the mission mode programme

of Germplasm Inventory and Gene banking of Freshwater

Table 2: Habitat features of four streams

Fishes. We also thank the Mission Leader and Director

Dr. D. Kapoor and Dr. S.P Singh, Principal Investigator of

the Lead Centre, National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources,

Lucknow for their leadership in this programme. We thank

Sri. S.K. Chakrabarti, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests,

Karnataka and the Chief Wildlife Warden (Wildlife) Kerala

for official permission.

REFERENCES

Arunachalam, M., A. Sankaranarayanan, A. Manimekalan,

R. Soranam & J.A. Johnson (1999): New record of Salmostoma

sardinella (Pisces: Cyprinidae) from Mondai stream,

Maharashtra. / Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 96(1): 162-163.

Day, F. ( 1 S75-78): The Fishes of India: being a Natural History of the

fishes known to inhabit the seas and fresh waters of India, Burma

and Ceylon. London. Indian Reprint by Jagmander Book Agency,

New Delhi, xx + 778 pp., 195 plates.

Jayaram, K.C. (1999): The Freshwater Fishes of the Indian region.

Narendra Publishing House, Delhi, 551 pp.

Menon, A.G.K. (1999): Checklist - Freshwater fish of India,

Rec. 201. Zoological Survey of India, Occ. Pap No. 175. 366 pp.

Talwar, P.K. & A.G. Jhingran (1991): Inland Fishes of India and

Adjacent Countries. Oxford and IBH publishers. Co. Pvt. Ltd.,

New Delhi, pp. 1058.

Valenciennes, A. (1842): Hist. Nat. Poiss. 17: 334.

17. ON A RECORD OF A YOUNG TERATOID CARCHARHINUS HEMIODON 1

A. Jesu Arockia Raj2, S. Seetharaman3'4 and M.A. Haniffa3-5

■Accepted July 1 1 , 2005

2The Bengis Centre for Desert Aquaculture, The Albert Katz Department of Dryland Biotechnologies,

The Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Sede Boker Campus 84990, Israel.

Email: [email protected]

'Centre for Aquaculture Research and Extension (CARE), St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous). Palayamkottai 627 002,

Tamil Nadu, India.

"■Email: ramseetha2005 @ yahoo.com

Email: [email protected]

The ’vulnerable’ Carcharhinus hemiodon (Compagno

et al. 2003) is one of the 30 species of Family Carcharhinidae

(Class: Elasmobranchii, Order: Carcharhiniformes).

Commonly called the Pondicherry Shark, and locally

‘Palsura’, it is distributed in the Indo-West Pacific: Gulf of

Oman to Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and scattered localities in

the eastern Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean. It attains

a maximum size of up to 200 cm total length, and is viviparous

and harmless. Carnivorous in nature it preferably feeds on

small fishes, crustaceans and cephalopods (Compagno and

Niem 1998). It fetches high commercial and market value

due to its tasty flesh and oil content.

C. hemiodon (length 1.45 m and weight 3.5 kg) was

caught during September 2004 using trawl net from the coastal

360

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

8 8 7 8 8 lid u i« i3 14 i& iH n ns is aio su ata 313 at«

Fig. 1 : C. hemiodon ventral side

region of Kanyakumari region (Tamil Nadu, India). When

the fish was dissected for research purpose we found four

young ones inside the uterus, along with placenta. Among

the four young ones, three were normal (length 25-27 cm

and weight 150-200 gm), and one was abnormal, with two

heads (bifurcated head) and a single body. The total length of

the teratoid individual was 20.6 cm on the right side and

20.0 cm on the left side of the head regions and weight was

104.3 gm. Morphologically when the neural fold deviated

during the early development it formed two heads with a

single body (Fig. 1 ). The deformed individual had a separate

placenta connected to the uterus. There was no morphometric

and meristic difference between the normal and abnormal

individual except the teratoid trait. The right and left head

measurements were 5.5 cm and 4.8 cm respectively. It was

observed that it possessed only one pair of pectoral fins (one

behind each head), on the ventral side, and two dorsal fins

(one behind each head) instead of a single dorsal fin. This

abnormal individual showed an underdeveloped snout and

mouthparts on one head (left head) while the other head, had

its mouthparts normally developed. Since the specimen was

rare it was not dissected for further study and was preserved

in 4% formalin, and kept in our department museum.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Our special thanks are due to Mr. and Mrs. L. Antony

Rayappan, Srivaikundam, for providing the samples for

research. We gratefully acknowledge Rev. Fr. A. Antonysamy,

S.J., Principal and M. Thomas Punithan, HoD, Department

of Zoology, St. Xavier’s College, for providing the necessary

facilities.

REFERENCES

Compagno, L.J.V. & V.H. Niem (1998): Carcharhinidae. Requiem Sharks. Pp. 1312-1360. In: Carpenter, K.E. and V.H. Niem (Eds:): FAO Identification

Guide for Fishery purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO, Rome.

Compagno, L.J.V., W. White & S. Fowler (2003): Carcharhinus hemiodon. IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

18. NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DUNG BEETLES

IN AND AROUND BANGALORE1

K. Veenakumari2 and GK. Veeresh3

1 Accepted May 04, 2005

2Project Directorate of Biological Control, P.B. No. 2491. H.A. Farm Hebbal, Bellary Road. Bengaluru 560 024, Karnataka, India.

Email: [email protected]

3Unive sity of Agricultural Sciences, G.K.V.K. Bengaluru 560 065, Karnataka, India.

On the basis of dung utilization behaviour Heinrich and

Bartholomew ( 1 979) classify Coprophagous beetles into three

groups: (i) those that feed and breed in dung pats

(endocoprids) (ii) those that tunnel into soil, pack dung to

subsequently feed and breed in it (paracoprids) and (iii) those

that roll dung away from the dung pat which is further used

for both feeding as well as breeding (telecoprids). Hitherto

unknown details of dung utilization in two dung buriers,

namely Heliocopris bucephalus (Fabricius) and Onthophagus

duporti Boucomont, as well astwo dung rollers, namely

Scarabaeus ( Khepher ) sanctus (Fabricius) and Sisyphus hirtus

Weidemann, are detailed below.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

361

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Table 1 : Duration and dimensions of the immature stages of Onthophagus duporti

*L = Length, B = Breadth

Onthophagus duporti

Adults are found throughout the year. They are the most

abundant Scarabaeinae in dung pats and are found in greater

numbers along the margins of dung pats and in the

rhizosphere. As many as 255 adults were found in a single

cow dung pat in November.

This species nests at depths of 8-10 cm by fashioning

several cylindrical brood masses in each of which a single

egg is laid. The eggs are cream to yellow, cylindrical and

fixed by the pointed end to the egg cell. The eggs increase in

size and change to spheroids towards completion of the

incubation period (Table 1 ). On hatching, the larvae not only

resemble but also behave and nest in a manner identical to

O. gazella and O. rectecornutus (Veenakumari and Veeresh

1996). As Onthophagus is a very large genus similar

observations have been made on other species in the genus

(Horgan 2001; Hunter et al. 1996; Lee and Peng 1982).

The durations taken for completing different

developmental stages and measurements of these stages,

including cocoon and brood mass, are presented in Table 1.

Heliocopris bucephalus (Fabricius)

Both cow and elephant droppings attract adults of

H. bucephalus. They make shallow food burrows and

provision with less dung when compared to brood burrows

which are much deeper and provisioned with larger quantities

of dung (2,029 g). After excavating dung pats the beetles dig

and excavate soil with their clypeus and forelegs to construct

food and brood burrows. Males and females dig independent

food burrows and provision them with food. Burrows from

which food is exhausted are abandoned and fresh burrows

constructed and provisioned with food. On the other hand

brood burrows were constructed collectively by both males

and females. A large amount of soil (1,014 g ± 36.32, n=3)

was also excavated while constructing these brood burrows.

Bisexual cooperation was exhibited by these beetles, similar

to that in H. dilloni (Kingston and Coe 1977). The male was

found in the upper part of the tunnel while the female was

confined to the lower part of the tunnel. The tunnel was

straight with no deviations for a distance of 20 cm after which

it was oblique, ending in a chamber. The brood burrows were

deeper than the food burrows. Kingston and Coe (1977)

worked on the nesting behaviour of H. dilloni in Kenya and

suggested that the brood chamber’s depth varied to avoid both

extreme climatic conditions as well as predators. Two to three

adults of the kleptoparasite Onthophagus turbagus Walker

were found in half a dozen brood balls. The different brood

chamber parameters are mentioned in the Table 2.

When disturbed, the adults produced a loud, screeching

noise by rubbing their hind coxae against their abdomens.

Table 2:Brood ball and burrow dimensions of some dung beetles

362

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

which is probably an anti-predator mechanism (Arrow 1931;

Narendran and Joseph 1978).

Scarabaeus ( Khepher ) sanctus (Fabricius)

Adults of S. ( K .) sanctus emerged from the soil in

June-July with the first monsoon showers. Guided by

olfaction they flew and dropped a short distance from either

sheep or cow dung. Walking up to the dung with raised

antennae each beetle cut out a circular mass of dung using

its clypeus and forelegs, and fashioned a spheroid. Once

fashioned, the ball was rolled away from the dung pat in the

direction of the wind by pushing with the forelegs while the

beetle walked behind the ball on its hind legs. In 1963,

Matthews divided the whole process of ball making into

different phases, namely ‘cutting phase’, ‘shaping phase’,

‘rolling phase’ and ‘burying phase’. While rolling, the beetle

paused repeatedly to shape the ball and to inspect the soil to

find a suitable spot for burying it. Having dug deep the beetle

emerged from the pit, pushed the ball in and disappeared

beneath the ball to continue digging and slowly sank the

ball into the soil. In one instance it took 25 minutes for a

beetle to bury a brood ball and in the process 79.9 g of soil

was excavated. The dimensions of brood balls are mentioned

in Table 2. When these beetles were disturbed they produced

a screeching noise.

The presence of small soil mounds indicated the

presence of these beetles in the soil. On removing such

mounds a hole marking the entrance to a tunnel was seen.

Tracing this revealed mating pairs of beetles along with dung

masses. In some instances, additional males were present

nearby indicating male competition for a mate. Males were

also noticed to fight each other for possession of dung balls

right from ball making to rolling, which continued even after

burying. This resulted in dung balls being abandoned near

dung pats. Legs, elytra and other body parts lost in such battles

were found in the vicinity of these dung balls, which once

abandoned were utilized by dipterans and by Onthophagus

ramosus (Weidemann). Similar combats have been reported

for Scarabaeus, Gymnopleurus and Sisyphus (Halffter and

Matthews 1966). In 50 per cent of the instances observed

individuals of Onthophagus sp. were found in the dung balls

fashioned for food by S. sanclus, indicating intraspecific

competition for food.

Bisexual cooperation was observed in this species of

Scarabaeus also. Sato (1998) reported that the males of

S. catenatus not only help the female in rolling dung balls

but also take an active part in nesting thus proving bisexual

cooperation. He labels this as ‘mate guarding’ to ward off

intrusion by conspecific males.

Sisyphus hirtus Weidemann

These beetles too emerged in July with the first

monsoon showers and were attracted to both sheep and cow

dung. The detached mass of dung was fashioned into a

spheroid by compaction against the body. The dimensions of

the dung ball are mentioned in Table 2.

Balls were rolled by beetles either singly or in pairs.

When a single beetle rolled a ball, it pushed the ball with its

hind legs while it stood on its fore legs in a head-stand

position. When rolling in pairs the female pushed with its

hind legs from behind while the male stood on its hind legs

in front of the ball and pulled with its forelegs. The balls

were rolled on varied terrain and over numerous obstacles. A

pair of beetles was noticed attempting to roll a ball up a 700

slope. The beetles tumbled down the slope many times along

with the ball before they finally abandoned it and flew away.

Rolling over obstacles has been observed in various species

(Fabre 1897; Hingston 1923; Halffter and Matthews 1966).

