Language: English
The collections examined from Deepor Beel, Assam, Northeast India, record 315 species of freshwater invertebrates (zooplankton and hydrophyte-associated fauna) belonging to 11 groups, 150 genera and 73 families. These include 269 species of zooplankton and 13 species of freshwater Mollusca. Aquatic insects include 15 species of Hemiptera, 7 species of Coleoptera, 6 species of Plecoptera and 5 species of Ephemeroptera.
The faunal diversity in general and zooplankton diversity in particularly is the highest known to date from any individual freshwater ecosystem of South and South East Asia. These salient features highlight biodiversity significance of the sampled Ramsar site and reflect its greater environmental heterogeneity and micro-habitat diversity. ln all, 49 species are new records; these include two new records from lndia, 18 records from Northeast India while 29 species are new records from the state of Assam.