Eco Watch | New species: India beats own record

India added a record 709 species to its faunal database and 353 taxa to its floral database in 2025, marking the country’s highest annual biodiversity additions since systematic documentation began. The findings, released in the Animal Discoveries 2025 and Plant Discoveries 2025 reports by the Zoological Survey of India and Botanical Survey of India, respectively, reinforced India’s status as one of the world’s 17 megadiverse nations.

Of the 709 faunal additions, 483 species are new to science, while 226 species have been recorded in India for the first time. The plant discoveries comprise 221 taxa new to science and 132 new distribution records for the country. Together, they take India’s documented faunal diversity to 105,953 species and subspecies.

The record-breaking tally reflects not only India’s immense biological wealth but also intensified taxonomic surveys, improved exploration of remote landscapes and advances in molecular techniques that are helping scientists distinguish previously overlooked species. Among those is a new variant of the non-venomous wolf’s snake, discovered on the Great Nicobar Island. The glossy black coloured Lycodon irwini, which can grow up to 1.2 metres in length, was named after the late Australian conservationist and TV show host, Steve Irwin.

The geographical pattern of discoveries highlights two of India’s richest biodiversity hotspots. Kerala’s Western Ghats section recorded the highest number of new animal discoveries with 98 species. On the botanical front, Arunachal Pradesh emerged as the leader with 49 plant discoveries.