Similarly, as observed by Puzanova-Malysheva (1956) in

Scarabaeus sacer, S. hirtus too, at times, abandoned a ball

that it was rolling, flew back to the dung pat, fashioned a

larger ball and began rolling it in the same direction as the

ball it had abandoned.

After inspecting and rejecting a number of places, a

place would finally be selected and the ball buried. While the

female sat on the ball, guarding it the male dug a pit with its

fore tibiae and clypeus. The male then pushed the ball in,

went below the ball and continued digging till it completely

disappeared in the soil. The female then entered the soil and

mated.

The main purpose of rolling the dung ball away from

the pat might be to attract the opposite sex for mating and to

ensure adequate provisioning of food for the couple during

coitus. Rolling the ball away from the dung pat and burying

it in the soil might reduce desiccation, and thus help in

maintaining the proper consistency of dung. Heymons and

Lengerken ( 1929) infer that rolling reduces moisture content

and achieves proper consistency as preferred by Scarabaeus.

It also reduces competition with dung buriers at the food

source (Halffter and Matthews 1966).

REFERENCES

Arrow, G.J. ( 1931 ): The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Fabre, J.H. (1897): Souvenirs Entomologiques Vol. V. Paris. Translation

Burma, Coleoptera: Lamellicornia. Ill (Coprinae). Taylor and by de Mattos, A T. Lonson, 296. pp

Francis, London, 428 pp. Halffter, G. & E.G. Matthews (1966): The natural history of dung

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

363

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

beetles of the subfamily Scarabaeinae. Folia ent. Mex. 12-14:

1-312.

Heinrich, B. & G.A. Bartholomew (1979): The ecology of the African

dung beetles. Sclent. Amer. 241: 118-127.

*Heymons, R. & H. Lengerken (1929): Biologishe Untersuchungen

on coprophagen Lamellicomein. I. Nahrungaerwerb and

Fortpflanzungsbiologie der Gattung Scarabaeus Linnaeus. A.

Morh. Okol. Tiere. 14: 531-613.

Hingston, R.W.G. (1923): A Naturalist in Hindustan. H.F. and

G. Witherby, London, 292 pp.

Horgan, F.G. (2001): Burial of bovine dung by coprophagous beetles

(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from horse and cow grazing sites in

El Salvador. European J. Soil Biol. 37(2): 103-111.

Hunter, J.S., G.T. Fincher & D.C. Sheppard (1996): Observations on

the life history of Onthophagus depressus (Coleoptera:

Scarabaeidae). J. Entmol. Sci. 31(1): 63-71.

Kingston, T.J. & M. Coe (1977): The biology of a giant dung-beetle

(Heliocopris dilloni) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). J. Zool 181(2):

243-263.

Lee, J.M. & Y.S. Peng (1982): Influence of manure availability and

nesting density on the progeny size of Onthophagus gazella. Emir.

Ent. 11(1): 38-41.

Narendran, T.C. & K.J. Joseph (1978): Mechanisms of sound production

in Reliocopris bucephalus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae). Entomon.

3: 297-299.

Puzanova-Malysheva, E.V. (1956): Povedenie zhuka Skarabeya -

Scarabaeus sacerL. (Coleoptera; Scarabaeidae). Trudy Yses. Ent.

Obehch. 45: 51-71.

Sato, H. (1998): Male participation in nest building in the dung beetle

Scarabaeus catenatus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): mating effort

versus paternal effort. J. Insect Behav. 11(6): 833-843.

Veenakumari, K. & G.K. Veeresh (1996): Some aspects of the

reproductive biology of Onthophagus gazella (F.) and

Onthophagus rectecornutus Lansb. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae).

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 93(2): 222-256.

* original not seen

19. PROTEIN PROFILE OF HAEMOLYMPH FROM APIS SPECIES1

Neelima R. Kumar2-3 and Lalita Negi2-4

'Accepted June 07, 2004

department of Zoology, Punjab University, Chandigarh 160 014, India.

-’Email: [email protected]

4Email: [email protected]

Molecular or biochemical considerations are

comparatively new tools in honeybee systematics. Though

these have been extensively used in the case of Apis mellif era

(Mestriner 1969; Mestriner and Contel 1972; Sylvester 1986;

Lee et al. 1989; Sheppard and Berlocher 1989), not much is

known about the molecular and biochemical systematic

aspects of the Asian honeybee species. It is necessary to

integrate morphometric, biological and behavioural data with

molecular studies for valid identification of races or

geographic ecotypes in case of honeybees. Keeping this in

view, studies on biochemical characterizations of honeybee

species and populations were carried out.

High hills worker bees of Apis cerana were collected

from Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh (2,500 m above msl), and

of the plains from the botanical garden, Punjab University,

Chandigarh (320 m above msl). Apis mellif era workers were

taken from the maintained apiary and Apis clorsata from

natural nesting sites from the Punjab University campus. The

haemolymph of worker honeybees was sucked with an auto

pipette, by pinching off between two adjacent tergites of the

abdomen of the bee. It was then diluted with sample buffer

in the ratio of 1 : 1 . For protein profiling, standard technique

of SDS-PAGE (Laemmli 1970) was employed.

During the present studies, nine protein fractions were

Table 1 : Protein fractions in haemolymph of Apis species

364

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

identified in the haemolymph of Apis cerana of the plains

while that of the high hills showed six protein fractions. Only

one fraction corresponding to molecular weight 67 kD was

shared between them, and was also present in A. dorsata,

but absent in A. mellifera (Table 1), suggesting that it is

characteristic of Asian species. The protein profile of

populations from high hills and plains of A. cerana was found

to be very different. This is in accordance with the suggestion

of Aseo and Laude (1993), that electrophoresis data has the

potential for the identification of sub-species within each

species and as a marker for population structures.

The presence of a larger number of protein fractions

in A. cerana of plains is perhaps indicative of the influence

of floral food sources on the haemolymph composition. The

botanical garden of Panjab University, from where these bees

were collected, was blooming with spring flora, including

ornamentals and fruit trees such as Prunus amygdalus,

Prunus padam, Prunus domestica. Abdel and Wahab ( 1970)

also observed the effect of the host plant on the haemolymph

composition of Spodoptera.

Kumar and Kamal (1999) and Kamal (2000) studied

the protein composition of hypopharyngeal glands in

A. cerana and A. mellifera , and also compared the

protein fractions in the royal jelly. Kamal (2000) suggested

a systematic significance of the variations found in

these.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We thank the Chairman, Department of Zoology,

Punjab University, Chandigarh for the research facilities

provided.

REFERENCES

Abdel, W.A.M. & A.M.A. Wahab (1970): Free amino acids in the

haemolymph of six lepidopterous larvae species. Bull. de. La. Soc.

■d. Egypte 54: 81-85.

Aseo, S.C. & R.P. Laude (1993): Alkaline phosphatase polymorphism

in Apis mellifera and Apis cerana in Los Banos, Laguna,

Philippines. Pp. 57-63. In: Connor, L.J., T. Rinderer, H.A. Sylvester

& S. Wongsiri (Eds:). Asian Apiculture. Wicwas Press, USA.

Kamal, S. (2000): Studies on royal jelly producing hypopharyngeal

glands of honeybees. M.Sc. (Hons) Dissertation submitted to the

Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Kumar, N.R. & S. Kamal (1999): Cytochemical characterization or

tile royal jelly producing hypopharyngeal glands in honey bee.

Pest manag. eco. zool. 7(2) : 111-114.

Laemmli, U.K. (1970): Cleavage of structural protein during the

assembly of the head of the bacteriophage T4. Nature 222:

680-685.

Lee, M.L., Y.H. Yin, S.S. Kim, K.S. Woo & D.S. Shu (1989): Malate

dehydrogenase and non-specific esterase polymorphism in Apis

mellifera L. and Apis cerana F. in South Korea. Kor. J. Apic\ 4(2):

68-74.

Mestriner, M.A. (1969): Biochemical polymorphism in bees ( Apis

mellifera ligustrica). Nature 223: 188-189.

Mestriner, M.A. & E.P.B. Contel (1972): The P-3 and Est loci in the

honeybee Apis mellifera. Genetics 72 : 733-739.

Sheppard, W.S. & S.H. Berlocher (1989): Allozyme variation

and differentiation among four Apis species. Apidologie 20: 419-

431.

Sylvester, H.A. (1986): Biochemical Genetics. In: Rinderer, T.E. (Ed:).

Bee Genetics and Breeding. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publisher,

Orlando, Florida. 426 pp.

20. A PREY-PREDATOR LINK BETWEEN THE ROCK BEE APIS DORSATA

AND THE FALSE VAMPIRE BAT MEGADERMA LYRA GEOFFROY

BASED ON THEIR CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS1

Sutapa Biswas2

'Accepted June 23, 2004

department of Zoology, Acharya Prafulla Chandra College, New Barrackpore,

Kolkata 700 131, West Bengal, India. Email: [email protected]

During observations, in March and April 1997, at the

School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New

Delhi, we found Rock Bee Apis dorsata hives hanging from

the edge of the sunshade of the fourth floor of the school

building. In the evenings, we would observe the last two

mass flights, (Kastberger etal. 1996), of the bees, for around

5 and 10 minutes. The first mass flight occurred just before

sunset, and the second during sunset. Two to three minutes

before the mass flight, the False Vampire Bats (Megaderma

lyra Geoffroy) would appear and circle around the beehive

ready to catch the flying bees.

Samples of both the mass flight of bees were collected

(sample sizes 109, 57 and 44), using a butterfly net (attached

with a long rod). The bees caught were chilled to make them

unconscious and the number of workers and drones noted.

Analysis of samples confirms that 78.5% of the bees were

drones. The sample of an earlier mass flight showed only

4.3% drones (sample sizes 40, 38 and 37). The circadian

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

365

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

rhythm of the mass flight of stingless drones (worker and the starting of predatory forage of the False Vampire Bats

honeybees of dorsata are endowed with venomous stings) coincide, thus making a prey-predator relationship possible.

REFERENCE

Kastberger, G., O. Winder, T. Hotzl & G. Raspoting (1996): Behavioural features of a periodic form of massed flight activity in the giant

honeybee Apis dorsata. Apidologie 27: 1 .

21 . A NEW LARVAL FOOD PLANT OF THE COMMON ALBATROSS APPIAS ALBINA (BOISDUVAL),

WITH A NOTE ON ITS MIGRATION IN KERALA1

VlNAYAN P. NAIR2

'Accepted May 14, 2005

2XV/446 Al, Nethaji Housing Colony, Trichambaram, Taliparamba (PO), Kannur 670 141, Kerala, India.

Email: [email protected]

The Common Albatross Appias album (Boisduval) is

a resident of evergreen and semi evergreen forests. It is also

well known for its migratory habit (Home 1935; Williams

1938; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Larsen 1978, 1987a, b; Kunte

2000; Palot et al. 2002; Mathew and Binoy 2002).

Lepidopteran fauna exploration at Koyilandy, during

November-January 2002 and 2003 resulted in a new host

plant record - Crateva religiosa (Capparaceae) - for the

Common Albatross Appias albino (Boisduval) (Lepidoptera:

Pieridae). Later during December-February 2005, at

Vatakara, I recorded the breeding of Common Albatross on

the same plant.

Common Albatross Appias albino (Boisduval)

reportedly feeds on Drypetes oblongifolia, Drypetes

roxburghii and Drypetes venusta (Euphorbiaceae). The

occurrence and successful rearing of Appias albino on

Crateva religiosa confirms it as a new larval food plant.

Palot et al. (2002) reported migration of these butterflies

starting from Coorg and passing through Aralam Wildlife

Sanctuary of Kerala during November-January. Mathew and

Binoy (2002) further reported a migration of butterflies at

Ford, E.B. (1990): Butterflies. Revised 5th edition. William Collins

Sons & Co. Ltd., London, 352 pp.

Gilbert, L.E & M.C. Singer ( 1975): Butterfly Ecology. Annual Review

of Ecological Systems 88(2): 297.

Home, L.W.M. (1935): Notes on Coorg butterflies. J. Bombay Nat. Hist.

