Pranav J. Pandya

• Doctor of Philosophy (Zoology)
• Head Dept of Biology at R. R. Lalan College, Bhuj, India

Saara hardwickii (Gray, 1827), the Indian spiny-tailed lizard, is a keystone species vital to the arid ecosystems of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Its burrowing habit improves the condition of the soil and helps in completing arid food webs in the region. The species suffers from habitat fragmentation despite its ecological significance, partic...

The past two decades have witnessed a renewed interest in the Neogene (mainly Miocene) interval of the Kachchh (= Kutch) region owing to its potential to yield numerous records on fishes, reptiles, birds, and marine and terrestrial mammals. However, the Piscean (mainly selachian) faunal records from the Neogene (Miocene) interval have been sparsely...

This study reports the first record of two brachyuran crab species, Austruca albimana Kossmann, [21] and Tirmilyra concinnus Ghani and Tirmizi [18], from the western Indian coast. Their identification, taxonomic observations, and geographic distribution are provided. The species belong to the families Ocypodidae and Leucosiidae, respectively. This...

The jumping spider genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886, belonging to the tribe Aelurillini (Maddison, 2015), is widely distributed and currently comprises 59 known species (World Spider Catalog 2024). Through recent investigations, we have identified two additional species of the genus Stenaelurillus that have not been documented in Gujarat state befo...

Extreme hypersaline environments are known to be challenging ecosystems for the survival of organisms. These extreme environments are characterized by high evaporation, resulting in a drastic reduction in the ichnological and bioturbational diversity. Moreover, such environments are poorly understood on account of limited documentation in rock reco...

L. exotica is a reported exotic semi-terrestrial isopod with a widespread distribution that is highly invasive. The present study gives the collated distribution of the invasive species L. exotica status along the Indian coastline. Additionally, we report the first instance of the invasive isopod L. exotica from Gujarat coast, western India, togeth...

The oldest Asian record of alpheid shrimps (assigned to genus Alpheus) based on snapping claw fingertips from the Miocene (Aquitanian) Khari Nadi Formation (Kutch Basin, western India) reported herein extends the fossil record of Alpheidae from Asia by ~22 million years. An early Miocene (Aquitanian) age is estimated, based on the associated assemb...

Indo pacific finless porpoise Neophocaena phocaenoides (G. Cuvier, 1829) commonly known as Finless porpoise is one of the important marine mammals found in Indian waters. The present records aim to report two instances of the dead finless porpoise from the Northern Gulf of Kachchh (Kachchh coast) along with some of their morphometric character and...

Estuaries ecosystem is the dynamic transition zone characterized by harsh ecological conditions. The ecological barriers like hydrodynamics, constant variability chiefly in salinity, total solids and hardness of water and in deposition, sorting and chemistry of sediments, govern the estuarine habitat and challenge the sustainability of benthic anim...

This study aims to report the freshwater shrimps of the genus Caridina H. Milne Edwards, 1837, from the Indian state of Gujarat, which has a unique landscape and climatic conditions that form a significant environment for biological studies. Caridina babaulti Bouvier, 1918, is re-described with type specimens and fresh collections from Shetrunji Ri...

Wolf spiders (Arachneae: Lycosidae) are one of the successful hunters which extend their range through various habitats such as wetlands, springs, and sandy coasts, though less information is available on their feeding and predatory behaviour. During the course of regular field visits for an ecological study of benthic fauna on the Mahi estuarine m...

A systematic study of brachyuran crab diversity and distribution was carried out for two years on the lower estuarine mud flats of the Mahi River, the upper Gulf of Khambhat, Gujarat. A total of 10 brachyuran crab species belonging to eight genera and eight families were identified. Study documented the distribution and habitat preference of the re...

There is a lack of basic information about the malacological fauna of the estuaries of Gujarat, India, although Gulf of Khambhat is supplied by major rivers like Sabarmati, Mahi, Narmada and Tapi. About 50 km long Mahi River estuary was divided into 3 zones viz., upstream (site Fajalpur), midstream (site Dabka) and downstream (site Kamboi) based on...

Status of water quality for wetlands of Thol Bird Sanctuary of Mehsana district (Gujarat State), India, was studied for one season. The 19 parameters were analysed to understand the water quality of the man made inland wetlands. The monitoring of water quality of wetlands of Thol brought out the degraded status of the wetlands. Wetlands nutritional...

The distribution of the ocypodid crab, Macrophthalmus depressus Ruppell, 1830, was studied on the lower intertidal mudflats of the Mahi River estuary of the Gulf of Khambhat, Gujarat, India. Zoning of the study area was clone based on coastal morphology and sediment composition. Distribution pattern and density were studied using transect and quadr...

The Mahi river estuary is one of the major estuaries of Gujarat. This paper presents a comprehensive list of birds of the Mahi river estuary (nearly 50 km stretch) and the adjacent banks/ravines and defines the avian diversity at three major estuarine gradations with a brief check of similarity and diversity within the three. The present observatio...