Sanjay Keshari Das

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University | GGSIPU · School of Environment Management

Plant-frugivore interactions are important ecological processes that play a vital role in maintaining the dynamics of the ecosystem. Birds are very important frugivores and very little is known about the plant-avian interaction matrix in the urban ecosystems of India. The present study endeavours to understand and document the plant-avian frugivory...

A new species of front-eyed trapdoor spider Heligmomerus jagadishchandra sp. n. is described from the holotype collected in Keshpur (West Medinipur, West Bengal, India). Habitat information of the species is provided too.

Myrmecophagy by a jumping spider: Hyllus semicupreus, feeding on a red weaver ant queen: Oecophylla smaragdina

As the human population has gradually increased in recent years, human elephant conflict concerns have become increasingly serious. For space and resources, many animals are increasingly competing with humans. These problems arise as a result of human encroachment on natural habitats for the sake of agriculture or poaching. The agonizing death of a...

The present study was undertaken from June 2015 to May 2017 in Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS), Churu, Rajasthan that represents one of the unique and important grassland ecosystems in the Thar desert of India but has not been assessed ecologically. In this work the water quality assessment of the area is carried out in terms of physicochemica...

Based on the core knowledge acquired by the indigenous people of Odisha, this study offers a record of significant antidiarrhoeal medicinal herbs. Despite significant improvements in allopathic medicine, herbal medicine continues to play an essential role in the management and treatment of different diseases in India's distant and rural areas. Trad...

The six-eyed spider family Segestriidae is poorly documented from India, with only five species belonging to two genera. Here we describe a new genus, Indoseges gen. nov. with five new spp. viz. I. malkhangiri sp. nov., I. sushildutta sp. nov., I. chilika sp. nov., I. narayani sp. nov. and I. satkosia sp. nov. from Odisha. The first two spp. are de...

Among monitor lizards of the family Varanidae, Indian desert monitor lizard Varanus griseus koniecznyi Mertens 1954 is one of the lesser-known species globally and due to lack of data on this species it is so far not evaluated by IUCN and excluded from the latest assessment of monitor lizards of Southeast Asia and Indo-Australian Archipelago. The p...

A new species of the trapdoor spider genus Idiops Perty, Idiops medini Pratihar & Das sp. nov. is described here from West Bengal, India based on a female specimen. Natural history information and type locality map of the new species are provided.

The present study was undertaken from January 2016 to June 2017 to find out ecological role of moths as pollinators in urban settlements of Delhi. From the study site, reference pollen slides of plants belonging to 12 angiosperm families were prepared at the time of anthesis. Moths were collected using light traps, of which 1033 individuals belongi...

In India, the population of the Indian spiny-tailed lizard is extinct in many parts of its past distribution. Currently, the species is mainly confined to the desert areas of northwestern India. The present study was carried out from January 2014 to May 2017 in the Thar desert of Rajasthan (TDR) to know the population status and habitat suitability...

The family Cithaeronidae Simon, 1893 is one of the poorly known but very interesting spider family represented by eight species in two genera namely, Cithaeron O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872 and Inthaeron Platnick, 1991. In this paper, we report two rare Cithaeronid spiders from India viz., Inthaeron rossi Platnick, 1991 from Kalahandi district, Odisha...

The lynx spider species, Oxyopes sertatus L. Koch, 1878, was previously reported from China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. In this paper, we report this species for the first time from India based on a female specimen from Odisha.

The present study was undertaken in Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS), Rajasthan from June 2015 to May 2017 to assess the plant community structure of the area. Random vegetation sampling was done covering different seasons (summer, monsoon, and post-monsoon) following the quadrat method to cover the overall vegetation spectrum. The data were qu...

The current study deals with the inventory of invertebrate fauna in Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) carried out from 2015-2017 following visual encounter search for selected invertebrate classes namely Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), Arachnida (spiders) and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). The study resulted in docume of Odonata (6...

Reply to response: Spiders of Odisha

A new species of front-eyed trapdoor spider genus Idiops Perty, Idiops nilagiri sp. nov. Das & Diksha, is described here from Odisha, India, based on female specimens. Natural history information of the new species is provided. Keywords: Idiops, New species, Odisha, Taxonomy

The present checklist of spiders of Odisha is the result of the compilation of all published literature on spiders and primary data collected during the present study carried out from July 2016 to March 2017 in Odisha. A total of 138 species of spiders belonging to 95 genera and 33 families were recorded in the present study. Of which, seven famili...

The present study was undertaken from January 2013 to June 2017 in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan. The primary aim of the study was to assess the threats faced by reptiles in this region, but some common threats to the overall faunal diversity of the region were observed during the study which is presented here. The threat data was collected using mi...

Land use/land cover change dealing with the alteration of the land surface and its biotic cover is an important aspect of human-induced global environmental change. The purpose of this study is to monitor long-term changes in LU/LC in Odisha with special emphasis to the forest cover change. LU/LC maps prepared through visual interpretation, indicat...

The thomisid spider species, Thomisus unidentatus Dippenaar-Schoeman & van Harten, 2007 was previously reported from Yemen, Iraq and Iran. In this paper, we report male of this crab spider from India. A detailed taxonomic description of the male is provided here along with comments on taxonomic variations.

The thomisid spider species, Thomisus unidentatus Dippenaar-Schoeman & van Harten, 2007 was previously reported from Yemen, Iraq and Iran. In this paper, we report male of this crab spider from India. A detailed taxonomic description of the male is provided here along with comments on taxonomic variations.

Background and Objective: Delhi represents one of the most polluted cities of the world where the levels of air pollution are alarming. The present study aimed to investigate the efficiency of spider webs as bioindicator of heavy metal pollution in urban air of National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi. Materials and Methods: The webs of Cyrtophora ci...