Soc. 37: 669-67 4.

Kunte, K. (2000): India - A Lifescape. Butterflies of Peninsular India.

Universities Press, Hyderabad. 288 pp.

Larsen, T.B. (1978): Butterfly migrations in the Nilgiri Mountains of

southern India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 74: 546-549.

Larsen, T.B. (1987a): The butterflies of the Nilgiri Mountains of

southern India. (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera). J. Bombay Nat. Hist.

Soc. 84: 26-54.

Larsen, T.B. (1987b): Butterfly Migrations in South India. Blackbuck

3(1).

the New Amarambalam reserve forest of the Nilgiri Biosphere

Reserve. Palot (pers comm.) is of the opinion that from

November to January there is a movement of butterflies from

Coorg to Nilgiris passing through the eastern parts of Kerala.

These reports confirm the dominance of Common Albatross

in migratory flights.

The actual reason behind butterfly migration is still

unknown. It is suggested that stimulation to migrate might

be due to population outbreaks leading to depletion of host

plants and adult food resources (Ford 1990; Gilbert and

Singer 1975; Mathew and Binoy 2002). Nair (2005) reports

the occurrence and breeding of Common Albatross outside

forest areas in Kerala and also suggests the depletion of host

plants as the reason for butterfly migration. The present

record also strengthens this opinion.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to Dr. C. Radhakrishnan (Joint Director,

ZSI, WGRS, Kozhikode) and Md. Jafer Palot for

encouragement and facilities.

Mathew. G. & C.F. Binoy (2002): Migration of butterflies (Lepidoptera:

Rhopalocera) in the New Amarambalam Reserve forest in the

Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Zoos' Print Journal 17(8):

844-847.

Nair, V.P. (2005): A note on the occurrence of Common Albatross,

Appias albino (Boisduval) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) at the St

Joseph’s College Campus, Devagiri, Kozhikode, Kerala. Zoos'

Print Journal 20(5): 1874.

Palot, M.J., C. Radhakrishnan, V.C. Balakrishnan & Babu Kambrath

(2002): A report on the migration of butterflies in Aralam Wildlife

Sanctuary, Kerala. Zoos' Print Journal 17(2): 722.

Williams, C.B. (1938): The migration of butterflies in India. J. Bombay

Nat. Hist. Soc. 40: 439-457.

Wynter-Blyth, M. A. (1957): Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay

Natural History Society. Bombay. 523 pp. + 72 pis.

366

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

22. SOME OBSERVATIONS OF PLAINS CUPIDS EUCHRYSOPS PANDAVA

ON CYCAS CIRCINALIS1

K.R. Kishen Das2

'Accepted November 23, 2005

2# 951, 6"' Cross, 1 main Srirampura II Stage, Mysore 570 023, Karnataka, India. Email:

Plains Cupid Euchrysops pandava is a very common

butterfly found throughout India. It is a butterfly with weak

flight, and one that hardly visits nectar plants. Plants of

Caesalpiniaceae, Mimosaceae and other Cycads have been

recorded as its host plants (Wynter-Blyth 1957). However,

no specific mention is made of Cycas circinalis as its host

Fig. 1 : a. Group of Cycas circinalis plants, b. Male Plains Cupid, c. Polyrachis sp. ant attending the caterpillar,

d. Plains cupid caterpillar on Cycas circinalis

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

367

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

plant. During the second week of May 2005 I visited the

Melkote Temple Wildlife Sanctuary to assess the status of

Cycas circinalis , where I observed a number of female Plains

Cupid laying eggs on the shoots, and each shoot had 5-10

eggs. The eggs were white in colour and disc-shaped. The

caterpillar was woodlouse-shaped and had two different

colour forms, one green and the other reddish brown.

We saw three different species of ants (. Polyrhachis sp.)

constantly attending to the caterpi liars. Ants were seen tapping

the lower side of the abdomen of the caterpillar, and in

response the caterpillar secreted a white liquid, which was

readily consumed by the ants. Sometimes three ants were seen

simultaneously feeding on the white liquid from the same

caterpillar. The ants defended their caterpillars very

possessively.

Courtship of the Plains Cupid has also been observed

on many Cycas circinalis (pers. obs.). Typically the

males sit on the branches of Cycas with their wings open.

Whenever a female comes the males try to draw the attention

of the female by beating the wings and by following the

female.

The Cycas circinalis is an endangered species (Sharma

et al. 1984), and its association with Plains Cupid is an

important aspect for study for its conservation (Fig. 1).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank K. Manu, founder member of Mysore amateur

naturalists, an NGO based in Mysore for involving me in the

‘ Cycas circinalis ’ census that enabled me to record the

interesting observation and publish the article. Mr. Sunil from

Bangalore helped us in identifying the Ant species.

REFERENCES

Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957): Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay. 523 pp.

23. OCCURRENCE OF GIANT ISOPOD BATHYNOMUS G1GANTEUS

A. MILNE EDWARDS 1879 IN THE CHENNAI COASTAL WATERS'

PS. Lyla2-3, P. Murugesan2-4, K.P. Manikandan2,5 and S. Ajmal Khan2-6

'Accepted, December 29, 2004

-Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University. Parangipettai 608 502, Tamil Nadu, India.

-’Email: [email protected]

4Email: [email protected]

-’Email: [email protected]

6Email: [email protected]

A giant isopod species was recorded in the Chennai

coastal waters at a depth of less than 90 m in April 2004.

The species was identified as Bathynomous giganteus A.

Milne Edwards 1879. It belongs to the Order Isopoda and

Suborder Falbelligera of the Class Crustacea. The collection

of this species, generally occurring in deeper waters, from

relatively shallow waters is of interest. The cause of migration

of this species to shallow water is worth investigating,

especially in Chennai.

Order Isopoda contains numerous species and they

are classified under 95 families. Isopods generally occur

on all substrata and at all depths. Most of the species

occur in intertidal and shelf waters, and a few are known to

occur in freshwater. The shallow water forms are often

abundant beneath rocks, among sea weeds, coral rubble,

mussel beds, chambers of sponges and in detritus. Normally,

the size of the adult isopod ranges from 30 to 50 mm in

length, but as an oddity there are deep-sea species measur-

ing 200 to 400 mm in length. Isopods are known by

various names, such as Beach Slater, Pill Bug and Scale

Louse.

The occurrence of the massive isopod species

Bathynomus giganteus is uncommon in Chennai coastal

waters. This species belongs to the Family Cirolanidae.

It measured 32.5 cm in length and 11.5 cm in width. The

members of this family are distributed mainly in the western

Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of Bengal

and the Arabian Sea. While the Cirolanids occur in great

abundance in both temperate and tropical waters, often

constituting the most numerous group, the occurrence

of the giant isopod is highly sporadic and its collection

rare.

The occurrence of this species was reported earlier by

Srikrishnadhas and Venkatasamy (2003) in the inshore waters

of Thoothukudi. The specimen collected by them measured

26.0 cm (total length) and 9.5 cm (in breadth). There are

many other giant isopod species belonging to the genus

Bathynomus , namely B. dodereini , B. affinis , B. propinquis.

368

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

B. docemspinosis , B. miyarei , B. kapala, B. immanis and

B. peter (Tso and Mok 1991 ). These species are distributed

in the seas of the United States and Japan.

Even though Cirolanid isopods are cosmopolitan in

distribution, many species show high levels of endemism.

The members of Cirolanidae are also more important for

several other reasons. The family is species-rich and occurs

worldwide. This species is common in threatened marine

habitats, such as coral reefs and mangrove forests that are

under heavy developmental pressure, playing a significant

role as food for bottom feeding fishes, predators of other

fishes and also as mid-sized invertebrate consumers in the

food web.

Of all the Crustacean groups, the isopods are the most

diverse in their body form. Isopods have only one pair of

uropod. They are extremely diverse in their feeding habits.

Briones F., A.J. Patricia & E. Lozano (1991): Aspects of the biology of

the giant isopod Bathynomus giganteus , A. Milne Edwards, 1 879

(Flabellifera: Cirolanidae), off the Yucatan Peninsula. Crust. Biol.

11: 375-385.

Srikrishnadhas, B. & M. Venkatasamy (2003): Bathynomus giganteus :

These species mainly feed on fishes, sponges, shrimps,

nematodes and radiolarians. They also feed on diseased or

injured fish. They also attack fishes that have been caught in

commercial nets (Briones et cd. 1991).

The capture of this giant isopod by trawlers operated

in the inshore waters of Chennai at a depth of less than 90 m,

is of interest. It occurs generally at depths of 300 m, the reason

for its occurrence in shallower waters is worth studying.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Prof. Dr. T. Balasubramanian, Director,

Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai

University for encouragement, the authorities of their

university for facilities and CMLRE (DOD), Kochi, for

financial support.

A rare occurrence in coastal waters of Thoothukudi, India. Cun :

Sci. 85(9): 1253-1254.

Tso, S.F. & H.K. Mok ( 1991 ): Development, reproduction and nutrition

of the giant isopod Bathynomus doederleini , Ortman, 1894

(Isopoda, Flabelliera, Cirolanidae). Crustaceana 61: 141-154.

24. A NOTE ON THE CAPTURE OF 'GIANT ISOPOD’, BATHYNOMUS GIGANTEUS

A. MILNE EDWARDS, 1879 OFF MANGALORE COAST, INDIA1

T. Harish Nayak2-4, A.P. Dineshbabu2-5 and P.U. Zacharia36

'Accepted December 29, 2006

^Mangalore Centre of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Mangalore, India

Tuticorin Research Centre of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Tuticorin, India.

4Emuil: harinayak@ yahoo.com

5Email : dineshbabuap @ yahoo. co. in

6Email: [email protected]

Isopods are a large, diverse order with ten named

suborders and approximately 1 0,000 species. They are found

in all seas and at all depths, in fresh and brackish waters, and

on land. The Giant isopod Bathynomus giganteus A. Milne

Edwards, 1879 (Richardson 1905) is the largest marine isopod

species recorded in the world. It is reported to occur in a

wide depth range from 170 to 2,140 m and grows up to

400 mm in length. Bathynomus giganteus was found for the

first time in 1878 off the coast of Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of

Mexico and is reported to have distribution off Gulf of

Mexico; Atlantic Ocean; Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea

(Brusca et al. 1995).

The B. giganteus reported here was caught in a trawl

net operated by deep sea trawlers off Mangalore coast from a

depth of 1 50 m on April 07, 2004. Even though the species is

reported to have a wide distribution, the incidences of their

capture by fishing vessels from Indian waters are very rare.

Earlier records of the species were from Thoothukudi, Tamil

Nadu (Srikrishnadhas and Venkatasamy 2003) and Ezhimala,

Kannur (Jacob and Narayankutty 2006). This male specimen

caught off Mangalore measured 255 mm in length and

103 mm in width.

The body of Bathynomus giganteus is divided into three

distinct regions; head (cephalon), thorax, and abdomen

(pleon); the first segment of the thorax is fused to the head.

The remaining seven free segments (pereonites) of the thorax

comprise the pereon; each bears a pair of uniramous legs, or

pereopods. The pereopods are modified for locomotion and

for latching onto the prey. The abdomen primitively consists

of five free segments (pleonites) plus a fused 6th pleonite +

telson (pleotelson). Each pleonite bears a pair of biramous

pleopods, which are used for swimming and for respiration.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

369

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

They have compound eyes, two pairs of antennae, and four

sets of jaws. The first antennae are uniramous and typically

chemosensory; the second antennae are typically tactile

structures. The sex of the Bathynomus species is distinguished

by the presence of paired penes on the sternum of 7th pereonite

in males and with the presence of a marsupium and opening

of oviduct (near the base of the legs on the fifth pereonite) in

female. By examination the specimen caught was identified

as a male with distinguishable male sexual characters.

