Paper No: 03 Biodiversity and Conservation

Module 26: Endemic Species of India

Development Team
Prof. R.K. Kohli
Principal Investigator
& Prof. V.K. Garg & Prof. Ashok Dhawan
Co- Principal Investigator
Central University of Punjab, Bathinda

Prof. Daizy Batish

Paper Coordinator
Panjab University, Chandigarh
Prof. Daizy Batish
Content Writer Panjab University, Chandigarh
Dr. Sunil Mittal
Content Reviewer
Central University of Punjab, Bathinda
1
Anchor Institute Central University of Punjab

Paper 03 Biodiversity and Conservation

Environmental
Sciences Endemic Species of India
 Description of Module

Subject Name Environmental Sciences

Paper Name Biodiversity and Conservation

Module
Endemic Species of India
Name/Title

Module Id EVS/BC-III/26
Pre-requisites
In the module we will study about :

 Types of Endemism
 Habitat for Endemics
Objectives  Theories of endemism
 Endemism in India
 Endemic species of India

Species distribution, Endemism ; endemic, Habitat for Endemics; Characters of

Keywords
endemism

Paper 03 Biodiversity and Conservation

Environmental
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 Module 39: Endemic Species of India
Learning Objectives:

 Types of Endemism
 Habitat for Endemics
 Theories of endemism
 Endemism in India
 Endemic species of India

Introduction
The concept of endemism is central to the study of biogeography. The term 'endemism' was
coined by A.P. de Candolle (1855) for the distribution of an organism (plant, animal or
microorganism) in a limited geographical area. In Ecological terms, it states that a plant or an
animal lives only in a particular location, such as a specific island, habitat type, nation or other
defined zone. It is the association of a biological taxon with a unique and well-defined
geographic area. The cosmopolitan distribution or cosmopolitan is the antithesis of endemic,
and refers to a taxon which is extremely widespread in many world regions. For example,
highest numbers of endemic taxa are found in Australian region. All important islands and
mountain chains (except isolated piece of the country like Italy) from 48º N to South wards
possess endemics. Maximum proportion of endemism is found in West Australia and South
African regions. All the southern land masses have great number of species confined to
themselves i.e. endemism is higher in old landmasses than in young e. g. land of northern
hemisphere, which are covered by the Pleistocene ice sheets have lower number of endemics.
Types of Endemism
Two general classes of endemism are widely recognized: Paleoendemism and Neoendemism.
a) Paleoendemic species: Paleoendemics means "ancient endemics" these are the
organisms (animals or plants) that are restricted to an area because they have died out

Paper 03 Biodiversity and Conservation

Environmental
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 elsewhere. A fossil record elsewhere is the best evidence for paleoendemism (e.g., in
Sequoia, Sequoiadendron, Lyonothamnus). These are also described as those species
which used to live in a large area in the past, but now live only in a smaller area. These
species are often systematically isolated taxa, whose distribution areas represent the
remnants of originally larger distribution ranges that have been reduced due to
environmental changes. For example, species A is widely distributed throughout the
whole mountain range. Any change occurring in the environmental conditions of the
region, leads to a reduction of the distribution of species A. Species A does not extinct
entirely; it survives in a small area at the periphery of its former distribution range.
Now, species A is a known as paleoendemic species of that area.

b) Neoendemic species: Neoendemism means that a species has recently appeared which
is closely related to the main species or one that has formed following hybridization
and is now classified as a separate species. This is a common process in plants
especially those which exhibit polyploidy. These species result from the divergent
adaptation to differing environmental conditions, thereby, leading to the formation of
new species that are locally distributed. The evolution of neoendemic plant species is
often triggered by polyploids. The endemic species may have a higher ploidy level then
its related taxa (apoendemics), or it may be diploid while its related taxa have a higher
ploidy level (patroendemics). In cases where the endemic taxon and its related taxa are
of equal ploidy level, the endemic species are called schizoendemics. Apo-, patro-, and
schizoendemics are further subdivisions of neoendemic. For example, species B
immigrates to an area and colonizes the upper region of mountain chain. As a result,
the population of species B gets separated and the two subpopulations are isolated from
each other. Since the environmental conditions of the two subpopulations are not
identical they show different adaptations. The divergent evolution in the subpopulation

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 may lead to the formation of new species or subspecies that are locally distributed and
are called as neoendemic species.

