New Biodiversity Finds in Great Nicobar
Context:
Recent discoveries of a new snake species and a potentially new bird species at the site of the Great Nicobar Island mega infrastructure project have highlighted the region's rich and unexplored biodiversity.
Since 2021, nearly 40 new species (including frogs, crabs, geckos, and insects) have been reported from this area
Almost half of them were described in 2025 alone.
New Discoveries:
Wolf Snake (Lycodon irwini):
It has been recommended for classification as Endangered under the IUCN Red List due to its rarity (only four records till date) and sharply restricted range.
Great Nicobar Crake (Rallina sp):
It is a potentially new bird species to science, photographed only thrice in over a decade.
A paper in the journal Indian Birds notes its distinctive morphological features, suggesting it is a new species with little known about its biology or population status.
Biodiversity of Great Nicobar:
Richness:
The island is home to approximately 650 species of plants and over 1,800 species of fauna.
Endemism:
The region boasts remarkable genetic diversity, exhibiting about 24% endemism (meaning species found nowhere else) among certain faunal groups
Experts consider Great Nicobar to have perhaps the finest tropical rainforest left in India, calling for its total protection amidst ongoing development concerns.