Aravind N A

• Ph.D.
• Fellow at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment

Amphibians have attracted researchers in view of unique ecological traits, particularly their biphasic development characterised by a metamorphic phase involving drastic behavioural and physiological transformations. However, what renders them especially intriguing is their personality, which is intricately linked to various life history aspects th...

Reptiles are fascinating creatures that for a long time were believed to have limited mental capacities compared to birds and mammals. However, recent developments in the field of animal sentience show that reptiles can feel a wide range of states, including stress, pain, suffering, and pleasure. Given this new understanding, how well we treat capt...

Land-use changes due to urbanisation remain one of the most ubiquitous causes of ecological disturbance. Urbanisation affects amphibians more than any other tetrapod. This chapter documents scientific evidence of urban stressors like roads, noise, light, and alien invasive species that disturb amphibian habitats and impact the amphibian population...

Pseudonapaeus cf. candelaris is a terrestrial snail species belonging to the Enidae family, specifically inhabiting the Pir Panjal Range of the western Himalaya. This species displays a unique shell morphology with prominent features including deep furrows, a smooth outer surface, cylindrical form, gradually tapering apex, spiral bands and axial ri...

South Asia, renowned for its rich biological heritage, is home to a quarter of the global human population and has been experiencing unprecedented biodiversity loss. Anthropogenic pressures are expected to rise in the coming decades, and how governance structures respond to them will be instrumental in preserving this biodiversity. In this paper, w...

We studied freshwater gastropod fauna in a heavily urbanized region in tropical India, across a range of habitat types. A total of 16 species were found from a two-year survey, which is a decline of 27% compared to studies completed in the 1970s. Planorbidae was the most species rich family in the collection, with five species. Racesina luteola (La...

The camaenid genus Bouchetcamaena comprises fifteen species distributed across South Asia (India, Bangladesh) and Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand). Among these, six species are found in India: B. delibrata (Manipur; Sibsagar, Assam; Khasi hills, Meghalaya; Chhimtuipui, Mizoram), B. fusca (Manipur; Khasi hills, Meghalaya; Gaziphima, Nagaland), B....

This paper presents the first comprehensive checklist of the non-marine molluscs from the western Himalaya, a region of high biodiversity and endemism. Based on faunistic surveys during 2019-2023 and published records, the paper reports 242 species belonging to 101 genera and 45 families of gastropods and bivalves, of which 168 species are endemic...

Genetic diversity within a species can be shaped by abiotic factors, such as climate and geography. We aimed to ascertain the relative importance of these two abiotic factors to Indrella ampulla, a monotypic snail species from the Western Ghats, India, that has three colour morphs with some overlapping distributions. We also wanted to investigate w...

The pachychilid genus Brotia H. Adams, 1866, distributed across South and South-East Asia, comprises 46 currently accepted species. Although Brotia has recently been revised, the systematic treatment of the Indian species requires further scrutiny. This study aims to resolve the phylogenetic relationships between Brotia species from north-east Indi...

In the Anthropocene era, understanding the impact of climate change on niche shift, species distribution, and habitat change is increasingly important for the conservation of biodiversity. In this respect, species distribution models have been considered an important tool over the last decade. The present study illustrates distributio-nal change, n...

Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) is one of the popular turtles in the pet trade worldwide and is known to be the worst invasive species in several countries. Several records of T. s. elegans exist from India, indicating its possible expansion in the natural habitat but lack a comprehensive investigation. Using the ecological niche model...

Invasive alien species have become the second major threat to biodiversity affecting all three major ecosystems (terrestrial, marine, and freshwater). Increasing drivers such as habitat destruction, expanding horticulture and aquaculture industries, and global pet and food trade have created pathways for exotic species to be introduced leading to s...

Cycloryx pemaledai Gittenberger et Sherub, 2022, which was described from northwestern Bhutan, is reported for the first time in Sikkim, India. That species differs from all its congeners by the short R3 (the region between the constriction and the peristome). The differences between the Bhutanese and Indian shells are minimal, therefore the Indian...

Amphibians are one of the most threatened groups of vertebrates globally. For effective conservation, understanding the patterns and processes underlying amphibian diversity is essential. Studies of genetic diversity and structure among conspecific populations and closely related species can provide crucial insights for their conservation; however,...