Habitat for Endemics

The biological organisms have different patterns of distribution where they live on the globe.
The territory where a species lives is called its distribution, it describes that where in the world
that species naturally occurs. Therefore, based on their habitat of distribution on entire globe
species can be cosmopolitan, endemic or disjunct (Figure 1). For example, the distribution of
polar bears restricted to Arctic region and lemurs occur naturally only in the Island of
Madagascar region is consider as the endemic species of that particular region. Another
example of endemic species is Bay checkerspot butterfly i.e. Euphydryas editha bayensis
occurring in only one region in the San Francisco Bay area. In contrast to this, brown rats (i.e.
Rattus norvegicus), occurring everywhere, are considered as cosmopolitan species.

Characters of endemism
They are localized in distribution because of their narrow ecological amplitude and are unable
to invade in fresh areas. They lack potentially to migrate because of saturate genomes. Real
endemics never migrate while Neo-endemics have the potential to migrate. The dispersal
propagules are not able to sustain during migration to other area. It may be due to physical
barriers.

Theories of endemism
There are two main theories of Endemism.
The first theory believes that the last survivors of once flourishing flora which is now declining
are the relics or epibiotics which are endemics.

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 However, second theory believes that these are recent and youthful forms in course of gradual
extinction. According to Willis age-and-area hypothesis, most endemic species are considered
to be youthful i.e. youngsters rather old relic. The concept of endemism includes two types of

Species distribution

Cosmopolitan Endemic Disjunct

Occurring in one geographic Occurring in two or more

Widely distributed species
location regions and that are separated
Example: Brown rat from each other
Example: Polar bear
Example: Nothofagus

Figure 1: Based on species distributional range of species they can be categorized into various
types.

organisms whose areas are confined to a single regions: endemics (which are relatively
youthful species), and epibiotics (which are relatively old relic species). The theory is also
known as Age and Area hypothesis. The first theory is supported by Geographers e.g., Sequoia
semipenirens of the central Valley of California and Oregon and S. gigantea of Sierra Nevada
which are endemic to their respective native homes, were extensively distributed in Cretaceous
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 and Tertiary periods. The supporters of second theory have the examples of Primula, Impatiens
and Rhododendron etc. According to this theory, Area is directly proportional to its age in the
scale of evolution. So, a small area of distribution shows relatively young in age e.g., Coleus
is distributed on the summit of the dry Ritigala mountains in Sri Lanka, with two species C.
elongatus and C. barbatus. C. elongatus is endemic and C. barbatus is widely distributed in
tropical Asia and Africa. Willis believed C. elongatus to be derived from C. barbatus.
Factors Responsible for Endemism
Factors responsible for the production of endemics are natural crossing among the closely
related plants growing under favorable conditions and Mutations. If the condition of isolation
is developed the effect becomes more pronounced.
 Endemism is found in isolated e.g., islands, isolated areas etc. Mountains also have
more endemic species as they are isolated e.g., 70% sp. of Himalayas is endemic.
 Climate also is one of the factors e.g., North of Himalaya is dry plateau of Tibet and
South Himalayan range has alluvial fertile soil. According to Chatterjee the percentage
of endemic species of Dicot plants in India is more than 50. Maximum endemic plants
are found in the Himalayas and South India. Indo-Gangetic plains have a very small
number of endemic species.
Stebbins, (1942) has given a genetic explanation for the endemic. He told that such taxa have
depleted their store of genetic variation (biotype depletion) and they are unable to expand their
range.
There are multiple causes of rarity and endemism. Three primary factors describe the
distribution of endemics:
 Geographical area
 Ecological role of species
 Isolation

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 Stebbins (1980) has given the gene pool/ niche interaction theory to explain origin of rarity and
endemism. “According to theory, the primary cause of localized or endemic distribution
patterns is adaptation to a combination of ecological factors that are themselves localized.
Factors of soil texture and chemical composition are the most important but by no means the
only ones. Next to the climatic and edaphic factors, those inherent into the gene pool of the
population are of critical importance. They include the total amount of variability, the amount
of variability that can be released at any one time, and the amount of variation that can be
generated with respect to those particular characteristic that affect most strongly the
establishment of new population”

