Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve
2023 MAR 21
Preliminary >
Environment and Ecology > Protected Area Networks > Protected Area
Why in news?
- Two researchers from Tamil Nadu have spotted a rare moth species- Mimeusemia ceylonica, for the first time in India in the buffer zone of Kalakkad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) after it was last sighted 127 years ago - at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka in 1893.
About Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve:
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Mimeusemia ceylonica is a moth of the family Noctuidae first described by George Hampson in 1893.
It is found in Sri Lanka, and is known to produce a neurotoxin similar to MDMA
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- Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) is located in Western Ghats montane rain forests in Tamil Nadu.
- It is the second-largest protected area in Tamil Nadu and a part of the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve.
- Vegetation types gradually change from dry thorn forest to dry deciduous.
- Kalakad Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1976 primarily for the conservation of Lion Tailed Macaque.
- River Thamirabarani and 13 other rivers originate from KMTR. Hence, KMTR is called popularly as River Sanctuary.
Other Tiger Reserves in Tamil Nadu:
- Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR)
- Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR)
- Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR)
PRACTICE QUESTION:
Mimeusemia ceylonica, a rare moth species was recently spotted for the first time in India, in:
(a) Tamil Nadu
(b) Sikkim
(c) Ladakh
(d) Gujarat
Answer
