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Recent record of a threatened holoparasitic plant Sapria himalayana Griff. in Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary, , India

Arif Ahmad, Amit Kumar, Gopal Singh Rawat & G.V. Gopi

26 July 2020 | Vol. 12 | No. 10 | Pages: 16399–16401 DOI: 10.11609/jot.5168.12.10.16399-16401

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Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2020 | 12(10): 16399–16401 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.5168.12.10.16399-16401

#5168 | Received 25 June 2019 | Final received 19 November 2019 | Finally accepted 16 July 2020

N o t Recent record of a threatened holoparasitc plant e Sapria himalayana Grif. in Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Arif Ahmad 1 , Amit Kumar 2 , Gopal Singh Rawat 3 & G.V. Gopi 4

1–4 Wildlife Insttute of India, P.O. Box # 18, Chandrabani, Dehra Dun, Utarakhand 248001, India. 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected], 4 [email protected] (corresponding author)

In India, a variety of the climatc, edaphic, and a wide variaton of climate and soils that have resulted topographic variatons have resulted in a great in the formaton of varied ecological diversity (Baishya range of habitats. Northeastern India, partcularly, et al. 2001). Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary (WS) is rich in is extremely diverse and rich in biodiversity (Singh foral and faunal diversity and it harbours an interestng 2003). Lying between 22–300N & 89–970E and spread and endangered plant species, Sapria himalayana Grif., over 262,379km2, this region represents the transiton (Nayar & Sastry, 1987), which was recorded for the zone between the Indian, Indo-Malayan, and Indo- frst tme from the sanctuary (28.0830N–93.5000E and Chinese biogeographic regions and a meetng place 28.2500N–95.7500E), Lower Dibang Valley, Arunachal of the Himalayan mountains and peninsular India Pradesh and later in 2014 (Andreas & Jis 2014). This (Ramakantha et al. 2003). Northeastern India is, thus, species is the largest root parasite having a host specifc the biogeographical ‘gateway’ for much of India’s fora relatonship with the plant genus Tetrastgma of and fauna, as a result, the region is one of the richest in Vitaceae family (Hajra et.al. 2008) and T. bracteolatum biological values. Despite being rich and diverse in terms (Wallich) Planchon and T. serrulatum (Roxb.) Planchon of biological diversity, the vegetaton of the northeastern are reported as the host plants of Sapria in Namdapha India is fairly less known. With about 167,000km2 area Natonal Park (Arunachalam et al. 2004). under forest, this region accounts for approximately Sapria needs special atenton due to its botanical 7,500 species of angiosperms (Ramakantha et al. 2003). characteristcs and a very restricted distributon Arunachal Pradesh, the largest state in northeastern around the world (Borah & Ghosh 2018). Globally, it is India among the seven sisters (a term used for the distributed in southeastern Tibet, northeastern India, northeastern states collectvely) is situated between Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Vietnam. In India, 26.5000N–91.5000E and 29.5000N–97.5000E. It covers it was frst reported from the tropical wet evergreen a geographical area of 83,743km2. The state is forests of Mishmi Hills in by William predominantly hilly with deep valleys, accompanied by Grifth in 1847 and later from Aka Hills in Kameng

Editor: K. Haridasan, Pallavur, Palakkad, Kerala, India. Date of publicaton: 26 July 2020 (online & print)

Citaton: Ahmad, A., A. Kumar, G.S. Rawat & G.V. Gopi (2020). Recent record of a threatened holoparasitc plant Sapria himalayana Grif. in Mehao Wildlife Sanctu- ary, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(10): 16399–16401. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.5168.12.10.16399-16401

Copyright: © Ahmad et al. 2020. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton.

Funding: Fund support to GVG from Department of Science and Technology (SB/EMEQ-041/2014).

Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests.

Acknowledgements: Authors thank the Director and Dean, Wildlife Insttute of India, Dehradun for insttutonal support, Forest Department of Arunachal Pradesh for according necessary feld permission and DST, Government of India for fund support. We are thankful to Mr. Kenjum Rina (DFO-), Mr. Ipra Mekola (Member of Arunachal Pradesh State Board of Wildlife) for their kind support in facilitatng our feldwork. We are grateful to our feld assistants Mr. Kiran Pulu, Ashok Sherpa, and Mr. Rajan Lingi for their hard work and rigorous eforts during feld data collecton.

16399 J TT Distributon record of Sapria himalayana in Mehao WS Ahmad et al.

© Arif Ahmad © Arif Ahmad

Image 1. Flower of Sapria himalayana Grif. in Mehao Wildlife Image 2. A globose bud of Sapria in the forest foor of Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary. Sanctuary.

Image 3. Distributon map of Sapria himalayana in Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary.