Molluscs are the second largest and most speciose invertebrate phylum after Arthropoda. There are around 7000 freshwater molluscs that play an important role in the ecosystem. Although many of these freshwater species are very restricted in their habitats, due to the increase in globalisation, trade, and transport, freshwater molluscs get introduce...

In many parts of the world, freshwater molluscs are extensively harvested for food and medicine. Northeast India is one such region where freshwater molluscs are consumed by the tribal and economically impoverished communities. These molluscs are in high demand as they are a cheap source of protein and provide food security, livelihoods and medicin...

We describe a new species of rupicolous Cnemaspis from the Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary in the Eastern Ghats. The current description is based on a type series of eight specimens that bear a unique combination of morphological and colour pattern characteristics that do not occur in other closely related species. Maximum likelihood and Bayes...

The Indian subcontinent is extremely diverse in terms of its flora and fauna. However, only a handful of studies have aimed to understand the diversity of freshwater invertebrates using multiple lines of evidence in recent times. Here we aimed to estimate the cryptic diversity of two widespread freshwater snail species within the genus Pila (Röding...

The frog genus Microhyla Tschudi (1838) (family Microhylidae) is restricted to South and Southeast (SE) Asia and comprises 50 described species 1. A significant proportion of the Microhyla diversity occurs in SE Asia 1 , followed by South Asia. India has 13 valid species among which six are endemic and the rest are distributed in South and SE Asia....

This paper provides new records and redescribes two carnivorous micro snail species, viz., Sinoennea austeni (Peile, 1929) and Sinoennea vara (Benson, 1859), belonging to the family Diapheridae. Redescriptions are based on shell morphology and include ecological notes and new localities including the first record of S. austeni in 92 years. While Si...

We describe a new species of small-sized (SVL 24.6–28.8 mm) rupicolous Cnemaspis from the Biligirirangan Hills (BR Hills), Karnataka based on morphology and molecular (mitochondrial 16S and ND2) data. The new species is nested within the monticola , mysoriensis and gracilis clades, where it is basal to monticola and gracilis clades in the Maximum L...

Duttaphrynus hololius is an uncommon species of toad presumably endemic to peninsular India. Since the original description, no records originated from the type locality “Malabar” or the Western Ghats. At the same time, several authors reported it from the other parts of peninsular India and the Eastern Ghats. This led to confusion and made previou...

In recent years, there has been a rather acrimonious debate on matters concerning the biology of invasive species, some as fundamental as the definition and what constitutes an invasive species. However, an abiding commonality of all invasive species is the fact that they have all moved away from their native ranges to newer and often non-native ra...

The history of a lineage is intertwined with the history of the landscape it inhabits. Here we showcase how the geo-tectonic and climatic evolution of South Asia and surrounding landmasses have shaped the biogeographical history of Indoplanorbis exustus, a tropical Asian, freshwater snail. We amplified partial COI gene fragments from all over India...

Snails of the genus Cremnoconchus-the only freshwater members of the gastropod family Littorinidae-are endemic to the spray zones of numerous waterfalls in the Western Ghats of India. Cremnoconchus consists of nine described and possibly numerous undescribed species as many of these appear to be restricted to specific waterfalls. This is the first...

The rapid spread of alien invasive plant species has emerged as one of the serious issues for forest composition, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. The most probable distribution range of Hyptis suaveolens was modeled for Jharkhand using MaxEnt for the years 2020 and 2050 under different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) i.e. 2.6, 4....

Invasive alien species are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, ecosystems, human economy and human health. Future climate change may result in niche expansion, contraction or range shift leading to changes in their geographic distribution. The Giant African snail, Lissachatina fulica , is one of the 100 worst invaders. This study uses a sp...

This study investigates the natural diet and breeding behaviour of Indrella (Ariophantidae), a monotypic snail genus endemic to the Western Ghats in India. Our observations show that the only Indrella species, I. ampulla, is a generalist in its dietary preference. Its diet consists predominantly of a variety of plants and plant materials, occasiona...

Myristica swamps are tree-covered wetlands within the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, India. Even with their little-known biota, the swamps are virtually a live museum that is of great interest to biologists. The swamps harbour several rare-relic floristic and faunal taxa, comprising many endemic and threatened species. Most of the plant sp...