B. giganteus are voracious carnivores, functioning both

as predators and scavengers by crawling on the silty bottom

looking for dead fishes and slow moving animals. The

stomach of the specimen was dissected out and examined for

its content. The stomach was empty. It is reported that

B. giganteus feeds on a variety of food organisms, fishes,

sponges, shrimps, copepods, nematodes, radiolarians, and the

most important food categories in all life phases was found

to be fish and squid remains (Barradas-Ortiz et al. 2003).

When caught in the net, they tear off meat from the captured

fishes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors wish to thank Dr. Patricia Briones-Fourzan,

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico for providing

important literature on the species and also for the help in

identifying the specimen.

REFERENCES

Barradas-Ortiz, C., P. Briones-Fourzan & E. Lozano- Alvarez (2003):

Seasonal reproduction and feeding ecology of giant isopods

Bathynomus giganteus from the continental slope of the Yucatan

peninsula. Deep Sea Research. Part I: Oceanographic Research

Papers 50(4): 495-5 1 3.

Brusca, R.C., R. Wetzer & S. France (1995): Cirolanidae (Crustacea:

Isopoda: Flabellifera) of the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Proc. San

Diego Soc. Nat. Hist. 30: 1-96.

Jacob. A. & V.A. Narayankutty (2006): Report on the first occurrence

of a deep sea isopod from west coast of India. Mar. Fish. Infor.

Serv. T&ESer. No. 187: 13-14.

Richardson, H. (1905): Amonograph on the isopods of North America.

Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus. 54: I-LIII, 1-727 pp.

Srikrishnadhas, B. & M. Venkatasamy (2003): Bathynomus giganteus:

A rare occurrence in coastal waters of Thoothukkudi, India. Curr.

Sci. 85(9): 1253-1254.

25. NONEA C ASPIC A (WILLD.) G. DON. (BORAGINACEAE) —

A NEW RECORD FOR INDIA1

Rohitash Kumar Bhatia2 and Suman C. Sharma3

‘Accepted May 05, 2007

26-K-l, South Extension, Pawanpuri, Bikaner 334 003, Rajasthan, India.

’Herbarium, P.G. Department of Botany, Govt. Dungar College, Bikaner 334 001, Rajasthan, India.

During one of the plant collection visits to village

Dholipal, Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan. We collected

Nonea caspica (Willd.) G Don. near Indira Gandhi Canal. A

perusal of the literature shows that this species has not been

reported from India.

This paper records for the first time the occurrence of

Nonea caspica (Willd.) G. Don. from India. It is known so

far from Pakistan (Ali and Nasir 1989). The specimens have

been deposited in the Herbarium, Department of Botany,

Govt. Dungar College, Bikaner (Rajasthan). The identification

of the species is based on flora of Pakistan No. 191,

Boraginaceae by Ali and Nasir (1989).

Nonea caspica (Willd.) G. Don. Syst. 4: 336. 1838;

Riedl in Rich.f., FI. Iran. 48: 250. 1967; Ali & Nasir, FI.

Pakistan 191: 74. 1989.

Onosma caspica Willd Sp. PI 1(2): 775 1797; Nonea

picta (M. Bieb.) Fisch and May., Index sem. Hort. petrop.

43. 1835, N. nigricans auct. FI. or non. DC, 1846 (Fig. 1)

An ascending annual herb (up to 20 cm long), stems

Fig. 1: Nonea caspica (Willd.) G. Don. (Boraginaceae)

A. Twig, B. Corolla, C. Seed

370

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

and branches hairy. Leaves linear lanceolate to ovate-

lanceolate, hairy especially on upper surface, entire to

subdenticulate or crisp. Inflorescence elongating in fruit.

Flowers blue, calyx densely pubescent. Corolla 6 mm long,

cylindrical, regular, the limb indistinct. Anthers attached from

corolla base. Stigma bi-fid. Nutlets black, 2 mm long, rugulose

on the back, pilose.

Specimen Examined: Near Indira Gandhi Canal,

Dholipal, Hanumangarh. Bhatia & Sharma, DCH 1670.

FI. & Fr.: March- April

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to Dr. V. Singh, Joint Director, BSI,

Jodhpur for encouragement. Thanks are also due to the Principal,

Dungar College, Bikaner for providing lab facilities.

26. AN AMPLIFIED DESCRIPTION OF A HITHERTO UNCOMMON SPECIES

LEUCOTHOE GRIFEITHIANA C.B. CLARKE (ERICACEAE)1

S. Panda2

'Accepted January 31, 2007

-Central National Herbarium. Botanical Survey of India, P.O. Botanic Garden, Howrah 711 103. West Bengal. India.

Present address: Post-Graduate Department of Botany, Barasat Govt. College, Barasat 700 124, North 24-Parganas, West Bengal, India

Email: [email protected]

As a result of revisionary work on Ericaceae in India

under the ‘Flora of India Project’, several field trips in the

Eastern Himalaya and north-eastern India as well as

consultation of herbarium specimens in several Indian

herbaria (CAL, BSIS, DD, BSD, ASSAM, BSHC. ARUN

and APFH) were done. Leucothoe griffithiana C.B. Clarke,

an ill-described and hitherto uncommon species, was reported

for the first time in India from Arunachal Pradesh (West

Kameng district) by Srinivasan (1959). Further collections

were made by K. Haridasan (APFH, Itanagar) from the Lower

Subansiri district in 1994. Besides BSIS and APFH, no

collections were made in the above mentioned Indian herbaria

so far consulted. Further collections were also made by the

author (CAL) from two districts of Arunachal Pradesh, namely

West Kameng and Lower Subansiri in 2002. Populations of

this species are very rare in distribution; although no

collections have been made from other districts of Arunachal

Pradesh. The species was first described by Clarke (1882)

from Tashigang district in Bhutan based on the specimen

collected by W. Griffith (Kew distrb. no. 3485, CAL, K).

Subsequently, the species was also reported from Western

China (Flora of China, internet ed.) and Northern Myanmar

(Kress et al. 2003).

The genus Leucothoe was first found and described by

Don ( 1 834) based on the type species, L. axillaris (Lam.) D.

Don, from North America. The mythological name

‘ Leucothoe ’ was adopted for one of the many loves of Apollo,

the daughter of the King Orchamus of Babylonia ( Quattrocchi

2000). According to Gray (1878), ‘ Leucothoe ’ was “the name

of one of the fifty daughters of Nereus”. The genus consisting

of eight species (Mabberley 1997) is confined to India,

Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Japan and North America.

Among eight species, only L. griffithiana C.B. Clarke is

reported from two districts in Arunachal Pradesh of India.

Leucothoe D. Don, Edinburgh N Philos. J. 17: 159.

1834; G. Don, Gen. Syst. 3: 831. 1834; Endl., Gen. PL: 755.

1839; DC., Prodr. 7(2): 601. 1839 excl. sect. Agarista (D.

Don' DC. (= Agarista D. Don); Hook.f. in Benth. & Hook.f.,

Gen. PI. 2: 584. 1876; A. Gray, Syn. fl. N. Amer. 2(1): 33.

1878; C.B. Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 460. 1882;

Drude in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 4(1): 42. 1889;

C.E. Wood, ./. Arnold Arbor. 42: 38. 1961; Rae in A.J.C.

Grierson & D.G. Long, Fl. Bhutan 2(1): 396. 1991. Type

species: L. axillaris (Lam.) D. Don.

Leucothoe griffithiana C.B. Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit.

India 3: 460. 1882; W.W. Sm„ Notes Roy. Bot. Gard.

Edinburgh 13: 164. 1921; K.S. Sriniv., Rec. Bot. Surv. India

17(2): 26. 1959; Rae in A.J.C. Grierson & D.G. Long, Fl.

Bhutan 2(1): 396. 1991. Gaultheria sp., Griffith, Itin. pi.

Khasyah mts. (Posthumous Papers 2): 138. 1848. Pieris

griffithiana Hook.f. ex C.B. Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India

3: 460. 1882, pro syn. Type: Bhutan, Tashigang district,

towards Sanah, 2,072 m, Griffith s.n. (Kew distrb. no. 3485,

CAL!; K, photo!) (Fig. 1).

Stout, erect, pendent shrub, 1-3 m high, rarely growing

in rock crevices. Stem terete, blackish-brown, profusely

branched, glabrous; branches cinnamon brown, pendent,

glabrous; branchlets pinkish, terete, glabrous, often flexuosus.

Leaves coriaceous, lamina oblong-lanceolate, elliptic-

lanceolate to lanceolate, (9-) 12-16x3.5-4.5 cm, subentire to

obscurely serrulate at margin, broadly cuneate at base, long

acuminate to caudate-acuminate at apex, acumen up to

15 mm long, glabrous, dark green or pinkish-green above,

light green beneath; venation brochidodromous with 7-9 pairs

of lateral veins, conspicuous above, obscure beneath; petioles

stout, 5-8 mm long, glabrous. Racemes axillary or rarely

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

371

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Fig. 1 : Leucothoe griffithiana C. B. Clarke

A. habit; B. flower; C-D. bracts; E-F. bracteoles; G pedicel (part

magnified); H-l. fruits; J. seed; K. rachis (part magnified);

L. corolla lobe; M-N. calyx lobes; O. ovary (t. s .); P-Q. stamens;

R. pistil. — Scale bars: A = 1 cm; B, H, I, R = 2 mm; C, D, E, F, J,

L-Q = 1 mm; G, K = 5 mm (A-G, K-R: drawn from Haridasan

6841 , APFH); H-J: S. Panda 30844, CAL. Drawn by S. Panda.

glabrous, lobes ovate, c. lxl mm. Stamens 10, c. 3 mm long,

loosely epipetalous; filaments c. 1.5 mm long, slender,

papillose, pilose, dilated at base; anthers oblong, c. 1 mm

long, glabrous, each lobe with 2 equal minute apical awns.

Pistil c. 5 mm long; ovary globose, c. 2x3 mm, glabrous,

ovules numerous on axile placenta in each locule; disc

minutely 10-dentate; style c. 3 mm long, slender, glabrous;

stigma truncate. Capsule loculicidally 5-valved, depressed-

globose, yellowish, c. 3x7 mm with 5-7 mm long pedicel,

glabrous. Seeds numerous, winged, flattened, elliptic to

suborbicular, c. 1 mm long, margin covered with greyish-

white scale-like papillae, scariose.

Distribution: india: Eastern Himalaya (Arunachal

Pradesh); Bhutan; Western China and Upper Myanmar.

Habitat: This species grows gregariously in moist and

humus-covered rocky slopes, sometimes hanging down from

rock crevices in association with Gaultheria seshagiriana ,

G.fragrantissima , G. brevistipes. Rhododendron vaccinioides

and Vaccinium nuttallii at altitudes ranging from

2,300-2,800 m .

Flowering: April-May.

Fruiting: June-December.

Specimens Examined: Arunachal Pradesh: Lower

Subansiri district: Pange to Talle Valley, 2,400-2,800 m,

30.xii.2002. S. Panda 30844 (CAL); Talle Valley, 22.iii.1994,

Haridasan 6756 (APFH); West Kameng district: 7 km from

Bomdi La toward Dirang, 2,286 m, 26.xii.2002, S. Panda

30833 (CAL); Bomdi La, 14.V.1955, K.S. Srinivasan s.n.,

acc. no. 42659 (BSIS).

pseudoterminal, eperulate; rachis light green to greyish-white,

6-13 cm long, 20-40-flowered, densely white puberulous.

Flowers 8-14 mm long; pedicels greyish-white, 3-5 mm long,

densely white puberulous; bract 1, basal, greyish-white, ovate

to broadly ovate, c. 3x2 mm, ciliolate at margin, acute at apex,

glabrous; bracteoles 2, opposite, basal, greyish-white, ovate

to broadly ovate, c. lxl mm, ciliolate at margin, acute at apex,

glabrous. Calyx lobes greyish-white, ovate-triangular,

c. 2x1.5 mm, ciliolate at margin, acute at apex, glabrous.

