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Molecular investigation of Cavernicoles from Kotumsar Cave in Northern Eastern Ghats, India


Affiliations
1 Freshwater Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Hyderabad − 500048, Telangana, India
2 Centre for DNA Taxonomy, Molecular Systematics Division, Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata − 700053, West Bengal, India
3 House No. 2-60, Village Turkapalle, Nalgonda − 508266, Telangana, India

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The Kotumsar cave is situated in the Eastern Ghats and has been reported by the existence of 14 different organisms morphologically. To reassess the living taxa and hitherto unreported organisms, intervention of molecular tool is required to corroborate the exact faunal diversity. In the present study, we dealt with the environmental samples and opportunistically encountered living specimens from both deep and transition zones of the Kotumsar cave. The morphological and integrated approach confirmed the existence of Rhinolophus rouxii (Medellin et al., 2017) (bat), Kempiola shankari Sinha and Agarwal, 1977 (cricket), Heteropoda leprosa Simon, 1884 (spider). Further, the collected environmental DNA (eDNA) samples were successfully identified as Fejervarya pierrei (Dubois, 1975) (frog), Indoreonectes evezardi (Day, 1872) (fish), Metrocoris sp. (true bug), Barytelphusa cunicularis (Westwood, 1836) (crab), Trigoniulidae sp. (millipede), and Megascolecidae sp. (worm). Hence, the present investigation through combined approaches by both morphological and molecular data helps to add six more organisms to the faunal checklist of Kotumsar cave. The study also contributed the genetic information of cavernicoles in the global database from India. This genetic information would further help to pursuing other biological studies and adopt better conservation strategies of cave-dwelling organisms and restoration of the colligated ecosystem.

Keywords

Cave Fauna, Conservation, DNA Barcoding, Environmental DNA (eDNA), New Record
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Abstract Views: 538




  • Molecular investigation of Cavernicoles from Kotumsar Cave in Northern Eastern Ghats, India

Abstract Views: 538  | 

Authors

Boni Amin Laskar
Freshwater Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Hyderabad − 500048, Telangana, India
Shantanu Kundu
Centre for DNA Taxonomy, Molecular Systematics Division, Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata − 700053, West Bengal, India
Rehanuma Sulthana
Freshwater Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Hyderabad − 500048, Telangana, India
Harikumar Adimalla
House No. 2-60, Village Turkapalle, Nalgonda − 508266, Telangana, India
Deepa Jaiswal
Freshwater Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Hyderabad − 500048, Telangana, India
Kaomud Tyagi
Centre for DNA Taxonomy, Molecular Systematics Division, Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata − 700053, West Bengal, India
Vikas Kumar
Centre for DNA Taxonomy, Molecular Systematics Division, Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata − 700053, West Bengal, India
Kailash Chandra
Freshwater Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Hyderabad − 500048, Telangana, India

Abstract


The Kotumsar cave is situated in the Eastern Ghats and has been reported by the existence of 14 different organisms morphologically. To reassess the living taxa and hitherto unreported organisms, intervention of molecular tool is required to corroborate the exact faunal diversity. In the present study, we dealt with the environmental samples and opportunistically encountered living specimens from both deep and transition zones of the Kotumsar cave. The morphological and integrated approach confirmed the existence of Rhinolophus rouxii (Medellin et al., 2017) (bat), Kempiola shankari Sinha and Agarwal, 1977 (cricket), Heteropoda leprosa Simon, 1884 (spider). Further, the collected environmental DNA (eDNA) samples were successfully identified as Fejervarya pierrei (Dubois, 1975) (frog), Indoreonectes evezardi (Day, 1872) (fish), Metrocoris sp. (true bug), Barytelphusa cunicularis (Westwood, 1836) (crab), Trigoniulidae sp. (millipede), and Megascolecidae sp. (worm). Hence, the present investigation through combined approaches by both morphological and molecular data helps to add six more organisms to the faunal checklist of Kotumsar cave. The study also contributed the genetic information of cavernicoles in the global database from India. This genetic information would further help to pursuing other biological studies and adopt better conservation strategies of cave-dwelling organisms and restoration of the colligated ecosystem.

Keywords


Cave Fauna, Conservation, DNA Barcoding, Environmental DNA (eDNA), New Record

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi%2Fv121%2Fi3%2F2021%2F154573