Due to unsustainable harvesting and land use changes, two medicinally valuable, endangered liana species Coscinium fenestratum and Embelia ribes face severe threat in the wild. Climate change could also have profound impact on the distribution of these species which could result in contraction and/or expansion in geographical range of these species...

Freshwater ecosystems have been most severely impacted in the Anthropocene with 27% of its species threatened with extinction. Fishing Cat is a globally threatened South and South-east Asian wetland felid that is also a highly rated Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species, i.e., it is a global priority for conservation and re...

The type species of the assimineid genus Acmella W.T. Blanford, 1869 is Cyclostoma tersum Benson, 1853, originally described from ‘Musmai’ [Mawsmai], Meghalaya, Northeast India. No specimens from Benson’s type series can be traced, and contemporary shells collected from the type locality in museum collections are extremely worn. It has therefore be...

In this paper we describe a new species, Georissa mawsmaiensis sp. nov., from Mawsmai cave, a limestone cave of Mawsmai village, Meghalaya, Northeast India. It is compared with its closest congener, Georissa saritta (Benson, 1851), which was also collected and described from the same area (Musmai [Present Mawsmai] valley, near Cherrapunjee). Unlike...

A new species of Diplommatina Benson, 1849 from Sikkim, Northeast India is described based on shell morphology. This new species is found to be distinct in its externally visible large parietal tooth, and in the absence of a columellar tooth on the shell aperture. A detailed comparison with the closest congeners of the new species is provided. Dipl...

With the biodiversity crisis continuing unchecked, we need to establish levels and drivers of extinction risk, and reassessments over time, to effectively allocate conservation resources and track progress towards global conservation targets. Given that threat appears particularly high in freshwaters, we assessed the extinction risk of 1428 randoml...

Amphibians show a high amount of species richness and endemism. Such diversity can be attributed to their microenvironment as amphibians display fine‐scale heterogeneity depending on the microhabitats they inhabit. Tadpoles are considered as good indicators for understanding microhabitat–species association as they reflect the breeding sites and si...

Family Ampullariidae consists of 11 genera of freshwater snails distributed pan-tropically in the Old and the New World. One of the ampullarid genera, Pila, is distributed in Africa and Asia and consists of 28 species. Here we describe the sixth member of the genus Pila from India. Pila mizoramensis n. sp. was collected from the Northeast Indian st...

Invasive alien species are considered one of the great- est threats to biodiversity, ecosystem services, economy and human health. Global climate change will only exacerbate the impact of several invasive species in the introduced range. Hence the control and manage- ment of invasive species is crucial. Spatial tools such as GIS/RS and ecological n...

The history of a lineage is intertwined with the history of the landscape it resides in. Here we showcase how the geo-tectonic and climatic evolution in South Asia and surrounding landmasses have shaped the biogeographic history of Indoplanorbis exustus, a tropical Asian, freshwater, pulmonated snail. We amplified partial COI gene fragment from all...

The Indian subcontinent is extremely diverse in terms of its flora and fauna. However, there is a severe underestimation of the biotic diversity in invertebrate groups as well as a lack of understanding of the processes generating diversity in these groups. Here we aimed to jointly estimate the cryptic diversity of two freshwater snail species comp...

Invasive species pose as one of the greatest threats to indigenous flora and fauna all over the world, severely affecting native ecological processes and subsequently leading to the extinction of native species. In the advent of the global rise in temperature due to climate change, invasive species have been predicted to be more successful than the...

Thermal tolerance in invasive molluscs

Occurrence of land snail, Macrochlamys indica Godwin-Austen, 1883 (Gastropoda: Ariophantidae) in citrus (Kinnow mandarin and its rootstock Jatti khatti) and guava nursery of Punjab, India during 2018 and 2019 is reported. Also known as garden snail or common brown snail, this species has been observed as an important mollusc pest of citrus and guav...

The Kottigehar dancing frog, Micrixaluskottigeharensis (Rao, 1937) is an evolutionarily distinctand Critically Endangered frog (Biju et al., 2004; Gumbset al., 2018) endemic to the central Western Ghats ofIndia. Its common name derives from characteristicfoot-flagging behaviour used in mating and territorialdisplays (Fig. 1). The primary habitat of...

