Current status of Faunal diversity of Siju Cave, South Garo Hills, Meghalaya

Authors

  • Ilona Jacinta Kharkongor
     Arunachal Pradesh Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Itanagar – 791111, Arunachal Pradesh
  • Uttam Saikia
     North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong – 793014, Meghalaya
  • Dimos Khynriam
     North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong – 793014, Meghalaya
  • Bhaskar Saikia
     North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong – 793014, Meghalaya

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v123/i3/2023/172670

Keywords:

Biospeleology, Do·bak Khol, Karst Topography, Limestone Cave, Troglofauna

Abstract

Siju Cave located in the South Garo Hills district of Meghalaya was extensively surveyed by the Zoological Survey of India team led by Stanley Kemp and B. Chopra in 1922 for documenting its faunal diversity. That study led to the documentation of a total of 102 species including descriptions of several new species. During the 2018-2020 period, multiple surveys were undertaken to reassess the present faunal composition of the cave. Our study records only 36 species belonging to 11 major faunal groups, including 11 new records of the Cave. Among the 36 species documented, three species belong to different threatened categories of the IUCN redlist.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2024-02-08

How to Cite

Kharkongor, I. J., Saikia, U., Khynriam, D., & Saikia, B. (2024). Current status of Faunal diversity of Siju Cave, South Garo Hills, Meghalaya. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 123(3), 283–303. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v123/i3/2023/172670

Issue

Volume 123, Issue 3, 2023

Section

Articles
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

Andrewes, H.E. 1924. Coleoptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 115-117. https://doi. org/10.26515/rzsi/v26/i4/1924/162662

Annandale, N. and Chopra, B. 1924. Molluscs of the Siju cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 33-40. https://doi. org/10.26515/rzsi/v26/i4/1924/162662

Arbenz, T. 2012.Cave Pearls of Meghalaya. Vol.1: Pala Range and Kopili Valley. Thomas Arbenz, Caving in the Abode of Clouds Project.

Bal, A. and Basu, R.C. 1998. Metrocoris nigrofasciatus: Bal & Basu, Fauna of Meghalaya, State Fauna Series, 4(4): 449.

Cai, Y. and Ng, P.L. 2002. The freshwater palaemonid prawns (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea) of Myanmar. Hydrobiologia, 487: 59-83. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022991224381

Chilton, C. 1929. Fauna of the Batu caves, Selangor vii. Crustacea: Isopoda. Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums, 14(3-4): 338.

Chaudhry, S. and Barbhuiya, A.H. 2010. Neolissochilus hexastichus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Article e.T166454A6213128. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T166454A6213128.en

Chopard, L. 1921. On some Cavernicolous Dermaptera and Orthoptera from Assam. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 22(4): 99-109. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v22/i4/1921/163497

Chopard, L. 1924. On some Cavernicolous Orthoptera and Dermaptera from Assam and Burma. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 81-92.

Chopard, L. 1969. Fauna of India and the Adjacent Countries. Orthoptera : Grylloidea. Vol. II, pp. 421.

Chopra, B. 1924. Isopoda of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 49-59. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/ v26/i4/1924/162662

Collinge, W.E. 1916. Contributions to the knowledge of Terrestrial Isopoda of India. Part II. Records of the Indian Museum, 12(3): 115- 128. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v12/i3/1916/163035

Day, F. 1889. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Fishes, 1, 2. London: Taylor and Francis.

Desutter-Grandcolas, L. and Jaiswara, R. 2012. Phalangopsidae crickets from the Indian Region (Orthoptera, Grylloidea), with the descriptions of new taxa, diagnoses for genera, and a key to Indian genera. Zootaxa, 3444: 1-39. https://doi.org/10.11646/ zootaxa.3444.1.1

Dever, J.A., Fuiten, A.M., Konu, Ö. and Wilkinson, J.A. 2012. Cryptic torrent frogs of Myanmar: An examination of the Amolops marmoratus species complex with the resurrection of Amolops afghanus and the identification of a new species. Copeia, 2012(1): 57- 76. https://doi.org/10.1643/CH-10-180

Fage, L. 1924. Araneids from the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 63-67. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/ v26/i4/1924/162662

Frost, D.R. 2020. Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. Version 6.0. https://amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org/

Ghosh, H.C. and Ghatak, S.S. 1999. Curstacea: Decapoda: Potamonidae. Zoological Survey of India Fauna of Meghalaya, State Fauna Series, 4(9): 569-576.

