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{{Short description|Mountain and forest reserve in Tamil Nadu, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2020}}

'''Pakkamalai''' ({{Lang-ta|[[பாக்கம் காப்புக்காடு]]}}) is a mountain and forest reserve in [[Villupuram district]] of Tamil Nadu, located 45 km southwest of [[Gingee]].

==Geography==
Pakkamalai is steep-sided plateau that reaches an elevation of over 500 meters. In addition to being a forest reserve, Pakkamalai is a [[sacred groves of India|sacred forest]]. There is a shrine to the Goddess [[Durga]] on one of the peaks, and a temple to [[Thirumal|Perumal]] (Vishnu) at mid-elevation.<ref>R. Muralidharan (2014). "Angiosperm Diversity, Ethnobotany and Vegetational Analysis of a Sacred Forest near Gingee, Tamil Nadu, India" Doctoral Thesis.</ref>

==Climate==
Maximum temperature ranges from 30° to 36 °C in the summer, and 24 °C during the winter months. Mean annual rainfall is 700 mm.<ref>Pandi Karthik, Ayuthavel Kalaimani, and Rathinalingam Nagarajan (2018). "An inventory on herpetofauna with emphasis on conservation from Gingee Hills, Eastern-Ghats, Southern India". Asian Journal of Conservation Biology, July 2018. Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 2-16.</ref>

==Ecology==
Pakkamalai forest reserve covers an area of 22.38 km<sup>2</sup>,<ref>Karthik, Pandi & Kalaimani, Ayuthavel & Nagarajan, Rajarathinavelu. (2018). An Inventory on Herpetofauna with Emphasis on Conservation from Gingee Hills, Eastern-Ghats, Southern India. 7. 2-16.</ref> and the mountain's dry forests contain a mix of species characteristic of the coastal [[East Deccan dry evergreen forests|dry evergreen forests]] which lie to the east, and the [[South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests|dry deciduous forests]] that lie to the west in the [[Eastern Ghats]]. Typical dry evergreen species in the forests include ''[[Atalantia monophylla]], [[Acacia intsia]], [[Combretum albidum]], [[Dichrostachys cinerea]]'', and ''[[Psydrax dicoccos]]'', and typical dry deciduous species include ''[[Cochlospermum religiosum]], [[Deccania pubescens]], [[Garuga pinnata]], [[Hildegardia populifolia]], [[Ochna lanceolata]]'', and ''[[Premna tomentosa]]''.<ref>R. Muralidharan (2014). "Angiosperm Diversity, Ethnobotany and Vegetational Analysis of a Sacred Forest near Gingee, Tamil Nadu, India" Doctoral Thesis.</ref> It is also home to several endemic and limited-range species.<ref>N. Balachandrani, 2* and K. Rajendiran (2016). "Cordia ramanujamii (Cordiaceae): new species from Tamil Nadu, India". ''Taiwania'' 61(2): 74 ‒77 2016.</ref><ref>Balachandran, N, K. Rajendiran & W.F. Gastmans (2015) Occurrence of three Western Ghats elements in dry evergreen forest of Gingee Hills, Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(14): 8177–8181; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/jott.2433.7.14.8177-8181</ref> ''Hubera senjiana'', a rare species of tree, is found only on Pakkamalai, growing in dry rocky soils along forest fringes between 200–300 metres elevation in association with ''Phyllanthus polyphyllus'', ''Stenosiphonium russellianum'', and ''Justicia beddomei''.<ref>Ramachandran, Muralidharan & Narasimhan, D. & Natesan, Balachandran. (2015). A new species of Hubera (Annonaceae) from Peninsular India. ''Phytotaxa''. 205. 129-134. 10.11646/phytotaxa.207.1.8.</ref>

The surrounding lowlands are in the [[Deccan thorn scrub forests]] ecoregion.<ref>"Deccan thorn scrub forests''. ''DOPA Explorer''. Accessed 29 July 2021. https://dopa-explorer.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ecoregion/41301</ref>

Pakkamalai is home to the easternmost population of the [[grizzled giant squirrel]] ''(Ratufa macroura)''. It was previously known only in the Western Ghats and the [[Palani Hills]].<ref>Prasad, S. (2018) "Over 300 nests of grizzled giant squirrel spotted near Gingee". ''The Hindu''. 7 May 2019. Accessed 3 May 2020. [https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/over-300-nests-of-grizzled-giant-squirrel-spotted-near-gingee/article27052673.ece]</ref>

In 2019, the critically endangered blue tarantula ''[[Poecilotheria metallica]]'', known as the peacock parachute spider or Gooty tarantula, was discovered living in the mountains.<ref>Kothandapani Raman, Sivangnanaboopathidoss Vimalraj, Bawa Mothilal Krishnakumar, Natesan Balachandran, and Abhishek Tomar (2019). "Range extension of the Gooty Tarantula Poecilotheria metallica (Araneae: Theraphosidae) in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India". ''Journal of Threatened Taxa'', 26 August 2019 11(10): 14373–14376. www.threatenedtaxa.org.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:Hills of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Sacred groves of India]]
[[Category:Viluppuram district]]

Pakkamalai - Revision history

imported>Tom Radulovich: /* Ecology */ copyedit