Indo-Burmese Pangolin

Why in News?

Recently, scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata have identified a new species of Indo-Burmese pangolin.

• Pangolins – They are the only mammals wholly-covered in scales and they use those scales to protect themselves from predators in the wild.
• Indo-Burmese pangolin – It is a distinct phylogenetic species of Asian pangolin, diverged from the Chinese pangolin around 3.4 million years ago, during the Pliocene Epoch.
  • Scientific name – Manis Indoburmanica.

Phylogenetic species is the smallest set of organisms that share an ancestor and can be distinguished from other such sets.

• Distinct species – It has a genetic distance of 0.038 and a barcode gap of 3.8% which reinforced its status as a distinct species.
• It is influenced by geoclimatic changes in the Indo-Burma region.

Genetic distance is a measure of the genetic divergence between species or between populations within a species, whether the distance measures time from common ancestor or degree of differentiation.

Mitochondrial genomes include mitochondrial DNA are inherited to offspring from their mother.

• Distribution – Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.
• In India – Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
• It is home to 2 species,
  • Indian Pangolin – Found across the subcontinent.
  • Chinese Pangolin – Found across a larger area in south Asia.
• Bihar, West Bengal and Assam have both species in their States.
• Threats – Pangolins are among the most trafficked wild mammals globally due to poaching and habitat degradation.
• Conservation Status –It hasn’t yet been concluded.

World Pangolin Day is observed every year on February 18.

Reference

The Hindu| Scientists Discovered New Species of Indo-Burmese Pangolin