Parasteatoda kompirensis (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) was previously reported from China, Korea and Japan. In this paper, we report the female of this cobweb spider from India. A detailed taxonomic description of the female is here provided.

The present study was carried out from January to June 2016 in Rajasthan that aimed to sequence the 16S rRNA gene of S. hardwickii to trace genetic variation. Non-invasive molecular techniques were used to isolate DNA from fecal matter. The sequences were edited and assembled using SeqMan computer program, aligned with six global sequences followin...

The present study deals with the inventory of moths in selected areas of Delhi carried out from 2014 to 2015. Durin study, the moth fauna of Delhi comprises a total of 73species belonging to 67 genera and 9families.Of these, species richness of family Noctuidae was found to be Geometridae, Crambidae, Sphingidae. Copyright©2017, Monalisa Paul et al....

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University situated in Dwarka sub city, an area away from central Delhi, was established in the year 2010. Prior to its establishment, the University and surrounding areas was agricultural fields with low canopy cover. Since its establishment, the University administration and horticulture departments have been attemp...

The tent-web spider Uroctea thaleri has earlier been reported from Turkey, Israel, Iran, Yemen and India. The male of Uroctea thaleri is first time being reported here from India along with detailed taxonomic description of both sexes.

Background and Objective: Indian desert monitor Varanus griseus koniecznyi Mertens, 1954 is the least common among all the monitor lizards found in India and there is an urgent need to understand habitat attributes and identification of conservation priorities areas of this endangered species. The aim of the present study was habitat suitability an...

The cobweb spider Phycosoma altum was previously reported from Mexico to Brazil and Hawaii. In this paper, we report male of P. altum from India and with this report the distribution range of this species extends from America to Asia. Taxonomic description of the male is provided here along with the natural history information.

The male of lynx spider Oxyopes bharatae Gajbe, 1999 is first time described here along with detailed taxonomic description of female. Also natural history of the species is provided.

The male of lynx spider Oxyopes bharatae Gajbe, 1999 is first time described here along with detailed taxonomic description of female. Also natural history of the species is provided.

The present study deals with moth inventory in Delhi carried out from 2014 to 2015. During the study 36 species of moths belonging to 31 genera and 7 families were added to the existing moth fauna of Delhi. After the present study, the moth fauna of Delhi comprises a total of 47 species belonging to 42 genera and 9 families. Among these, species ri...

Acanthodactylus cantoris feeding on Bufoniceps laungwalaensis in the interdunal area of barren sand dunes of Sam of the Desert National Park, Rajasthan is reported here. This reporting is unusual as A. cantoris is strictly insectivorous. The incidence is an evidence for interspecific feeding behaviour among lizards and supports the fact that A. can...

The water of river Yamuna caters to diverse needs for the survival of the people. With rapid expansion of industrialization and urbanization the quality of the river is severely affected due to indiscriminate discharge of untreated industrial sludge and so wastewater with free flowing obnoxious effluents containing multi residue, disinfectants and...

More than 1125 bat species are found worldwide and India supports 119 species; of which 26 species are reported from Rajasthan. In Rajasthan, except Thar desert portion, documentation of this faunal group is either lacking or very poor in other parts of Rajasthan including Sariska National Park, Alwar. The present study reports 3 bat species from S...

Abstract: A new jumping spider species of the genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886, S. jagannathae sp. nov. is described from Delhi, India. A detailed taxonomic description of both the sexes is provided here along with the natural history information. Also keys for Stenaelurillus species of Asia is provided in this paper.

This study entails an attitude assessment of the local people living at Mankanthpur Village, one of the bottlenecks in the Bailparao-Kotabagh corridor, Terai West Forest Division, on the issue of elephant conservation, human-(wildlife) elephant conflict, and the measures to mitigate it. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey and several...

Abstract: This study entails an attitude assessment of the local people living at Mankanthpur Village, one of the bottlenecks in the Bailparao-Kotabagh corridor, Terai West Forest Division, on the issue of elephant conservation, human-(wildlife) elephant conflict, and the measures to mitigate it. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey an...

We studied the habitat preferences and burrow characteristics of trapdoor spiders, Idiops joida Gupta et al., 2013 within Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and nearby reserve forests of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, Western Ghats, India from January to April 2010. We sampled 293 plots using 5 m2 quadrats, randomly placed in six habitat types at fo...

Here we provide an observation on searching by the parents of purple sunbird (Nectarinia asiaticus Latham, 1790) for their missing young one followed by parental provisioning by them. This case was unusual as both the parents were searching the young one even after one day past and the female parent fed the young one freely sitting on the hand of t...

A preliminary checklist of spiders of the Keoladeo National Park (KNP), Bharatpur, Rajasthan is provided here based on a short term study undertaken in June-July, 2011. A total 30 species belonging to 26 genera and 11 families were recorded from the area, which forms a baseline information for spiders of KNP. Among these, Salticidae, Araneidae and...

Three new species of the front-eyed trapdoor genus Idiops, viz., Idiops joida sp. nov. from the Western Ghats of Karnataka, I. mettupalayam sp. nov. from the foothills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and I. oriya sp. nov. from Odhisa, are described. Natural history information for all these species is provided as is an identification key to Idio...

Abstract: Observations on the Indian Spiny-tailed Lizard Saara hardwickii (Gray, 1827) were undertaken in Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India during the monsoons (July) following quadrat sampling that was time-constrained. The study revealed that the area is one of the preferable habitats for the species. A population analysis showed t...

The present study deals with ecological observations on Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis) in the Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan during monsoon season that coincides with pup rearing period of this animal. Though the sanctuary holds a small population of about three breeding pairs of Indian fox, it serves as a safe breeding ground for sourc...