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A checklist of odonates of Kerala State is presented in this paper. Scientific binomen, vernacular names in Malayalam, IUCN Red List status, and endemism are also given. A total of 174 species of odonates have been recorded from Kerala till date, 65 of which are endemic to the Western Ghats, and 10 to India. Five species fall under various threatened categories of IUCN. None of the odonates occurring in Kerala is listed in the schedules of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act or the appendices of CITES.

A year-long study was conducted at the Kole Wetlands, a Ramsar site in central Kerala to document the diversity of dragonflies and damselflies and understand their seasonality. Checklist survey method was used to sample adult odonates in 30 randomly chosen locations. A total of 44 species (30 dragonflies and 14 damselflies) belonging to 33 genera and eight families were recorded in the study area. Species richness showed a peak in the post-monsoon season and a dip in the summer. The observations support the value of the Kole Wetlands in providing valuable resources for Odonata.

Red-breasted Parakeet is one among the most widespread parakeets of the world. The ‘Near Threatened’ bird has been in pet trade for long and is already known as a feral bird from major cities in India. The biodiversity of India has been threatened by many alien invasive species and some have been of a serious threat to native species pushing them to extinction. Though Red-breasted Parakeet with a limited population in many of the cities is of no immediate threat, an increase in population can be of serious threat to native bird species. In this paper, we report the new sighting of Red-breasted Parakeet from Vellayani-Punjakari wetlands, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and discuss the possible threats this particular species can impart to the native bird diversity.

A declining trend in the nesting of olive ridley turtles has been recorded throughout the coasts of Kerala. It is essential to establish an empowered community which can work in collaboration with the government and nongovernment institutions to conserve the species. In Kerala, several groups like Neythal in Kasaragod and Theeram in Kozhikode district are involved in the conservation of olive ridley turtles with the support of local people. The turtle eggs collected were reared in a hatchery at Thaikadappuram and young ones released back to the sea. Children as future crusaders of biodiversity play a vital role in biodiversity conservation; as such awareness programs were conducted in schools and seabird viewing camps were organized, and pamphlets and activity books for children were distributed as part of the program. The chapter gives an insight into community conservation of marine turtles in Kerala, threats identified, and actions to be taken to protect the nesting sites of marine turtles.

Freshwater fishes are one of the keystone species of a freshwater ecosystem and also an indicator of ecosystem health. Freshwater diversity is subjected to numerous threats that have been pushing many species to the verge of extinction. One of the important threats to the population of fishes is monsoon migration of fishes “ootha elakkam”. The Kerala State Biodiversity Board initiated a project targeted to replenish the population of selected species of native fishes kaari (Heteropneustes fossilis), varal (Channa striata) and manjakoori (Horabagrus brachysoma) in their habitat. The project was implemented in two phases. During the first phase, awareness programmes on destructive fishing in monsoon migration “ootha elakkam” were conducted, and the second phase concentrated on captive breeding of native fishes in two districts, rearing the fingerlings and releasing them back to their native ecosystem. The interventions helped to increase the native fish stock and enhanced the rural livelihood in the project area.

Water birds are considered as an important bioindicator for the ecological conditions and health of wetland ecosystems. The number of heronries is declining in Kerala due to habitat loss, land-use change, hunting for meat, poisoning by pesticides, felling of nesting trees, etc. Community efforts have frequently led to the conservation of habitats, species and ecological services. The project ‘Kottilla Samrakshana’ by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) is a community conservation programme for heronries in Kottayam and Alappuzha districts of Kerala. The programme aims to estimate the number of heronries, species of birds, number of adults and young, nesting trees, girth of the tree at breast height (GBH) and height of the nesting trees in the project area. Conservation incentives were provided to the landowners willing to protect heronries, and further awareness programmes were conducted followed by the installation of signboards. Measures such as payment for ecosystem services provide incentives to conserve biodiversity and use it sustainably which can be developed as an important tool for sustainable development.

Frogs of the genus Indirana belong to the endemic family Ranixalidae and are found exclusively in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. Since taxonomy, biology and distribution of these frogs are still poorly understood, we conducted a comprehensive literature review of what is known on the taxonomy, morphology, life history characteristics and breeding biology of these species. Furthermore, we collected information on the geographical locations mentioned in the literature, and combined this with information from our own field surveys in order to generate detailed distribution maps for each species. Apart from serving as a useful resource for future research and conservation efforts, this review also highlights the areas where future research efforts should be focussed.

Understanding of biodiversity on a local scale is extremely important for effective conservation measures, especially in biodiversity hotpsots hosting diverse endemic flora and fauna and subject to strong anthropogenic influences. Little is known about patterns of local biodiversity and the processes generating it in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot: the patterns of genetic diversity and biogeographic affinities are poorly known for most of the species from this region. We studied the genetic diversity and population structuring of an endemic frog Indirana cf beddomii, from 12 localities of Western Ghats using 15 polymorphic microsatellite loci. The genetic diversity as measured by mean expected heterozygosity (HE = 0.83) or allelic richness (Ar = 10.41) was high and similar in all localities. Significant genetic differentiation (mean FST = 0.075) with a strong pattern of isolation by distance (IBD) across the localities was observed. Clearest genetic discontinuities in the data corresponded to topographic gaps suggesting that apart from IBD, genetic structuring in this species is strongly influenced by habitat matrix. In general, the results provide novel insight into factors that may impact the genetic diversity and population structuring of endemic amphibians in this biodiversity hotspot.

