Kalakkad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

Why in news?

• The researchers from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) Tamil Nadu Wetland Mission are the first in the world to photograph the moth species Mimeusemia ceylonica.
• It was first illustrated and described by English entomologist George Hampson and was sighted 127 years ago - at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka in 1893.
• Mimeusemia ceylonica is a moth species belonging to the subfamily Agaristinae and family Noctuidae.

 

Key facts about Kalakkad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

• The Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu is one of the protected areas having diverse flora and fauna.
• It was declared as the “First Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu” and the 17th Tiger Reserve of the country.
• It consists of the Kanyakumari Wildlife sanctuary in the south and the Nellai Wildlife Sanctuary in the North.
• The river Thamirabarani originates from this tiger reserve.
• The reserve is also known as the “River Sanctuary” with as many as 14 rivers originating from this Tiger Reserve.
• Flora: This region has got vegetation types which gradually change from dry thorn forest to dry deciduous, moist deciduous and a patch of West coast wet evergreen forests on the higher reaches of the reserve.
• Fauna: Lion Tailed Macaque, Nilgiri Tahr, Nilgiri Pipit, Grey Headed Bulbul, Blue Winged Parakeet etc.

 

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Q1) What are the features of tropical evergreen forests?

Tropical evergreen forests have dense and thick canopies which do not allow the sunlight to penetrate inside the forest. As there is no particular dry season, the trees do not shed their leaves altogether.

Source: Moth found in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi districts after 127 years; photographed for the first time