Görföl, T., Estók, P. and Csorba, G. 2013. The subspecies of Myotis montivagus – Taxonomic revision and species limits (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 59(1): 41-59.

Harries, D.B., Ware, F.J., Fischer, C.W., Biswas, J. and Kharpran-Daly, B.D. 2008. A review of the biospeleology of Meghalaya, India. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, 70(3): 163-176.

Harries, D., Kharkongor, I.J. and Saikia, U. 2020. The biota of Siju Cave, Meghalaya, India: A comparison of biological records from 1922 and from 2019. Cave and Karst Science, 47(3): 119-130.

Hora, S.L. 1924. Fish of the Siju cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 27-31. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v26/ i4/1924/162662

Jäger, P. 2005. New large-sized cave-dwelling Heteropoda species from Asia, with notes on their relationships (Araneae : Sparassidae : Heteropodinae). Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 112: 87-114. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.80288

Jayaram, K.C. 1999. The Freshwater fishes of the Indian region. Narendra Publishing House Delhi.

Kemp, S. 1924. Crustacea Decapoda of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 41-49. https://doi. org/10.26515/rzsi/v26/i4/1924/162662

Kemp, S. and China, W.E. 1924. Rhyncota of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 93-97. https://doi. org/10.26515/rzsi/v26/i4/1924/162662

Kemp, S. and Chopra, B. 1924. The Siju cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Part I. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 3-22. https://doi.org/10.26515/ rzsi/v26/i4/1924/162662

Kharkongor, I.J. and Saikia, B. 2018. Cave Arthropods of Krem Lawkhlieng, a Limestone Cave in Meghalaya, North-East India. Zoon, 16: 9-16.

Kottelat, M. 2012. Conspectus cobitidum: An inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidae). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl. No. 26: 1-199.

Krishna, A. and Dominic, C.J. 1985. Observations on the social organization and sex ratio in three species of Indian bats. The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 82(1): 24-29.

Kuo, H., Soisook, P., Ho, Y., A., Csorba, G., Wang, C. and Rossiter, S. 2017. Taxonomic revision of the Kerivoula hardwickii complex (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) with the description of a new species. Acta Chiropterologica, 19(1): 19-39. https://doi.org/10.3161 /15081109ACC2017.19.1.002

Lau, M.W.N., Dutta, S., Ohler, A., Bordoloi, S and Asmat, G.S.M. 2004. Ingerana borealis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Article e.T58407A11774694.

Mahony, S., Sengupta, S., Kamei, R.G. and Biju, S.D. 2011. A new low altitude species of Megophrys Kuhl and van Hasselt (Amphibia: Megophryidae), from Assam, Northeast India. Zootaxa, 3059: 36-46. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3059.1.2

McClure, H.E., Lim, B.L. and Winn, S.E. 1967. Fauna of the Dark Cave, Batu caves, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Pacific Insects, 9(3): 399- 428.

Menon, A. G. K. 1987. The fauna of India and the adjacent countries. Pisces. Vol. IV. Teleostei-Cobitoidea. Part 1. Homalopteridae. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, x+259 pp, 16 pls.

Moseley, M., Lim, T.W. and Lim, T.T. 2012. Fauna reported from Batu Caves, Silangor, Malaysia: annotated checklist and bibliography. Cave and Karst Studies, 39(2): 77-92.

