A quiet hill stream flowing past a village in Ri-Bhoi district has given Meghalaya yet another reason to take pride in its natural heritage. Scientists have formally described a new species of snakehead fish, Channa bhoi, adding to the state’s growing reputation as a hotspot of freshwater biodiversity.
As Meghalaya’s famed Cherry Blossom Festival lights up the hills with clouds of pink, two scientific studies are offering the most comprehensive understanding yet of what makes these Himalayan cherry trees bloom, how they evolved in Northeast India, and why they urgently need protection
Guwahati, Oct 26: Sitting at the junction of the Brahmaputra and Barak basins and within the Indo-Burma global biodiversity hotspot, Meghalaya hosts rich freshwater...
A major international taxonomic review has placed Meghalaya firmly on the biodiversity map, with the discovery of two rare ladybird beetles never before recorded in India. The study, published in the latest issue of Zootaxa, documents Plotina muelleri and Plotina octomaculata from the Khasi and Garo Hills—marking the first-ever record of the genus Plotina in the country.
A team of Indian scientists has documented 28 species of orb-weaving spiders from Meghalaya’s Khasi Hills, highlighting the state’s rich biodiversity and the ecological importance of these little-known predators.
A new scientific study has uncovered five distinct, coexisting call types of Mecopoda sp. katydids in the Nokrek rainforest of Meghalaya, revealing a surprising layer of biodiversity hidden in plain sight.
Researchers from the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya have thrown new light on how invisible soil allies — arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi — could be the key to conserving the state’s rich diversity of medicinal plants, many of which are now threatened by habitat loss, overharvesting, and climate change.
Meghalaya has emerged as a key biodiversity hotspot in India, ranking second in the Northeast for new animal discoveries in 2024, just behind Arunachal Pradesh. According to the Animal Discoveries 2024 report released by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Meghalaya accounted for 25 new species and 17 new records, bringing its total faunal discoveries for the year to 42.
Hidden within the rain-soaked forests of Cherrapunjee and Mawsynram — two of the wettest places on Earth — grows a tree found nowhere else on the planet. But today, Pyrenaria cherrapunjeana, an evergreen tree species endemic to Meghalaya, stands at the edge of extinction.
In a significant breakthrough for biodiversity research in Meghalaya, scientists have discovered a new species of cave-dwelling fish in the East Khasi Hills district. The species, named Schistura densiclava, was found inside Krem Mawjymbuin, a limestone cave near Mawjymbuin village, about 15 km from Mawsynram.
