347 flora, 424 fauna species discovered in 2013-14: Government

August 12, 2015

Union Government has announced that 424 species of fauna and 347 species of flora including 2 reptiles have been discovered in the country in 2013-2014.
It was announced by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The written reply mentioned that

These species were discovered by scientists and taxonomists of Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in the year 2013-14.
Details of these discovered plant species have been published as ‘Plant Discoveries 2013’ and ‘Plant Discoveries 2014’ published by BSI.
While that of animal species has been published in ‘Animal discoveries 2013’ and ‘Animal Discoveries 2014’ published by ZSI.
2 new species of reptiles have been discovered for the first time in the country. They are ‘Rhinophis goweri’ discovered in Noolathu Kombai, Bodamalai hills and ‘Boiga flaviviridis’ discovered in Berahampur, Odisha.
India is known for its rich biological diversity and high endemism. It ranks among the top ten species rich nations in the world.
As per BSI there are about 47,791 species of plants in India, while as per ZSI studies there are over 96,000 species of animals in the country.
All endangered species in India are protected under section 38 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

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