Lateritic plateaus of India are geographically and ecologically complex plateaus that support endemic flora and fauna. However, despite their uniqueness they are termed as “wastelands”. The plateaus’ overall treeless structure makes them susceptible to developmental activities like infrastructure growth, waste dumping, and urbanization. This paper...

The biota of the Indian subcontinent was assembled through multiple associations with various landmasses during a period spanning the Late Cretaceous to the present. It consists of Gondwanan elements that subsequently dispersed 'out-of-India' and biota that dispersed 'into-India' after the subcontinent collided with Asia. However, the relative cont...

Isolation of high molecular weight DNA from gastropod molluscs and its subsequent PCR amplification is considered difficult due to excessive mucopolysaccharides secretion which co-precipitate with DNA and obstruct successful amplification. In an attempt to address this issue, we describe a modified CTAB DNA extraction method that proved to work sig...

Isolation of high molecular weight DNA from gastropod molluscs and its subsequent PCR amplification is considered difficult due to excessive mucopolysaccharides secretion which co-precipitate with DNA and obstruct successful amplification. In an attempt to address this issue, we describe a modified CTAB DNA extraction method that proved to work sig...

Isolation of high molecular weight DNA from gastropod molluscs and its subsequent PCR amplification is considered difficult due to excessive mucopolysaccharides secretion which co-precipitate with DNA and obstruct successful amplification. In an attempt to address this issue, we describe a modified CTAB DNA extraction method that proved to work sig...

Amphibians show a very high level of diversity and endemism and are facing global declines from the past few decades. Studies have shown that the molecular tools can be helpful in their conservation efforts. In India, more than 80% of amphibians are endemic and most show a narrow range of distribution. Most of the Indian amphibians lack information...

In an era of climate change, biological invasions by alien species represent one of the main anthropogenic drivers of global environmental change. The present study, using an ensemble modelling approach, has mapped current and future global distribution of the invasive Leucanthemum vulgare (Ox-eye Daisy) and predicted the invasion hotspots under cl...

Globally, treeline in mountain landscapes is reported to be sensitive to projected warming by climate change. Betula utilis (Himalayan birch), a principal tree species defining the natural treeline in Himalayas, is a potential indicator species to track the signal of climate change. The present study models the ensemble distribution of B. utilis us...

The biota of the Indian subcontinent has assembled during various points of the history of its continental drift: some when it was still a part of Gondwanaland and subsequently dispersed out-of-India and some dispersed into-India after it collided with Asia. However, the relative contribution of these connection to the current biotic assembly of th...

The indian subcontinent has experienced numerous paleogeological and paleoclimatic events during the Cenozoic which shaped the biotic assembly over time in the subcontinent. The role of these events in governing the biotic exchange between Southeast Asia and Indian subregion is underexplored. We aimed to uncover the effects the collision of the Ind...

Supplementary files

The present paper describes a new Dicharax (?) species, which is the third known member of the family Alycaeidae in southern India. Dicharax (?) bawai n. sp., which was found in the Malai Mahadeshwara Hills, Karnataka State, is smaller than Dicharax (?) footei, and with a more elevated spire and protoconch, less expanded outer peristome, longer R2...

A new species of microhylid frog Microhyla kodial sp. nov. from the west coast of India is described in this paper. It is distinct from all described species of Microhyla occurring in South and Southeast Asia as revealed by a combination of morphological, molecular and acoustic characters. The new species is characterized by absence of lateral body...

A new species of microhylid frog Microhyla kodial sp. nov. from the west coast of India is described in this paper. It is distinct from all described species of Microhyla occurring in South and Southeast Asia as revealed by a combination of morphological, molecular and acoustic characters. The new species is characterized by absence of lateral body...

There has been a growing concern about the increasing number of species that are globally threatened. Developmental projects, and increased dependence on forests both for sustenance and livelihood have rendered many species threatened. In the Indian context, more than 150 species are critically endangered and require immediate intervention to susta...

Rattans, or canes, are one of the most important non-timber forest products supporting the livelihood of many forest-dwelling communities in South and North-eastern India. Due to increased demand for rattan products, rattans have been extracted indiscriminately from the Western Ghats, a 1600-km mountain chain running parallel to the west coast of I...