District by Norman Lofus Bor in 1938 (Borah & Ghosh Earlier, Sapria was also distributed in , , 2018). Recently, it was reported by Jayom Karlo in the and , however, all current locatons of this Perlek Modi Hills of West Siang and in Namdapha Tiger plant are in Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalaya. Reserve in (Borah & Ghosh 2018). According to Elliot (1992), S. himalayana is also known as

16400 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2020 | 12(10): 16399–16401 J TT Distributon record of Sapria himalayana in Mehao WS Ahmad et al. a ‘Hermit’s Spitoon’ which has been reported from the patch. The patch which is found near Mehao Lake evergreen forest of Thailand which is similar in its habitat had three globose buds of Sapria. The parasitc plant to the Mehao WS. Thailand acts as a geographical bridge is lesser-known and a poorly understood taxon. The that connects communites from the northern parts of plant has no known commodity value in terms of food, the Himalayan mountain range and southern China to drug or other natural products for the local inhabitants the Malay Peninsula and Cambodia to Laos. (Borah & Ghosh 2018). Identfcaton of their peculiar Sapria himalayana belongs to the Rafesiaceae morphology is problematc and thus has contributed family, recognized as large-fowered genera. The sister greatly towards the confusion surrounding the plants clades Rafesia, Rhizanthes, and Sapria have reduced evolutonary afnites and development of their body vegetatve body among all angiosperms. The members plan. Due to its restricted distributon, litle knowledge of Rafesiaceae family produce the world’s largest about its host range and host-parasite interacton exist. fowers (Rafesia arnoldii), which is an iconic symbol Increased human interference and habitat shrinkage of the southeastern Asian rainforests. Rafesia and impose the risk of extrpaton. Further studies focusing Sapria, however, share a very similar conspicuous foral on populaton dynamics and vegetaton ecology of Sapria chamber. Thus, despite their superfcial similarites, the and its host species is suggested for its conservaton. foral chambers are constructed diferently in these two cousin genera (Nikolov et al. 2014). References Sapria himalayana is a rare holoparasitc (or obligate parasitc) fowering plant which is completely dependent Andreas H. & S. Jis (2014). Sapria himalayana Grifth , an endangered species from the Mishmi hills, Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh. on its host plant for water, nutrients, and products Indian Forester 140(4) : 433–434. of photosynthesis. It sucks food through a specialised Arunachalam, A., D. Adhikari, R. Sarmah, M. Majumder & M.L. Khan root system called haustoria, which are atached to both (2004). Populaton and conservaton of Sapria himalayana Grif. in Namdapha Natonal Park, Arunachal Pradesh, India, Biodiversity xylem and phloem of the host plant. The visible body is and Conservaton, 13: 2391–2397. globose, fowers are dioecious and unisexual. Flowers Baishya, A.K., S. Haque, P.J. Bora & N. Kalita (2001). Flora of Arunachal bloom in winter have 10 bracts each which are bright red Pradesh: an overview. Arunachal Forest News 19(1&2): 1–25. Bor, N.L. (1938). A sketch of the vegetaton of the Aka Hills, Assam: a in colour covered with sulphur-yellow spots. Flowers synecological study. Indian Forest Record (N.S.) Bot., 1(i–ix): 103– are feshy with imbricate inforescence while perianth 221. Borah, D. & D. Ghosh (2018). Sapria himalayana the Indian cousin of being campanulate. It fowers in between August and World’s largest fower. Resonance 23(4): 479-489. September followed by fruitng during winters. Fruits Elliot, S. (1992). Status, ecology and conservaton of Sapria himalayana are swollen and crowned with perianth. The seeds are Grif. (Rafesiaceae) in Thailand. Journal of Wildlife in Thailand 2(1): 44–52. of the size of grapefruit and are blackish-brown in colour Grifth, W. (1847). Journals of travels in Assam, Burma, Bootan, (Elliot 1992; Borah & Ghosh 2018). Afghanistan and the neighbouring countries. Bishop’s College The forests of Mehao WS have been facing Press, Calcuta, 529pp. Hajra, P.K., G.S. Giri & D.M. Verma (2008). Materials for the Flora of disturbances due to anthropogenic sources such as Arunachal Pradesh: Asteraceae-Ceratophyllaceae. Botanical Survey shifing cultvaton and non-tmber forest produce of India 2: 318–319. extracton that are now visible in several parts of the Nikolov, L.A., Y.M. Staedler, S. Manickam, J. Schonenberger, P.K. Endress, E.M. Kramer & C.C. Davis (2014). Floral structure and sanctuary. During the early process of developing a development in Rafesiaceae with emphasis on their exceptonal forest, the ground is lopped of followed by burning of Gynoecia. American Journal of Botany 101(2): 225–243. forest remains, which has severely damaged the host Nayar, M.P. & A.R.K Sastry (1987). Red Data Book of Indian Plants. Botanical Survey of India, 1: 310pp. plants of Sapria. Sapria favours shady, gentle slope, Ramakantha, V., A.K. Gupta & A. Kumar (2003). Biodiversity of nutrient-rich humus soil with plenty of leaf liter on : an overview. pp. 1–24. In: Gupta, A.K., A. Kumar forest foor, humid habitats with great canopy cover & V. Ramakantha (eds.). ENVIS Bulletn Vol. 4, No.1: Wildlife & Protected Areas, Conservaton of Rainforests in India. throughout. Sapria generally grow in patches. We found Singh, D.N. (2003). Conservaton of Tropical Rain Forests in Arunachal three fowers in one patch and fve fowers in another Pradesh, pp. 279–286. In: Gupta, A.K., A. Kumar & V. Ramakantha (eds.). ENVIS Bulletn Vol. 4, No.1: Wildlife & Protected Areas, Conservaton of Rainforests in India.

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Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2020 | 12(10): 16399–16401 16401 PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. OPEN ACCESS All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton.

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)

July 2020 | Vol. 12 | No. 10 | Pages: 16195–16406 Date of Publicaton: 26 July 2020 (Online & Print) www.threatenedtaxa.org DOI: 10.11609/jot.2020.12.10.16195-16406

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