Butterflies
of Kedarnath Musk Deer Reserve, Garhwal Himalaya, India
Arun
P. Singh
Entomology
Division, Forest Research Institute, P.O. New Forest, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
248006, India
Email: singhap@icfre.org;
ranoteaps@gmail.com
Date of online publication 26 January 2009
ISSN 0974-7907
(online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor:Peter
Smetacek
Manuscript
details:
Ms
# o1873
Received
15 October 2007
Final
revised received 30 September 2008
Finally
accepted 09 October 2008
Citation: Singh, A.P.
(2009). Butterflies of Kedarnath Musk Deer Reserve, Garhwal Himalaya, India. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 1(1): 37-48.
Copyright: © Arun P.
Singh 2009. Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article
in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by
providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Author
Details:Arun P. Singh works on the conservation of biodiversity of the western
Himalaya with special reference to butterflies and birds since past 15
years. His research work include
ecology, taxonomy, environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies, along with
teaching (Entomology and Wildlife Management) at Forest Research Institute
University at Dehradun.
Acknowledgements:The present study is part of a research project (FRI-348/FED-23)
of Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, India, being funded by the Indian
Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE). The author is thankful to Director, FRI
and Head, Entomology Division, FRI, for providing the necessary facilities to
carry out this study. Author is
also thankful to Shri. B.C.Pandey and Shri. R. Kumar, Technical Assistants
(FRI), for their help in collection of insect material from the field.
Abstract: A checklist of 147 species of butterflies recorded from Kedarnath Musk
Deer Reserve in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts of Uttarakhand state in
India, studied during May 2006 - September 2008 is given along with their
seasonality, altitudinal distribution and relative abundance in the study area.
Keywords: Broad leaved forest, butterflies,
moist temperate, seasonality, Western Himalaya
For Images & Table – click here
Introduction
Kedarnath Musk Deer Reserve (KMDR) was
created in 1972 and is situated 300 km north of Delhi, covering an area of
975km2. This sanctuary lies in the catchment of
Alaknanda river, which is a major tributary of the upper reaches of the
Ganga. It is bounded to the north
by a range of peaks i.e. Chaukhamba (7,068m) and Kedarnath (above 6,000m) and
in the south by Mandal-Okhimath road varying from 1,100-2,870m (Fig. 1). The climate in the Reserve is considerably
influenced by south west-monsoon in summer. Of the mean annual precipitation of
2,665mm and 3,093mm at 1,400m and 3,053m, respectively, in the main study area
(Fig. 1), 80% falls during June and September and 11% as snow between December
and March. Temperatures are highest
in May-June before the arrival of monsoon, and are lowest in the first week of
January. The highest and lowest
temperatures recorded at 3,050m were 25.00C and –100C, respectively. The Reserve is snow bound for three
months in the year, following heavy snowfall in December (Green 1986; Pande et
al. 2001).
A great variety of vegetation types occur in
the reserve, reflecting the complex and diverse climate, geology and topography of the
region. The forests here stretch over
the mountain slopes in large, dense and continuous patches with closed canopy.