We present an annotated list of amphibians for the state of Sikkim, India. Data were obtained through literature reviews, fieldwork and review of museum collections. Forty-four species of amphibians belonging to 20 genera in eight families and three orders have been reported in Sikkim from 1864 to 2015. During our fieldwork, we recorded 23 species,...

Microhyla sholigari is an endangered frog described in the year 2000. The original description was based on non-adult types and lacked information on several morphological characters, call structure, genetic material and photographs of the animal in life. The absence of such information posed challenges in field identification of this species. Sinc...

Microhyla sholigari is an endangered frog described in the year 2000. The original description was based on non-adult types and lacked information on several morphological characters, call structure, genetic material and photographs of the animal in life. The absence of such information posed challenges in field identification of this species. Sinc...

Freshwater ecosystems in the Western Ghats are fragile and highly susceptible to environmental disturbances. The freshwater biota is particularly vulnerable because even the slightest change in habitat can lead to extinction. Freshwater gastropods are an important and diverse group in the freshwater ecosystem, accounting for about 20% of all metazo...

The center of diversity of Piper nigrum L. (Black Pepper), one of the highly valued spice crops is reported to be from India. Black pepper is naturally distributed in India in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot and is the only known existing source of its wild germplasm in the world. We used ecological niche models to predict the potential dist...

Conservation managers and policy makers are often confronted with a challenging dilemma of devising suitable strategies to maintain agricultural productivity while conserving endemic species that at the early stages of becoming pests of agricultural crops. Identification of environmental factors conducive to species range expansion for forecasting...

A new cryptic species of bush frog Raorchestes honnametti sp. nov. is described from the south-eastern part of the Western Ghats, India. This newly described species belongs to the Charius clade and is morphologically similar to other clade members—R. charius and R. griet. Therefore, an integrative taxonomic approach based on molecular and bioacous...

GenBank accession numbers for ND1 gene of 49 species of Raorchestes and Rhacophorus malabaricus compared in the study. (XLSX)

Morphological comparison of R. honnametti with R. thodai and with non-Western Ghats species of Raorchestes. (DOCX)

Linear Discriminant Analysis factor loadings for Axis 1 and Axis 2. (XLSX)

GenBank accession numbers for 16S rRNA gene of 49 species of Raorchestes and Rhacophorus malabaricus compared in the study. (XLSX)

Details of type materials and voucher specimens examined. (XLSX)

Genetic divergence (in percentage) matrix of 50 species of Raorchestes and an outgroup Rhacophorus malabaricus. (XLSX)

The Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica) is considered to be one the world's 100 worst invasive alien species. The snail has an impact on native biodiversity, and on agricultural and horticultural crops. In India, it is known to feed on more than fifty species of native plants and agricultural crops and also outcompetes the native snails. It was i...

Jackknife test of variable importance for A.fulica under present scenario. (PDF)

Jackknife test of variable importance for A.fulica under RCP 4.5 scenario. (PDF)

Jackknife test of variable importance for A.fulica under RCP 8.5 scenario. (PDF)

Jackknife test of variable importance for A.fulica under RCP 6.0 scenario. (PDF)

List of all Indian States with > 0.5 probability of invasion risk under different climate change scenarios. The values are in percentage (PDF)

Abstract: Frogs in the genus Scutiger of the family Megophryidae are the highest altitude frogs in the world, and are endemic to eastern Himalaya. Here, we report the occurrence of Scutiger boulengeri (Bedriaga, 1898) in one of the highest altitude lakes in the world, Lake Gurudongmar. This is the first report of Scutiger boulengeri from India and...

Frogs in the genus Scutiger of the family Megophryidae are the highest altitude frogs in the world, and are endemic to eastern Himalaya. Here, we report the occurrence of Scutiger boulengeri (Bedriaga, 1898) in one of the highest altitude lakes in the world, Lake Gurudongmar. This is the first report of Scutiger boulengeri from India and the first...

The Western Ghats, the mountain chain running along the western coastline of India, has a phylogenetically-diverse land-snail fauna dominated by endemic species. Although this fauna was well studied in British colonial times, little revisionary taxonomic research has been carried out since the publication of the three volumes of The Fauna of Britis...