Corolla tubulo-urceolate to short tubular, white, 5-6 x 4 mm,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to my supervisor. Dr. M. Sanjappa,

Director, Botanical Survey of India for guidance, manuscript

correction and for awarding a research fellowship. Thanks

are also due to Dr. K. Haridasan (Ex-Scientist, APFH,

Itanagar) and Dr. A.K. Baishya (Ex-Deputy Director, ARUN,

Itanagar) for providing all facilities for field studies in West

Kameng and Lower Subansiri districts and for consultation

of herbarium specimens at APFH and ARUN.

REFERENCES

Clarke, C.B. (1882): Ericaceae, hr. Hooker, J.D.: FI. of Brit. India 3:

460.

Don, David (1834): An attempt at a new arrangement of the Ericaceae.

Edinburgh N. Phil. J. 17: 159.

Gray, A. (1878): Ericaceae. Syn.fl. North America 2(1): 33. New York.

Kress, W.J., R. A. De Filipps, E. Farr & D. Yinyinkyi (2003): Ericaceae.

A Checklist of the Trees, Shrubs, Herbs and Climbers of Myanmar:

Pp. 215. National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC., USA.

Mabberley, D.J. (1997): Ericaceae. The Plant-Book: A portable

dictionary of the vascular plants, Ed. 2: 407. Cambridge University

Press, Cambridge, England.

Quattrocchi, U. (2000): CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, vol.2:

1486. CRC Press, LLC, Corporate Blvd., NW Boca Raton, Florida

(USA).

Srinivasan, K.S. (1959): Report on a Botanical Tour to Bomdi-La,

N.E.F.A. Rec. Bot. Surv. India 17(2): 26.

372

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

27. NEW RECORDS OF FIVE TAX A OF ERICACEAE FROM INDIA1

S. Panda2, M. Sanjappa3 and R.K. Bhakat4

'Accepted August 08, 2006

2Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, P.O. Botanic Garden, Howrah 711 103, West Bengal, India. Present address: Post-

Graduate Department of Botany, Barasat Govt. College, Barasat 700 124, North 24-Parganas, West Bengal, India. Email: [email protected]

'Botanical Survey of India, CGO Complex, 3rd MSO building, Block-F, 5th Floor, Sector-I, Salt lake City, Kolkata 700 064, West Bengal, India.

Email: [email protected]

4Deptartment of Botany & Forestry, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore 721 102, West Bengal, India.

Introduction

As a result of revisionary work on Ericaceae in India

under the ‘Flora of India Project', several field trips in the

Eastern Himalaya and north-eastern India, as well as

consultation of herbarium specimens in several Indian

herbaria (CAL, BSIS, DD, BSD, ASSAM, BSHC, ARUN

and APFH), were done. This resulted in new records of the

following five taxa of Ericaceae for the first time from India.

All the five taxa are provided with key, description and

illustration.

Key to the Taxa

1. Abaxial leaves punctate; flowers tetra-pentamerous in the

same plant; stamens 5; each anther lobe with 2 apical awns

Gaultheria tetramera

— Abaxial leaves not punctate; dowers always pentamerous;

stamens 1 0; anther lobes without apical awns 2

2. Leaves villous; racemes with 5-7 basal foliose bracts;

filaments geniculate

Lyonia ovalifolia (Wall.) Drude var .foliosa

— Leaves not villous; racemes without foliose bracts; filaments

straight 3

3. Twigs densely setose; leaves 3-8 cm long; filaments densely

pilose Vaccinium exaristatum

— Twigs glabrous; leaves 8-24 cm long; if leaves 8 cm long

then filaments glabrous or puberulous 4

4. Leaves pseudo-verticillate; bract c. 5 mm long; filaments

minutely puberulous; anther lobes granular

Vaccinium nuttallii

— Leaves alternate; bract c. 1 .5 mm long; filaments glabrous;

anther lobes smooth Vaccinium papulosum

Gaultheria tetramera W. W. Sm., Notes Roy. Bot. Card.

Edinburgh 11(55): 211. 1919; Airy Shaw in Curtis’s Bot. Mag.

163: t. 9618. 1942. Type: China, Yunnan, East of Tengyueh,

25° N, 1,828 m, G. Forrest 7702: K, photo! (Fig. 1).

Stout, bushy erect shrub, 0.2- 1.5 m high, often growing

in rock crevices. Stem terete, blackish-brown, profusely

branched, subglabrous; branchlets light green with pinkish

stripes, hispid-setose. Leaves subcoriaceous, lamina oblong,

oblong-elliptic, elliptic to rarely obovate, 2. 5-4.0 (-7.0) x 1 .4-

2.0 cm, serrulate at margin, broadly cuneate at base, mucronate

at apex, dark green, glabrous above, light green with a few

setose hairs and punctate beneath; venation conspicuously

brochidodromous with 3-5 pairs of lateral veins; petioles stout,

2-3 mm long, sparsely setose. Racemes axillary, short,

perulate; rachis greenish- white, up to 2 cm long, 6-12-

flowered, densely white puberulous. Flowers tetra-

pentamerous, c. 10 mm long; pedicels greenish-white,

c. 4 mm long, minutely white puberulous; bract 1 , basal, light

Fig. 1: Gaultheria tetramera W. W. Sm.

A. habit; B-C. flowers; D-E. bracts; F-G. bracteoles;

H-l. calyx lobes; J. corolla split open; K. corolla lobe;

L-M. stamens; N. ovary (t. s.); O. pistil.

— Scale bars: A = 1 cm; B, C, J = 2 mm; D-l, L-O = 1 mm

(A-O: drawn from S. Panda 29976)

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

373

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

green with pinkish stripes, ovate-oblong or oblong, c. 3.5 x

2.0 mm, ciliate at margin, mucronulate at apex, puberulous;

bracteoles 2, opposite, sub-basal, light green with pinkish

stripes, ovate-elliptic, 2 x 1 mm, ciliolate at margin,

mucronulate at apex, puberulous outside, glabrous inside.

Calyx 4-5-lobed, lobes equal, united at the base, pinkish, ovate

to ovate-triangular, c. 1.5 x 1.0 mm, ciliolate at margin,

mucronulate at apex, glabrous. Corolla ovoid-urceolate,

pinkish-white, c. 5x4 mm, glabrous outside, pilose inside,

4-5-lobed, lobes equal and minute. Stamens 5, c. 2 mm long,

loosely epipetalous; filaments greyish-white, c. 1 mm long,

slender, papillose, pilose, dilated at middle; anther lobes

orange brown, oblong, c. 1 mm long, glabrous, each lobe

with 2 equal, minute, warty apical awns. Pistil c. 2.5 mm

long; ovary globose to subglobose, light green, c. 1.0 x

1.5 mm, densely white tomentose, 4-5-locular, ovules

numerous on axile placenta in each locule; disc obscure; style

light green, c. 1.5 mm long, slender, puberulous; stigma

truncate. Fruits not seen.

Distribution: India: Eastern Himalaya (Sikkim) and

SW China (Yunnan).

Habitat: This is a rare species grown in discontinuous

patches on moist humus covered rocky slopes, often hanging

down from rock crevices in association with Gaultheria

hookeri, G. stapfiana and G. semi-infera at c. 3,200 m.

Flowering: May.

Specimens Examined: Sikkim: Lachen to Thangu, near

Yangdin, 3,200 m, 31.V.2002, S. Panda 29976.

Notes: The species was first collected in 1912 by

G. Forrest in the Tengyueh region of Yunnan in China and

described by W.W. Smith in 1919; the species was not reported

from India. Although, Airy Shaw ( 1942) wrote, “possibly a

distinct species with longer and narrower leaves known from

Sikkim”; he did not cite any specimens of this species from

Sikkim. Therefore, he was unsure of its distribution from

Sikkim.

The Sikkim populations (S. Panda 29976) showed

c. 3.5 mm long, oblong to ovate-oblong bract, sub-basal

bracteoles, c. 4 mm long pedicel and puberulous style not

reported earlier.

Lyonia ovalifolia (Wall.) Drude var. foliosa (H.R.

Fletcher) Judd J. Arnold Arbor. 62\ 168. 1981. Xolismafoliosa

H. R. Fletcher, Kew Bull. 101:40. 1936. Lyonia foliosa (H.R.

Fletcher) Sleumer, Dansk Bot. Ark. 25: 80. 1963. Type:

Thailand, Loi, Kao Krading, c. 1,200 m, 1 2.iii . 1 924, Kerr

8673 (holotype and isotypes: E, n.v.) (Fig. 2).

Stout, erect shrub, c. 1 .2 m high, rarely growing in rock

crevices. Stem terete, profusely branched, glabrous. Leaves

chartaceo-coriaceous to papery, lamina elliptic to oblong-

Fig. 2: Lyonia ovalifolia (Wall.) Drude var. foliosa

(H. R. Fletcher) Judd

A. habit: B. pistil; C. flower; D-E. fruits; F. fruit (top view);

G. seeds; H-l. calyx lobes; J-L. bracts;

M. anther lobes (magnified); N-O. stamens.

— Scale bars: A = 1 cm; B, C, F, J, K, L = 2 mm; D, E = 3 mm;

G, H, I, M, N, O =1 mm (A-O: drawn from G. Panigrahi 3278)

elliptic, 2-5 x 1-2 cm, obscurely serrulate-ciliate at margin,

rounded to broadly cuneate at base, mucronulate at apex, dark

green, densely villous along mid-vein above, light green,

sparsely villous beneath; venation conspicuously

brochidodromous with 5-7 pairs of lateral veins; petioles stout,

2-5 mm long, villous. Racemes axillary; rachis 5-7 cm long,

12-18-flowered, puberulous with 5-7 basal foliose bracts of

7-30 mm long. Flowers c. 13 mm long; pedicels c. 6 mm

long, puberulous; bract 1, basal, ovate-elliptic to oblong-

elliptic or elliptic 6-8 x 2. 0-3. 5 mm, entire to sparsely ciliate

at margin, mucronulate-acuminate at apex, glabrous;

bracteoles not seen. Calyx lobes coriaceous, ovate-triangular,

c. 2x1 mm, entire at margin, short acuminate at apex, villous

outside, glabrous inside. Corolla tubular, white, c. 7 x 3 mm,

villous outside, glabrous inside, lobes minute. Stamens 10,

c. 7 mm long, loosely epipetalous; filaments c. 6 mm long,

slender, geniculate, pilose, dilated at base, with 2 equal,

opposite, minute spurs at the anther-filament junction; anthers

374

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

orange brown, elliptic, c. I mm long, glabrous. Pistil c. 4.5

mm long; ovary globose, c. 1.5 x 1.5 mm, glabrous, ovules

numerous on axile placenta in each locule; disc obscure; style

c. 1.5 mm long, slender, columnar, straight, slightly swollen

near middle, glabrous; stigma truncate. Capsule globose to

ovoid, c. 3x3 mm with 8-10 mm long puberulous pedicel,

glabrous. Seeds numerous, blackish-brown, cylindrical,

acicular to sickle-shaped, c. 1 mm long, scariose.

Distribution: india: Meghalaya; Thailand.

Habitat: This is a rare variety that grows in

discontinuous patches in dry rocky slopes in association with

L. ovalifolia var. lanceolata at c. 1,500 m.

Flowering: April-May; September.

Fruiting: September.

Specimens Examined: Meghalaya: Nongthymai, near

Shillong, East Khasi Hill district, 20.ix.1956, G. Panigrahi

3278 (Assam).

Notes: The variety was first collected in 1 924 by Kerr

in Loi region, Thailand, and described by H.R. Fletcher in

1 936 as a distinct species, Xolisma foliosa. Later, Judd (1981)

newly combined and changed its status as a variety under

genus Lyonia Nutt. No record was made outside Thailand. In

India, the variety is recorded from the single collection made

by G. Panigrahi in 1956 from Nongthymai, near Shillong in

Meghalaya. No further collections were made in India.

Vaccinium exaristatum Kurz J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal

42(2): 86. 1873 (inch var. semipubescens and pubescens) and

For. FI. Brit. Burma 2: 91. 1877. Type: Myanmar, Martaban

hills, 1,600-2,000 m, Kurz s.n. (CAL !) (Fig. 3).

