More than 650 animals were discovered in India in 2024, most of them from Kerala, said a report published in Calcutta on Monday.
The report, published by Zoological Survey of India, which functions under the ministry of environment, forest, and climate change, compiled the new animal species discovered in India in 2024.
According to Animal Discoveries – 2024, 683 discoveries were made in India in 2024. It includes 459 new species and 224 species newly recorded from India. The maximum discoveries were recorded in Kerala, followed by Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bengal (see chart).
Most of the discoveries were those of insects. The two most recorded faunal groups were Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera, both orders of insects.
The Calcutta-headquartered ZSI, the country’s oldest taxonomic research organisation, celebrated its 110th Foundation Day at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in New Town on Monday.
An updated version of the “Checklist of Fauna of India” was also unveiled on Monday.
This compilation, building upon decades of research and the initial version released in July 2024, meticulously details 1,05,244 species and subspecies.
The ZSI intends to update this checklist annually and is developing an online catalogue.
The Union minister for environment, forest and climate change, Bhupender Yadav, was the chief guest at the celebrations.
To commemorate the foundation day, the ZSI is hosting the Animal Taxonomic Summit-2025 from July 1 to 3. Yadav inaugurated the summit.
More than 500 delegates — including those from Ghana, Denmark, the US and the UK — will participate in the summit.
Yadav lauded the ZSI as the premier institution for faunal exploration and research in India. The ZSI has played a vital role in advancing taxonomic knowledge, contributing significantly to the understanding of India’s rich biodiversity and supporting global scientific endeavours, he said.
Dhriti Banerjee, the director of ZSI, lauded the vision of the “founding fathers who realised that to know our land, we must know our flora and fauna”.
“The pioneers may have lacked tools, but they had absolute clarity of vision,” she said.