Andaman booklet aw.FH10 - Zoological Survey of India

Dermochelys coriacea, Reticulated Python Python reticulates, Coconut
Crab Birgus latro.
Barren Island: Barren Island lies at latitude 12o 17' 30" N and
longitude 930 52' 10" E in Andaman Sea. It is an uninhabited island
at 132 km NNE of Port Blair, the
capital of the Union Territory of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The
island is nearly circular in shape of
about 3 km in diameter and covers
an area of 8.10 km2. This island is
known to be a part of inner
volcanic arc, which extends from
Burma, Narcondum and Barren Island to Malaysia. The island was
formed during the late to Post - Pleistocene times by submarine
volcanic activity which was the first phase of volcano. Total of 51
species of insects belonging the orders, Coleoptera (17 species),
Embioptera (1 species), Hymenoptera (6 species), Hemiptera (10
species), Neuroptera (1 species), Diptera (6 spcies), Lepidoptera (9
species) and Isoptera (1 species) were recorded in Barren Islands.
Narcondam Island: Narcondam is one of the 572 islands of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands with an extent of 6.8 km2. It lies about
500 km of Mergui Archipelago and
about 300 km of South West of
Gulf of Martaban in Myanmar
(Kemp, 1995). The Island is an
outcome of volcanic actions
belonging to Sunda group, and
lies, with the Nicobars, along one
of the principal lines of weakness
in the earth's surface. The flora of this Sanctuary has mostly evergreen
species such as Dipterocarpus sp., Sideroxylon sp. and Ficus sp.
However, some of the deciduous species such as Simul (Bombax
insigne) could also be seen in this island. The Narcondam Hornbill,
Aceors narcondami is one of the India's most threatened species and
endemic to the Narcondam Island. This species is found only on
this Island which was recently declared an Important Bird Area (IBA)
under the IBA program.
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