Vernacular names: Manipur: Ringseng (Tankul Nagas

of Siroi village, Ukhrul district); Mizoram: Sirkham (Lushais

of Chhimtuipui district); Nagaland: Mopungaso (Imchung

Nagas of Pungro Village, Tuensang district).

Stout, erect shrub to small tree, 1-5 m high. Stem

profusely branched, glabrous; branches terete, sparsely setose;

twigs blackish-brown, setose. Leaves alternate, chartaceo-

coriaceous to papery, lamina oblong-ovate, elliptic, ovate-

elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 3-8 x 1-3 cm, serrate to serrulate

at margin, broadly cuneate to rounded at base, short acuminate

to acute at apex, dark green, glabrous above, light green,

glabrous or setulose along mid-vein beneath; venation

conspicuously brochidodromous with 6-8 pairs lateral veins;

petioles stout, 1-3 mm long, setose. Racemes axillary or

pseudoterminal, eperulate; rachis light green or light green

with pinkish stripes, 2- 1 0 cm long, 1 0-35-flowered, pubescent

to rarely glabrous. Flowers 8-14 mm long; pedicels light

green, 2-5 mm long, glabrous or pubescent; bract 1 , basal,

caducous, pinkish, ovate-elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 1-3 x

1 mm, ciliate at margin, short acuminate to acute at apex,

Fig. 3: Vaccinium exaristatum Kurz

A. habit; B. flower; C-D. bracts; E. calyx cup; F corolla lobe;

G-H. bracteoles; I. ovary (t. s.); J-L. calyx lobes;

M-N. stamens; O. pistil.

— Scale bars: A = 1 cm; B, I, O = 2 mm; C-H, J-N = 1 mm

(A-O: drawn from S. Panda 30755).

glabrous or puberulous outside; bracteoles 2, opposite, sub-

basal, caducous, pinkish, broadly to narrowly ovate-triangular,

1 -2 x 0.5 mm, ciliolate at margin, acuminate at apex, glabrous

or sparsely puberulous outside. Calyx lobes light green with

pinkish stripes, ovate-triangular, c. 1 * 1 mm, entire at margin,

acute at apex, glabrous or puberulous. Corolla urceolate to

tubulo-urceolate, white to pinkish-white or pinkish, 5-8 mm

long, 3-4 mm diameter, glabrous or rarely pilose inside, lobes

ovate-orbicular, c. 1 x 0.5 mm. Stamens 10, 5-7 mm long;

filaments pinkish-white to greyish-white, 2-3 mm long,

slender, pilose, dilated at base; anthers oblong to ovate-oblong,

orange brown, minute or c. 1 mm long, glabrous, each lobe

with 2-3 mm long single tubule, spurless. Pistil c. 8 mm long;

ovary globose, light green, c. 1 .5 x 2.0 mm, glabrous, ovules

6-8 on axile placenta in each locule; disc minutely 1 0-dentate;

style light green, c. 7 mm long, slender, glabrous; stigma

truncate. Fruits not seen.

Distribution: india: North-eastern India (Nagaland,

Manipur and Mizoram); China; Myanmar; Thailand; Laos

and Vietnam.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

375

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Habitat: This species grows gregariously in dry and

moist rocky slopes, often in rocky soils in association with

Lyonia ovalifolia var. ovalifolia at altitudes ranging from 800-

1 ,800 m.

Flowering: Mareh-April.

Specimens Examined: Manipur: Ukhrul, 1,676 m,

28.iii.1948, S.K. Mukherjee 2571; Ukhrul district: Nong

Shong Khong, 914-1,219 m, 06. iv. 1882, G. Watt 6259;

Lambui, Ukhrul to Imphal, 1,300 m, 3 1 .iii.2002, S. Panda

30755 and 30756; Gwaltabi, Ukhrul to Imphal road, 950 m,

31 .iii.2002, S. Panda 30757; Shugnu, 30.iii. 1 924 ,Jagarmani

800 (DD); no precise locality, Naga hills, Kingdon-Ward

11341. Mizoram: no precise locality, Lushai hills, Mrs. Parry

15. Nagaland: Kohima ridge, 1,524 m. May, 1886, Dr. D.

Plain s.n., acc. no. 264711; Kohima, 1,219 m. May, 1896,

King’s Collector 270; near Pungro village, Tuensang district,

1,300 m, 30.iii.2003, S. Panda 30857; Kohima, 1,463 m,

0 1 .iv. 1 935, N.L. Bor 2967 (DD).

Notes: The species was first collected (date of collection

so far consulted is unknown) and described by Kurz in 1873

in the region of Martaban hills in Myanmar. In India, the

species was wrongly identified as Vaccinium sprengelii

(G. Don) Sleumer in regional as well as in local Floras. At

present, the species is reported from Nagaland. Manipur and

Mizoram. The populations of Manipur (S. Panda 30755)

showed short purple bract ( 1-2 mm long), 2 sub-basal and

broadly ovate-triangular bracteoles, purple corolla and minute

anther lobe not reported earlier.

Vaccinium nuttaUii (C.B. Clarke) Sleumer in Engl.,

Bot.Jahrb. Syst. 71 (4): 477. 1941 . V. serratum (G. Don) Wight

var. nuttallii C.B. Clarke in Hook./, FI. Brit. India 3: 452.

1882. Type: Bhutan, Nuttall s.n. (K, photo !) (Fig. 4).

Stout, erect shrub, 0. 5-2.0 m high, sometimes epiphytic.

Stem terete, profusely branched, glabrous, lenticillate; twigs

often covered with tuft of scales up to 1 cm long. Leaves

pseudoverticillate, 3-8 in each pseudoverticil, coriaceous,

lamina oblong-lanceolate, lanceolate to rarely ovate-elliptic,

oblong-elliptic or elliptic, (8-) 10-19 x 2. 0-5. 5 cm, crenate or

crenate-serrate at margin, narrowly cuneate at base,

acuminate, long acuminate to rarely acute at apex, acumen

up to 8 mm long, glabrous, dark green above, light green

beneath; venation conspicuously brochidodromous with 15-

25 pairs of lateral veins; petioles subsessile to 1 mm long,

glabrous. Racemes pseudoterminal, perulate, 3-6 racemes in

each pseudoverticil; each rachis light green with pinkish

stripes, 4-7 cm long, 25-35-flowered, glabrous. Flowers 8-

1 3 mm long; pedicels light green, 2-6 mm long, glabrous;

bract 1 , basal, caducous, greenish-white with pinkish stripes,

broadly ovate-triangular, c. 5 x 2 mm, ciliate at margin.

Fig. 4: Vaccinium nuttallii (C. B. Clarke) Sleumer

A. habit; B. flower; C-D. inflorescence bracts; E-F. pedicellar

bracteoles; G. corolla lobe; H-l. stamens; J. ovary (t. s.);

K. seeds; L-M. pedicellar bracts; N. pistil; O-P. calyx lobes;

Q. corolla split open; R, T. fruits; S. infructescence.

— Scale bars: A = 1 cm; B - D, R = 2 mm;

E-F, H-Q, S-T = 1 mm; G = 0.5 mm

(A-J, L-Q: drawn from S. Panda 30845A;

K, R-T: S. Panda 30845B).

376

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

acuminate at apex, glabrous outside, puberulous inside;

bracteoles 2, opposite, basal to sub-basal, caducous, greenish-

white with pinkish stripes, oblong to oblong-elliptic, c. 2.0 *

0.5 mm, ciliate at margin, acuminate at apex, glabrous. Calyx

lobes pinkish, ovate-deltoid, c. 1 x 1 mm, entire at margin, acute

at apex, glabrous outside, puberulous inside. Corolla ovoid-

urceolate, light green, 5-6 mm long, c. 3 mm diameter, glabrous

outside, pilose inside, lobes ovate, minute. Stamens 10,

c. 3.5 mm long; filaments greyish-white, c. 1.5 mm long,

slender, puberulous, dilated at base; anthers orange brown,

oblong, c. 1 mm long, granular, each lobe with c. I mm long

single tubule. Pistil c. 5 mm long; ovary globose, light green,

c. 1.0 x 1.5 mm, glabrous, ovules 6-8 on axile placenta in

each locule; disc minutely 10-dentate; style light green, c.

4 mm long, slender, dotted toward apex; stigma capitate or

truncate. Berry globose, purple to dark purple, 3-5 x 3-5 mm

with 5-6 mm long pedicel, glabrous. Seeds 1 0-20, yellowish-

brown, obconical, c. 1 .0 * 0.5 mm, scariose.

Distribution: india: Eastern Himalaya (Arunachal

Pradesh); Bhutan and Northern Myanmar.

Habitat: The species grows gregariously on moist

rocky slopes, sometimes epiphytic in association with

Gaultheria fragrantissima, G. brevis tipes, G. seshagiriana ,

Leucothoe griffithiana and Aralia spp. at altitudes ranging

from 2,000-2,500 m.

Flowering: April-June; November-January.

Fruiting: July-September; December-March.

Specimens Examined: Arunachal Pradesh: Dibang

Valley district: specimens at BSD; near Myodia Guest House,

15.xi.2000, D.K. Singh & Party 97428; west bankofMehao

Lake, 24. xi. 2000, D.K. Singh & Party 97636; Myodia,

06.xii. 1988, K. Haridasan 4911 (APFH); Lower Subansiri

district: Daphla Hills, 20. i. 1875, J.L. Lister 195; Pange to

Tale Valley, 2,200-2,500 m, 30.xii.2002, S. Panda 30845 A &

B; Rizampaka to Saling, about 1 9 miles South-east of Hapoli,

1 7.iv. 1965, A.R.K. Sashtry 42056 (ARUN); Tale Valley,

22.iii.1994, K. Haridasan 6758 (APFH); Tirap district:

Nonglo, 29.vi.1961 , D.B. Deb 26351; Chinnkang, 28.vi.1961,

D.B. Deb 26270; West Kameng district: Chakoo, 2,465 m,

2 1 .iv. 1 957, G. Panigrahi 6295; Bomdi La, 16.V.1955, K.S.

Srinivasan s.n., acc. no. 42697 (BSIS); Eagle Nest Sanctuary,

06. xi. 1982, K. Haridasan 1 1 87 (APFH); West Siang district:

Bulli to Shikar forest, 28. xi. 1 984, K. Haridasan 1 822 (APFH).

Notes: The species was first collected by Nuttall from

Bhutan and described by C.B. Clarke in 1 882 as a variety of

Vaccinium serration (G. Don) Wight (= Vaccinium

vacciniaceum (Roxb.) Sleumer). Later, Sleumer( 1941 ) newly

combined and changed its status as a distinct species,

V. nuttallii. Earlier this species was recorded only from Bhutan

and northern Myanmar. Specimens of this species from

northern Myanmar were first collected by Kingdom Ward (no.

6642, 6698, 6702). In India, this species is recorded only from

Arunachal Pradesh. The populations of Arunachal Pradesh

(S. Panda 30845A & B) showed broadly ovate-triangular bract

with acuminate apex, densely puberulous filaments, granular

anther lobes and purple berries not reported earlier.

Vaccinium papillosum C. Y. Wu & R.C. Fang Acta Bot.

Yunnan. 9: 388. 1987; Type: China, Xizang, Medog, 1,650

m, lO.v.1983, B.S. Li, S.Z. Cheng & C.C. Ni 4828 (PE, n.v.)

(Fig. 5).

Stout, erect or pendent, epiphytic shrub, 1-3 m high.

Stem terete to angular, profusely branched, glabrous,

lenticillate. Leaves alternate, coriaceous, rhomboid-elliptic,

oblong-lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 18-24 x 4-7 cm, serrate

at margin, narrowly cuneate at base, acute or acuminate at

apex, glabrous, dark green above, light green beneath;

venation conspicuously brochidodromous with 15-20 pairs

of lateral veins; petioles stout, 8-10 mm long, glabrous.