Amphibians are rapidly declining worldwide, but recent studies have shown that their diversity may be heavily underestimated, and many new species have been recently reported from biodiversity hotspots. For successful conservation and management strategies to be implemented within such hotspots, a better understanding of the species diversity and their evolutionary relationships is required. We used three mitochondrial (16S, 12S and CO1) and two nuclear (rag1 and rhodopsin) gene fragments to investigate the genetic diversity within the endemic Indirana genus from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. The species diversity within Indirana was found to be much higher than previously anticipated. Instead of the expected six species within this region, our analyses identified 11 clades with high (4.2–17.1%) sequence divergence. Each of these clades is likely to represent a distinct species. Particularly pronounced polyphyly was found within Indirana beddomii, which consisted of four highly supported monophyletic clades with high genetic divergence. Similarly, Indirana diplosticta was divided into two highly divergent monophyletic clades. We also report a new candidate species within the genus from Vellarimala in Kerala, which we believe is yet to be described. Our results suggest the existence of multiple unrecognized cryptic lineages within Indirana, all of which are likely to have more narrow distribution ranges and lower abundances than the taxonomic units into which they are currently assigned. Hence, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List statuses of Indirana frogs are likely to be in need of substantial revision, and detailed genetic studies across the Western Ghats might uncover additional new candidate species from this poorly studied endemic genus. Together with several earlier amphibian studies describing cryptic species from tropics, our results highlight the importance of proper species identification efforts before it is possible to reliably determine the IUCN conservation status of tropical amphibians described on the basis of morphological criteria.

Frogs in the genus Indirana are endemic to Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. The species are poorly studied and in many cases threatened or endangered. Here we describe primers and polymerase chain reactions for 62 microsatellite loci for Indirana beddomii, one of the commonest frogs in the genus. Fifty-six of the primers were polymorphic on sample of 23 individuals from a single sampling site (Ponmudi, Kerala) with an average 9.11 alleles per locus (range = 2–20). The average observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.64 and 0.71, respectively. The loci should be useful in conservation genetic studies of Indirana frogs.

A new species of the genus Euphlyctis is described from the Barisal district of Bangladesh and compared with its morphologically similar and geographically proximate congeners. The new species is highly divergent in comparison to other congeneric species on basis of sequence divergence in mitochondrial DNA gene sequences (ranging from 5.5% to 17.8% divergence). Euphlyctis kalasgramensis sp. nov. can be readily diagnosed by having the following combination of characters: snout-vent length (SVL) 30.44 - 37.88 mm, absence of mid-dorsal line, nostril-snout length 3% of SVL, nostril much closer to snout tip than eye, nostril-snout length 48% of distance from front of eyes to nostril, relative length of fingers (shortest to longest: 1 = 2 < 4 < 3), tibia length 59% of SVL, foot length 55% of SVL.

A new species of Microhyla frog from the Nilphamari district of Bangladesh is described and compared with its morphologically similar and geographically proximate congeners. Molecular phylogeny derived from mitochondrial DNA sequences revealed that although the new species - designated here as Microhyla nilphamariensis sp. nov. - forms a clade with M. ornate, it is highly divergent from M. ornata and all of its congeners, with 5.7 - 13.2% sequence divergence at the 16S rRNA gene. The new species can be identified phenotypically on the basis of a set of diagnostic (both qualitative and quantitative) characters as follows: head length is 77% of head width, distance from front of eyes to the nostril is roughly six times greater than nostril-snout length, internarial distance is roughly five times greater than nostril-snout length, interorbital distance is two times greater than internarial distance, and distance from back of mandible to back of the eye is 15% of head length. Furthermore, inner metacarpal tubercle is small and ovoid-shaped, whereas outer metacarpal tubercle is very small and rounded. Toes have rudimentary webbing, digital discs are absent, inner metatarsal tubercle is small and round, outer metatarsal tubercle is ovoid-shaped, minute, and indistinct.

Background and aims: Samples of endemic endangered frog species, Pseudophilautus wynaadensis, were assessed with the aid of mitochondrial DNA markers in order to study the pattern of intra specific genetic variation of samples lying south of Palghat gap of the Western Ghats, India. Materials and methods: Partial mitochondrial CO1 and 16S gene sequences were obtained for 21 specimens. Results: Phylogenetic analysis revealed that samples from either side of Palghat gap belonged to a single species. The population of frogs south of Palghat gap showed high haplotype diversity and low nucleotide diversity. The relative gene heterogeneity statistics were low and the gene flow estimates were very high. The AMOVA results showed that 96.05% of the total variations were within the populations. Conclusion: It was concluded that high genetic diversity with relatively little geographic differentiation was found in the populations of P. wynaadensis lying south of Palghat gap.

Background Microsatellite loci are widely used in population and conservation genetic studies of amphibians, but the availability of such markers for tropical and subtropical taxa is currently very limited. In order to develop resources for conservation genetic studies in the genus Indirana, we tested amplification success and polymorphism in 62 previously developed microsatellite loci, in eight Indirana species - including new candidate species. Developing genomic resources for this amphibian taxon is particularly important as it is endemic to the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, and harbours several endangered species. Findings The cross-species amplification success rate varied from 11.3 % to 29.0 % depending on the species, with 29 - 80 % of the amplifying loci being polymorphic. A strong negative correlation between cross-species amplification success (and polymorphism) and genetic distance separating target from source species was observed. Conclusions Our results provide additional genetic support for the existence of genetically divergent cryptic species within the genus Indirana. The tested markers should be useful for population and conservation genetic studies in this genus, and in particular, for species closely related to the source species, I. beddomii.