Fauna Definition

Fauna is all the animal life present in a particular place or at a particular time period. Fauna indicates all forms of animal life, more generally used to represent the animal life native to a particular place.

• The word ‘fauna’ has been taken from various names like ‘Fauna, the Goddess of earth and fertility’, the Roman God, ‘Faunus’ of the Roman mythology, and the related forest spirits ‘Fauns’.
• Fauna, like flora, is classified on the basis of their region, characteristics, climate, environmental conditions, and period.
• Out of this, the most common division is based on the region. Some of the flora based on region include; cryofauna, cryptofauna, infauna, epifauna, macrofauna, megafauna, meiofauna, and microfauna.
• Cryofauna indicates animals that live in and around cold areas.
• Cryptofauna includes animals that live in concealed or protected habitats.
• Epifauna is the group of animals that live at the bottom of the sediments present on the ocean floor.
• Infauna, in contrast, indicates the bottom-most oceanic animals that live underneath those sediments or deposits.
• Macrofauna is soil animals that live on 0.5 to 0.3 mm sieve.
• Megafauna is large animals that live on the surface of a particular region or at a particular time.
• Meiofauna includes invertebrates that are larger than microfauna but smaller than megafauna.
• The microscopic animals or invertebrates are included in microfauna.
• Other faunas like avifauna have birds, and piscifauna includes fishes.