Fig. 5: Vaccinium papuiosum C.Y. Wu & R.C. Fang

A. habit; B. bract; C. calyx cup with pedicel; D-E. flowers;

F-G. bracteoles; H. corolla split open; I. seeds;

J. corolla lobe; K. pistil; L-M. calyx lobes;

N-R stamens; Q. ovary (t. s.).

— Scale bars: A = 1 cm; B, F, G, L, M-Q = 1 mm;

C, FI, K = 2 mm; D-E = 3 mm

(A-Q: drawn from G. D. Pal 77800).

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

377

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Racemes axillary, perulate or eperulate; rachis 4-5 cm long,

12-16-flowered, glabrous. Flowers c. 15 mm long; pedicels

c. 8 mm long, glabrous; bract 1, basal, caducous, narrowly

ovate-triangular, c. 1 .5 x 0.5 mm, ciliate at margin, acuminate

at apex, glabrous; bracteoles 2, opposite, basal, caducous,

ovate-oblong, c. 1.0 x 0.5 mm, long, ciliate at margin,

acuminate at apex, glabrous. Calyx lobes broadly ovate-

deltoid, c. 1 x 1 mm, entire at margin, acuminate at apex,

glabrous. Corolla ovoid-urceolate, 5-6 mm long, c. 3 mm

diameter, glabrous, lobes equal, ovate-deltoid, minute.

Stamens 10, c. 5 mm long; filaments c. 2 mm long, slender,

glabrous, dilated at base; anthers oblong, c. 1 mm long,

glabrous, each lobe with c. 2 mm long single tubule. Pistil

c. 7 mm long; ovary globose, c. 2.0 x 2.5 mm, glabrous, ovules

6-8 on axile placenta in each locule; disc obscure; style

c. 5 mm long, slender, glabrous; stigma usually truncate, rarely

lobed. Berry globose, pinkish-white to pale green, c. 4x4 mm

with c. 1 1 mm long pedicel, glabrous. Seeds 20-30, obconical,

minute, scariose.

Distribution: india: Eastern Himalaya (Arunachal

Pradesh) and SW China.

Habitat: The species grow gregariously as an epiphyte

on moss covered old tree trunks at c. 1,600 m.

Flowering: April.

Fruiting: May.

Specimens Examined: Arunachal Pradesh: specimens

at ARUN : Begi to Amje, near Begi, Lower Subansiri district,

24.iv.1980, G.D. Pal 77800; Amje vicinity, 22. v. 1966, A.R.K.

Sashtry 45510.

Notes: The species was first collected in 1983 by B.S.

Li, S.Z. Cheng & C.C. Ni in the Medog region of Xizang in

China and described by C.Y. Wu and R.C. Fang in 1987. There

was no record of the species outside China. In India,

specimens of the species were collected in 1966 and 1980

before the Chinese specimens were discovered. At present,

the species is recorded only from Lower Subansiri district of

Arunachal Pradesh in India.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am grateful to my supervisor. Dr. M. Sanjappa,

Director, Botanical Survey of India for correcting the

manuscript, creative advice and for providing facilities for

the field trips.

REFERENCES

Ajry Shaw, H.K. (1942): Gaultheria tetramera. In: Curtis’s Bot. Mag. 163: t. 9618.

Judd, W.S. ( 1981 ): A monograph of Lyonia (Ericaceae). J. Arnold Arbor. 62: 168.

Sleumer, H. (1941): Vaccinioideen-Studien. In: Engler, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 71(4): All.

28. A LITTLE KNOWN PLANT SPECIES OF GUJARAT

TEPHROSIA COLLIN A SHARMA VAR. LANUGINOCARPA SHARMA1

PS. Nagar2

'Accepted September 29, 2004

-Department of Biosciences, Saurashtra University, Rajkot 360 005, Gujarat, India. Email: [email protected]

The Tephrosia collinci Sharma var. lanuginocarpa

Sharma is an extremely rare, endangered plant species of

Gujarat, India (Kothari and Hajra 1983; Shah 1983.). The

plant has been reported rare from Rajpipla, Southern Gujarat

(Shah 1978). Other than this, there are no available records

of the species in the flora of Gujarat (cf. Cooke 1901; Thaker

1910; Santapau 1962; Santapau and Janardhanan 1967; Bole

and Pathak 1988). Above all, it is the only observation from

the semi-arid tracts of Saurashtra, Gujarat (Bole and Pathak

1 988). The specimen was collected during an extensive survey

of the grasslands of Jamnagar district. The plants were

observed on sandy silty soil. The paper describes its floral

characteristics, phenology, variations, and habit and habitat

distribution; photographs are provided .

Description

The two varieties of Tephrosia collina mentioned by

Sharma (1960) are:

(i) Pods on faces and along the sutures thinly argenteo-

canescent with forwardly adpressed short hairs, seeds

4-4.8 mm long, 2.5-3 mm broad, somewhat reniform in

outline T. collina var. collina

(ii) Pods on faces villous and along the sutures

conspicuously fringed with dull brown, stiff and almost erect

short hairs of nearly equal length, seeds 3-3.2 mm broad, at

one or both ends nearly truncate

T. collina var. lanuginocarpa

There are some variations in the specimen of Tephrosia

collina Sharma var. lanuginocarpa Sharma collected from

378

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Table 1: Variations in the specimen collected from Saurashtra

Gujarat (present study), as compared to the type specimen

collected from Rajasthan by Sharma (1960)

Saurashtra Gujarat (present study), as compared to the type

specimen collected by Sharma (1960) from Rajasthan

(Table 1).

Voucher specimens: India, Gujarat, Jamnagar district,

Jamjodhpur taluka, Motividi (Grassland), October 17, 2001,

PSN/BIODIV/MED 1006, 1007, 1008, 1009, 1010, 1011

(SAUUNI = Saurashtra University)

Additional specimens examined: india, Rajasthan,

Ajmer district: Nagpahar Mt„ alt. 370-550 m, November 4,

1959, V.S. Sharma 1130 A (Holotype: NBRI); Nagpahar Mt.,

alt. 370-550 m, November 4, 1959, V.S. Sharma 1 130 B-C

(Isotypes of the variety); Ajayasar Gate above Happy Valley

September 17, 1958, Sharma 586-B (NBRI)

Phenology and associated species: The plants were

in flower from September to the end of October, and in fruit

from October to November. They grew in the grassland with

Chrysopogonfulvus (Spr.) Choiv., Sehima nervosum (Rottl.)

Stapf., and Crotolaria juncea L.

Habitat and Population Status: The plant was

growing on sandy silty soil loam on undulating hillocks. The

species is common only to the grasslands.

Distribution: The geographical range of this species

in Gujarat is restricted to two separate regions: the western

group of population in Jamnagar (Motividi) and the southern

group of population in Rajpipla.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to Dr. Tariq Hussain and Dr. Bhaskar

Bhatt, National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI),

Lucknow for their valuable suggestions, provision of facilities

and access to the literature and type specimen lying with

Herbaria. We are thankful to the Saurashtra University for

financial support and to the Forest Department, Jamnagar,

India for necessary permission to collect the plant specimen.

We thank Dr. Tushar Parmar and Mr. Sachin Sata, Department

of Biosciences for their assistance during the fieldwork.

REFERENCES

Bole, P.V. & J.M. Pathak (1988): Flora of Saurashtra. Part II & III.

Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta. Pp. 545.

Cooke, T. (1901): The Flora of the Presidency of Bombay, Vol I.

Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta. Pp. 327.

Kothari, M.J. & P.K. Haira (1983): Materials for a catalogue of

threatened plants of India. Botanical Survey of India, Howrah.

Pp. 45.

Santapau, H. (1962): The Flora of Saurashtra. Saurashtra Research

Society, Rajkot. Pp. 270.

Santapau, H. & K.P. Janardhanan (1967): The Flora of Saurashtra

(Checklist). Bull. Bor. Surv. India 8: Suppl. 1: 1-58.

Shah, G.L. (1978): Flora of Gujarat, Part I & II. Sardar Patel University,

Vallabh Vidyanagar. Pp. 1074.

Shah, G.L. (1983): Rare species with restricted distribution in South

Gujarat. Pp. 50-54. In: Jain, S.K. & R.R. Rao (Eds:). An

Assessment of Threatened Plants of India. Botanical Survey of

India, Calcutta.

Sharma V.S. (1960): Description of Tephrosia collina Sharma var.

lanuginocarpa Sharma and two new varieties ./. Bombay Nat.

Hist. Soc. 60(3): 754-758.

Thaker, J.I. (1910): Vanaspati Sastara - Barda Dungami Jadibuti tern

Pariksha anae Upyog. (Botany - A Complete and Comprehensive

Account of the Flora of Barda Mountain, Kathiawad). Gujarati

Printing Press. Bombay. Pp. 717.

29. ADDITIONS TO THE FLORA OF ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA1

C. Sudhakar Reddy2, RR.C. Prasad3and C.B.S. Dutt4

'Accepted May 23, 2007

Torestry and Ecology Division, National Remote Sensing Agency, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 037, Andhra Pradesh, India. Email:

[email protected]

National Collateral Management Services Limited, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.

4Indian Space Research Organization, Dept of space, Antariksh Bhavan, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

Introduction

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of about

350 islands and over 200 Islets situated off the eastern coast

of India in a junction box with the Bay of Bengal and the

Indian Ocean on one side and South China Sea and the Pacific

Ocean on the other. They are covered with lush green tropical

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

379

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

rain forests. These islands are also called ‘Bay Islands’.

The presence of over 2000 indigenous (353 endemic

taxa) and 500 exotic species of flowering plants within a land

area of 8,290 sq. km is a significant feature of Andaman &

Nicobar Islands. The degree of endemism is about 17.6%

(Reddy et al. 2004).

During a botanical exploration of the North Andaman

Islands, India, we recorded 14 interesting species, hitherto

not recorded from the Islands ( Vasudeva Rao 1 986; Mathew

1998). They are being reported here for the first time with

brief description.

Acalypha lanceolata Willd., Sp. PI. 4: 524. 1805;

Gamble 2: 1331(931). 1925. (Euphorbiaceae).

A much branched, erect herb. Leaves ovate-lanceolate,

base cordate, serrate, apex acuminate, 2.2-2. 8 x 1.0-1 .4 cm.

Flowers in spikes about 6 cm long. Capsule much larger than

the bracts; seeds globose, smooth.

Habitat: Rare; a weed of disturbed localities.

FI & Fr.: September-March.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Shyamnagar:

13.xi.2001, CSR2234 (CAL).

Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Wall, ex Nees in

Wall., PI. Asiat. Rar. 3: 116. 1832 et in DC., Prodr. 1 1 : 515.

1847; FBI 4: 501 . 1884; Gamble 2: 1048(734). 1924 .Justicia

paniculata Burm.f., FI. Ind. 9. 1767. (Acanthaceae)

An erect, much branched, glabrous herb, about 30 cm

high. Leaves opposite, decussate, linear-lanceolate, 4-6 x

1-2 cm, glabrous, entire. Flowers pinkish white, in axillary

particles, about 15 cm long. Capsule linear-oblong, pointed

at both ends, about 2. 5-3.0 cm long, glabrous; seeds 12.

Habitat: Occasional, in openings of moist deciduous

forests.

FI & Fr.: September-March.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Mayabunder,

Narial Tikri: 24.xi.2001, CSR 2355 (CAL).

Cassia absus L„ Sp. PI. 376. 1753; FBI 2: 265. 1878;

Gamble 1 : 403(285). 1919. (Caesalpiniaceae)

Erect annual herbs, up to 60 cm tall. Stem and leaves

clothed with grey bristly viscous hairs. Leaves long petioled,

leaflets 2 pairs, digitate, ovate-oblong, 2-4 x 1 .0-2.5 cm, base

cuneate, entire, apex mucronate. Flowers tinged red, in

terminal or leaf-opposed racemes. Pods 3-5 x 0.4-0. 6 cm,

Hat, oblique, covered with stiff glandular hairs; seeds 57,

black, ovoid, shining.

Rare, in open forests.

FI & Fr.: July-March.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Mohanpur:

2. xii.2001. CSR 2652 (CAL).

