According to a document published recently by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) Animal Discoveries 2020 has revealed that India has added 557 new species to its fauna, which includes 407 new species and 150 new records.

The number of faunal species in India has increased now to 1,02,718 species with the discovery of the new species.

Among the new species, some interesting species discovered in 2020 are:

- Trimeresurus salazar, a new species of green pit viper discovered from Arunachal Pradesh
- Lycodon deccanensis, the Deccan wolf snake discovered from Karnataka
- Sphaerotheca Bengaluru, a new species of burrowing frog named after the city of Bengaluru.

The list also includes:

- Xyrias anjaalai, a new deep water species of snake eel from Kerala
- Glyptothorax giudikyensis, a new species of catfish from Manipur
- Clyster galateansis, a new species of scarab beetles from the Great Nicobar Biosphere

The highest number of new species were discovered from Karnataka (66 species), followed by Kerala (51 species). Also in 2020, 46 new species were discovered from Rajasthan and 30 from West Bengal.

In terms of new records of species discovered in the country, Arunachal Pradesh stands at the top with 20 new records. In the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, 25 new species were discovered and 16 new records reported in 2020.

Of these 557 species, invertebrates constitute the majority with 486 species, while 71 species belong to vertebrates. Among invertebrates, insects dominated, with 344 species, whereas pisces and reptiles dominated among vertebrates.