Species inventory of land and freshwater Molluscs from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states of India

Abstract

As per the Article 7(a) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Identifying components of biological diversity importance for its conservation and sustainable use is the first step for in-situ conservation of the species. On the other hand, there are more than 50% of the faunal diversity, yet to be explored and documented, particular in country like India. From the biogeographic point of view, India holds major biodiversity with atleast four hotspots, beside biodiversity rich areas. The state of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are among them, which is least explored, in spite of the rich vegetation covers and deltoic areas and invertebrate fauna in particular have never received adequate attention from this landscape. Thus, the inventory of land and freshwater molluscs was carried out in some parts of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state of Deccan Peninsula India as part of the faunal inventory of Eastern Ghats by ZSI, during August to September 2016, primarily to explore the diversity and distribution of malacofauna in the region. This paper deals with a total of 25 species (13 species of land snails belonging to 2 Order 6 families and 12 of freshwater molluscs belonging to 5 order and 8 families) identified and along with the current threats evaluated and conservation measures suggested.