Caesulia axillaris Roxb., PI. Cor.t. 93. 1798; FBI 3:

29 1. Gamble 2: 704(494). 1921.

An erect herb to 40 cm tall. Leaves glabrous, alternate,

linear-lanceolate, 2-14 x 0.3- 1.0 cm, with oblique secondary

nerves, coarsely serrate, apex acute to acuminate; flowers

axillary, solitary, sessile, pale blue; achenes winged, obovate,

Oat; pappus of 2 scales.

Habitat: Rare; a weed along bunds of paddy fields.

FI & Fr.: lune-December.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Mohanpur:

3. xii.2001, CSR 2600 (CAL).

Cleome aspera Koen. ex. DC., Prodr. 1: 241. 1824;

FBI 1: 169. 1872; Gamble 1: 41(29). 1915. (Cleomaceae).

Annual ascending herbs. Leaves apically simple,

basally trifoliolate, leaflets oblanceolate, 1-2 x 0.3-0. 5 cm,

middle leaflets bigger than the lateral leaflets, base cuneate,

entire, apex obtuse. Flowers yellow, axillary, solitary. Fruit a

capsule, slender, torulose, beaked; seeds many, minute,

smooth.

Habitat: Rare, along openings of moist deciduous

forests.

FI & Fr.: September-March.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Hathilevel:

24. xi. 2001(650 in), CSR 2344 (CAL).

Corchorus aestuans L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10: 1079. 1759.

C. acutangulus Lam., Encycl. 2: 104: 1786; FBI 1 : 398. 1874;

Gamble 1: 121(86). 1915. (Tiliaceae).

Annual, erect, hairy herbs, up to 40 cm tall. Leaves

ovate, elliptic or oblong, 2-5 x 1-3 cm, base obtuse, serrate,

apex acute or obtuse. Flowers yellow, axillary, solitary or

23-flowered, in leaf opposed cymes. Capsule elongate,

6-angled, septate, 3-winged, beak 3-fid, radiating; seeds

numerous, dark brown, truncate.

Habitat: Occasional in disturbed lands and along bunds

of dried up paddy fields.

FI & Fr: July-March.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman. Radhanagar:

12. xi. 2001. CSR 2436 (CAL).

Elastostemma cuneatum Wight, Ic. Ind. Orient. 35. t.

20911.3: 1888. 1853 (cuniata): FBI 5: 568. 1888; Fischer 3:

1377 (963). 1928. (Urticaceae).

Annual dwarf herbs to 10 cm high; stems simple or

scarcely branched, rooting near the base; stipules ovate. Leaf-

base cuneate, margin dentate or crenate, apex rounded or

subacute; upper surface with numerous cystoliths; nerved

from base, subsessile. Flowers sessile, axillary, in heads.

380

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Achenes ellipsoid, yellow.

Habitat: Occasional in semi-evergreen forests, amidst

moist rocks on thin surface of soil.

FI. & Fr.: July-December.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Narcondum

Island, near Police Camp: 22. ix. 1977, NG Nair 6201 (PBL);

Paget Island: 6.xi.2001. CSR 2346 (CAL).

Evolvulus nummularius (L.) L., Sp, PI. (ed. 2) 391

1762; FBI 4: 734; Convolvulus nummularias L., Sp. PI. 157.

1753. (Convolvulaceae)

A procumbent herb, rooting at leaf axils. Leaves spiral,

shortly petioled to 0.3 cm, orbicular-cordate at base, simple,

entire, rounded at apex, 0.7-0. 8 cm. Flowers solitary, white.

Capsule subglobose, bluntly tapered at apex, glabrous; seeds

2-4, black, glabrous.

Habitat: Frequent, in moist localities along road sides

and open forests.

FI & Fr.: September-March.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Arial Bay:

28.xi.2001, CSR 2531 (CAL).

Hedyotis puberula (G. Don) Arn., Prigill. PI. Ind. 342,

1836. Oldenlandia puberula, G. Don, Syst. 3: 530. 1834.

O. umbellota L„ Sp. PI. 119. 1753; FBI 3: 66. 1880. Gamble

2: 601(424). 1921. (Rubiaceae).

Annual erect herbs to 1 2 cm high. Leaves linear, narrow

at both sides, 1-1.5 cm long. Flowers white, in umbels, 1-8

together, fruit a transversely dehiscent, bilobed capsule; seeds

many.

Habitat: Frequent, in moist localities along grasses.

El & Fr.: September to March.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Dighpur:

28.xi.2001, CSR 2532 (CAL).

Lagascea mollis Cav. in Anal. Cienc. Nat, 6: 331 .t.44.

1803; FBI 3: 302; Gamble 2: 703(494). 1921. (Asteraceae).

An erect, grey-pubescent, much branched herb. Leaves

ovate-acute, crenate, 1.5-4. 5 x 1-3 cm. Heads in clusters,

white, silky, pubescent, 2-2.5 cm diameter; achenes cuneate,

compressed or 3-angled, pappus a short fimbriate cup.

Habitat: Rare; a weed, near human inhabitations.

FI. & Fr.: June-December.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Shyamnagar:

13. xi. 2001, CSR 2278 (CAL).

Malvastrum coromandelianum (L.) Garcke in

Bonplandia 5: 297. 1857; Gamble 1: 54(64). 1915. Malva

coromandeliana L. Sp. PI. 687. 1753. (Malvaceae).

Erect, branched under shrubs. Leaves ovate, 3-5 x 1 .0-

2.5 cm, 5-nerved at base, scattered hairy, base obtuse-truncate,

crenate-serrate, apex acute. Flowers yellow, axillary, solitary

or in terminal clusters. Fruit schizocarp, mericaps reniform,

awns with paired apical hooks.

Habitat: Rare; in sandy soils and along roadsides.

FI. & Fr.: July-March.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Shantinagar:

20.xi.2001. CSR 2652 (CAL).

Ocimum americanum L., Cent., PI. 1: 15. 1755.

O. canum Sims, Bot. Mag.t. 2452. 1823; FBI 4: 607. 1885;

Gamble 2: 1111 (777). 1924. (Lamiaceae)

An annual, aromatic, glabrous herb. Leaves 3-5 x

1 cm, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire. Flowers in

elongated lax racemes, 12 cm long; corolla white to pale

violet; nutlets ellipsoid, pitted, mucilaginous when wetted.

Habitat: Rare, along road sides.

FI. & Fr.: September-March.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Swarajgram:

13. xi. 2001, CSR 2398 (CAL).

Physalis angulata L., Sp. PI. 183. 1753. P. longifolia

auct. PI. (non Nutt. 1837). Santap. etal.,J. Bombay Nat. Hist.

Soc. 58: 551. 1961; Gamble 2: 939(659). (Solanaceae).

Erect, widely branched, annual herbs to 60 cm tall. Stems

angular-ribbed, glabrous. Leaves ovate-elliptic, base rounded

or cuneate, oblique, long acuminate, glabrous, sinuate-dentate

to incised, 3-8 x 2-4 cm. Flowers solitary, terminal, axillary, 1 -

1 .5 cm long; corolla yellow with 5 small, brown spots inside;

anthers violet or blue. Fruit greenish-yellow, 1-1.5 cm across.

Fruiting calyx 4 cm long, 5-angled, glabrous.

Habitat: Frequent in disturbed lands.

FI. & Fr. . June-December.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Mohanpur:

3.xii.2001, CSR 2602 (CAL).

Note: All the specimens deposited in PBL as Physalis

minima L. are actually belongs to P. angulata (Reddy et al.

1999).

Toddalia asiatica (L.) Lam., Tabl. Encycl. 2: 16. 1797;

Gamble 1 : 150( 107). 1915. Paullinia asiatica L., Sp. PI. 365.

1753. (Rutaceae)

Armed straggler. Leaflets lanceolate, elliptic, 2-5 x 1-

1 .5 cm, thin coriaceous, base narrow, cuneate, margin entire,

apex obtuse or acute, nerves obscure, mid nerve spiny below;

petiole 2 cm long, armed. Male flowers in axillary panicles;

females flowers in axillary or terminal racemes. Fruit small,

orange-red.

Habitat: Occasional among rocks in scrub forests at

higher elevation.

J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007

381

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

FI. & Fr.: September-February.

Specimen Examined: North Andaman, Saddle peak:

24.xi.2001 (650 m), CSR 2599 (CAL).

Note: Of the two varieties described by Gamble (l.c.)

our specimens belong to var. gracilis Gamble, which differs

from vai. floribunda Gamble in presence of mid nerve armed

below, petiole prickled, leaflets narrow, thin-coriaceous, fruit

Mathew, S.P. (1998): A supplementary report on the flora and

vegetation of the Bay Islands, India. J. Econ. Tax. Bot. 22:

249-272.

Reddy, C.S., K.N. Reddy, M.R. Bhanja & V.S. Raju (1999): On the

identity of Physalis minima L. (Solanaceae) in southern India.

J. Econ. Tax. Bot. 23: 709-710.

much lobed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are thankful to Dr. P.S. Roy, Deputy Director, NRSA

and Dr. M.S.R. Murthy, Head, Forestry & Ecology Division,

NRSA, Hyderabad for suggestions and encouragement.

Reddy, C.S., P.R.C. Prasad, M.S.R. Murthy & C.B.S. Dutt (2004):

Census of endemic flowering plants of Andaman and Nicobar

Islands. J. Econ. Tax. Bot. 28: 712-728.

Vasudeva Rao, M.K. (1986): A preliminary report on the angiosperms

of Andaman-Nicobar Islands. J. Econ. Tax. Bot. 8:

107-185.

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CONTENTS

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INDIAN SPINY-TAILED LIZARD UROMASTYX HARDWICKII IN KUTCH

Sutirtha Dutta and Yadvendradev Jhala 255

PREDATORS OF NON-PENAEID PRAWNS OF MUMBAI COAST

V.D. Deshmukh 266

HEPATICS AND ANTHOCEROTES (BRYOPHYTA) OF TAMIA AND PATALKOT VALLEY (DISTRICT

CHHINDWARA), MADHYA PRADESH

A.K. Asthana and Virendra Nath 275

SIZE COMPOSITION AND MORPHOMETRY OF INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED SEA TURTLES AT

VIZHINJAM, SOUTH-WEST COAST OF INDIA

P. Kannan and M. Rajagopalan 288

AVIFAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS: PRELIMINARY INVENTORY AND DISTRIBUTIONAL

PATTERNS

Priya Davidar, K. Yoganand, T. Ganesh and K. Geetha Nayak 298

FAUNAL DIVERSITY IN PRAWNS AND CRABS IN DIGHA AND ADJACENT COAST IN WEST BENGAL

WITH NOTES ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF THEIR ABUNDANCE WITH PHYSICO-CHEMICAL

PARAMETERS

T.K. Chatterjee, Akmal Husain and Santanu Mitra 311

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF THE ASIATIC BLACK BEAR URSUS THIBETANUS IN INDIA

S. Sathyakumar and A. Choudhury 316

STUDIES ON THE OCCURENCE, AVAILABILITY AND MARKETING OF CRAB ( SCYLLA SPP.) BY CRAB

MONITORING PROGRAMME OF RATNAGIRI DISTRICT, SOUTH KONKAN COAST OF

MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

Vivek R. Vartak, Narendra D. Chogale and Sharad G. Belsare 324

ASPECTS OF NESTING BIOLOGY OF CROCODYLUS POROSUS AT BHITARKANIKA, ORISSA,

EASTERN INDIA

G.V. Gopi and Bivash Pandav 328

NEW DESCRIPTIONS

A NEW FAIRY SHRIMP SPECIES, BRANCHINELLA NALLURENSIS FROM SOUTH INDIA

C.S. Velu and N. Munuswamy 334

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF CERCERIS LATREILLE (HYMENOPTERA: SPHECIDAE:

PHILANTHINAE: CERCERINI) ALONG WITH A NEW RECORD FROM INDIA

A. Coumar and Debjani Dey 339

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 343

■V.

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