Endemism in India
India is a tropical country, that is one of the mega-diversity centres, with only 2.4% of the
world's land area, accounts for 7-8% of all recorded species, including over 45,000 species of
plants and 91,000 species of animals. It is situated at the tri-junction of the Afrotropical, Indo-
Malayan and Palaearctic realms, all of which support rich biodiversity. Being one of the 17
identified megadiverse countries; India has 10 biogeographic zones and is home to 8.58% of
the mammalian species documented so far, with the corresponding figures for avian species
being 13.66%, for reptiles 7.91%, for amphibians 4.66%, for fishes 11.72% and for plants
11.80%. Four of the 34 globally identified biodiversity hotspots, namely the Himalaya, Indo-
Burma, the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka and Sundaland, are represented in India. The diverse
physical features and climatic conditions have resulted in a variety of ecosystems such as
forests, grasslands, wetlands, and desert, coastal and marine ecosystems which harbour and
sustain high biodiversity and contribute to human well-being. In India, there are following four
mega endemic centres:
1. Indo-Burma covering Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Andaman
Islands

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 2. Himalaya covering Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, northern part
of West Bengal (Darjeeling), Sikkim, northern part of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
3. Western Ghats falls within the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa,
Maharashtra and Gujarat.
4. The Sundaland covering the Nicobar Islands.

Peninsular India is the richest endemic centre. It harbors nearly 82% of the total endemic genera
of the country. Peninsular India has a high concentration of endemic genera (40 genera). There
is no endemic family in India. There are only 49 genera endemic to India, of which 36 are
unspecific. Hill tops provide a good environment for endemism next to islands. The species
richness and high endemism in the Western Ghats is due to varied latitudinal and altitudinal
gradients with varied rainfall and temperature. India has large number of endemic species.

Endemic: The term “endemic” is used to denote a species, genus or other group confined to a
small area like Single Island, a group of islands, a mountain chain or a comparatively small
country like South Africa or West Australia, largely bounded by sea or by a marked alteration
of climate.
Endemic species (ES): An “Endemic Species” is one that is only found in a particular region
and nowhere else in the world. Since these species are not widespread and may be confined to
only one or two protected areas, they are of great conservation concern.
A plant may be said to endemic to a certain state, to a country or to a continent. Although, there
is no country or islands that have all its species endemic, yet it is very common to find genera
with all their species endemic

Endemic species of India

The numbers of endemic plant under different plant groups mentioned in the fifth report of
convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) 2014 reported by Botanical survey of India are given

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 in Table 1. According to this report data, nearly about 4045 species of flowering plants
(angiosperms) endemic to India are distributed amongst 141 genera belonging to 47 families.
These are concentrated in the floristically rich areas of North-east India, the Western Ghats,
the North-west Himalaya and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Some examples of endemic
plant species of India are Rhododendron sp. (Ericaceae), Beaumontia grandiflora
(Apocynaceae), Eleusine coracana (Poaceae), Caryota urens (Arecaceae), Aegle marmelos
(Rutaceae), Crotolaria juncea (Fabaceae), Ficus religiosa (Moraceae), and Seasamum indicum
(Pedaliaceae) and other plant species belong to families like Rubiaceae (6 genera), Rosaceae,
Asteraceae, Primulaceae and Acanthaceae etc. Some examples of the endemic animal species
found in India are Lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri Langur, Brown palm civet and Nilgiri tahr.

Table 1: Endemism in different plant groups of India

[Link]. Plant Group Total no of species in Number of Percentage
India Endemic (%)
species
1. Angiosperms 17, 926 4, 045 22.57
2. Gymnosperms 74 8 10.81
3. Pteridophytes 1, 267 196 15.47
4. Bryophytes 2, 504 642 25.64
5. Algae 7, 244 1, 949 26.91
Source: BSI (2013)

References
 BSI (2013) Official communication from Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, India.
 Irwin, S.J. and Narasimhan, D. (2011). Endemic genera of Angiosperms in India: A
Review. Rheedea21: 87-105.

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  Kruckeberg, A.R. and Rabinowitz, D. (1985). Biological Aspects of Endemism in
Higher Plants. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 16: 447-479.
 Malik, V. (2015). Endemism: An Overview. Global Journal for Research Analysis X:
104-105.
 Mitra, S. and Mukherjee, S. K. (2007). Reassessment and diversity of endemic
Angiospermic genera of India. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany31: 163 –
176.
 Willis, J.C. (1922). Age and area. A study in geographical distribution and origin of
species. Cambridge, University Press.

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