Mukhim, D.K.B., Saikia, B., Imam, I., Kharkongor, I.J., Sarma D. and Arbenz, T. 2017. Rhacophorus suffry Bordoloi, Bortamuli And Ohler, 2007 - A new record from Meghalaya, North-East India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 114: 8-9. https:// doi.org/10.17087/jbnhs/2017/v114/112222

Mukhopadhyay, P. 2015. Handbook on Common Aquatic Coleoptera w.s.r. family Gyrinidae, Noteridae, Dytiscidae and Hydrophilidae of India. Zoological Survey of India (pp. 1-56).

Pillai, R.S. and Yazdani, G.M. 1977. Ichthyo-fauna of Garo Hills, Meghalaya (India). Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 72: 1-22. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v72/i1-4/1977/161923

Ramakrishna, G. 1995. Crustacea: Oniscidae. Fauna of India and Adjacent Countries. Zoological Survey of India, Pp. 1- 130+ii.

Roewer, C. 1924. Opiliones aus der Siju-Hohle in den Garo Hills im Assam. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 69-70. https://doi. org/10.26515/rzsi/v26/i1/1924/162632

Ruedi, M., Biswas, J., Chachula, O.M. and Arbenz, T. 2012. A winter survey of bats from the Jaintia Hills with a synopsis of their diversity in Meghalaya. (T. Arbenz ed). Cave pearls of Meghalaya. A cave inventory covering Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, India. Volume 1: Pala Range and Kopili River. Replika Press, India (pp. 87-105).

Saikia, U. 2018. A review of Chiropterological studies and a distributional list of the bat fauna of India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 118(3): 242-280

Saikia, U., Thabah, A., Chachula O.M. and Ruedi, M. 2018. The bat fauna of Meghalaya, Northeast India: Diversity and conservation (Sivaperuman and Venkataraman eds). Indian Hotspots: Vertebrate faunal diversity, conservation and management. Vol 2. Springer Nature Singapore Pvt Ltd. (pp. 263-286). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6983-3_15

Saikia, U., Thabah, A. and Ruedi, M. 2020 Taxonomic and ecological notes on some poorly known bats (Mammalia:Chiroptera) from Meghalaya. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 12(3): 15311-15325. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5264.12.3.15311-15325

Saikia, B. and Saikia, U. 2020. Report on Ingerana borealis (Annandale, 1912) (Anura: Dicroglossidae) inside a cave, East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 120(3): 247-250.

Saikia, B., Sinha, B., Shabnam, A. and Dinesh, K.P. 2023. Description of a new species of Amolops cope (Anura: Ranidae) from a cave ecosystem in Meghalaya, Northeast India. Journal of Animal Diversity. 5: 3654 (http://dx.doi.org/10.52547/JAD.2023.5.1.2).

Sengupta, S., Hussain, B., Choudhury, P.K., Gogoi, J., Ahmed, M.F. and Choudhury, N.K. 2008. A new species of Amolops (Anura: Ranidae) from Assam, North-eastern India. Hamadryad, 32: 5-12.

Sen, N. and Khynriam, D. 2014. Pictorial Handbook on Fishes of North East India. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata (pp. 1-345).

Sethi, V.D. and Tikader, B.K. 1988. Studies on some giant crab spiders of the family Heteropodidae of India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 93: 1-94.

Silvestri, F. 1919. Contributions to a knowledge of the Chilopoda: Geophilimorpha of India. Records of the Indian Museum, 16:45-107.

Silvestri, F. 1924. Myriapoda from the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Records of the Indian Museum, 26: 71-79. https://doi.org/10.5962/ bhl.part.25916

Sinha, Y.P. 1999. Bats of the Siju Cave, South Garo Hills District, Meghalaya, India: taxonomy and bionomics. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 97:101-122.

Talwar, P.K. and Jhingran, A.G. 1991. Inland fishes of India and adjacent Countries, Vol. I and II. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi.

Vasanth, M. 1995. Studies on Crickets (Insecta: Orthoptera: Gryllidae) of Northeast India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 132: 1-177.

Vishwanath, W. 2010. Schistura sijuensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010, Article e.T19977A9127221.

Wood-Mason, J. 1871.Contribution to Indian Carcinology. Part 1. Indian and Malayan Telphusidae. The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 40(2): 194-196.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 > >>