Besides, high rainfall, lichens on oak trees, dwarf bamboo, numerous fresh
water streams and high plant diversity with more than 650 plant species (Semwal
& Gaur 1981; Pande et al. 2001; Singh et al. 2009) are the characteristics
of the study area. Interestingly, the distribution of at least seven of 252
bird species found in the study area is known only from much further east in
central Nepal (Myers & Singh 2006; Singh & Singh 2007). The sub-tropical, moist-temperate,
sub-alpine and alpine zones in the reserve are reflected along an altitudinal
gradient, while the tropical zone is absent, as per the classification of
Champion & Seth (1968). The
sub-tropical zone consists of mixed ‘broad-leaved’ forest with Ban
Oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) and Moru Oak (Q. dilatata)
(1,500-2,750m), with Rhododendron arboreum often constituting a second
under storey. Below these lie
impenetrable thickets of Bamboo (Thamnocalamus sp.), Elm (Ulmus
wallichiana), Horse Chestnut (Aesculus indica), Bird Cherry (Prunus
padus), Hazel (Corylus colurna), Maple (Acer sp.) which are
absent from the lower altitudes, are often associated with moru oak. The temperate zone consists of Karsu Oak
(Q. semecarpifolia) forest (2,500-3,300m) along with Maple (Acer
caecium), Meliosma dilleniaefolia, Rowan (Sorbus lanata), Yew
(Taxus baccata) along with thickets of a Bamboo (T. spathiflorus)
and conifer forest with mainly West Himalayan Silver Fir, Abies pindrow (2,600-3,400m)
and Rhododendron arboreum. The Sub-alpine zone consists of Birch (Betula utilis), Dwarf
Rhododendron (R. campanulatum), Scrub Forest (3,100-3,350m) intermingled
with dense clumps of bamboo (T. spathiflorus). The Alpine zone (3,350-3,500m) consists
of R. campanulatum scrub above which lie the ‘pastures’
(above 3,500m) that are dominated by the herb community Danthonia cumminsii,
shrubs like Rhododendron lepidotum, R. barbatum and forbs Bistortasp. (Green 1986).
Butterflies of KMDR have not been previously
documented. Published literature
from Garhwal Himalaya pertains mainly to areas lying south of KMDR, Dehradun
and Tehri Garhwal districts (Mackinnon & De Nicéville 1899;
Ollenbach 1930; Evans 1932; Singh & Bhandari 2003) and from adjoining areas
of Kumaon Himalaya, Almora and Nainital districts (Doherty 1886; Hannyngton
1910). Besides, 35 species have been recorded from Nanda Devi National Park
(Fig. 1), lying in the Garhwal Himalaya bordering Kumaon (Baindur 1993; Uniyal
2004).
The study area lies in the south-eastern part
of KMDR between 30027’72"-30029’29"N & 79008’82"-79017’90"E
(Fig. 1). Butterflies were sampled
from 13 May 2006 to 6 September 2008 using Pollard walk (Pollard et al. 1975; Walpole & Sheldon
1999). Besides photographing butterflies, voucher specimens
were also collected of species that could not be identified in the field. Ten transects of 2km each were trekked,
for 1.5h each, on forest trails and Mandal - Okhimath road for sampling
butterflies, which was done once in two months on the following trails/routes:
Mandal (1,528m) - Anusuyia Devi Temple (2,100m), Mandal - Kanchula Kharak
(2,660m), Kanchula Kharak - Chopta (2,870m), Chopta - Tunganth Temple (3,486m)
- Chandrashila Peak (3,621m), Maku bend (2,250m) - Maku Math road (2000m) and
Duggal Bitta (2,465m) - Tala Village (1,700m). Relative abundance of each species was
estimated by adding up the total counts of each individual species for the
entire sampling period for all the 10 transects combined. The species counts were then categorized
into four groups: rare, uncommon, fairly common and very common, in increasing
order of abundance, based on the quartile divisions, from first quartile (Ql)
to fourth Quartile (Q4), respectively.
Identification of butterflies was done using
the following literature: Marshall & de Nicéville (1882), Moore
(1890-1905), Swinhoe (1905-1913), Evans (1932), Talbot (1939, 1947),
Wynter-Blyth (1957), D’ Abrera (1982, 1985 and 1986), Smith (1989),
Haribal (1992) Kunte (2000) and Kehimkar (2008) and also by comparison with
identified specimens at the ‘National Insect Reference Collection’,
Entomology Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India. The classification followed here is
based on Ackery (1984).
A total of 3617 individuals of 147 species of
butterflies were recorded during eleven sampling surveys carried out in KMDR
(Table 1). Butterflies were
abundant from late April to September. The individual species count for the entire sampling period for all the
transects combined, varied from 1 to 522 individuals. The four groups were then differentiated
as ‘rare’ or Q1 = 1;
‘uncommon’ or Q2 = 2-4; ‘fairly common’ or Q3 = 5-14;
‘very common’ or Q4 =
15-522, respectively (median =3).
Findings included one important range
extension into the western Himalayas, the Brown Gorgon, Meandrusa lachinus(Fruhstorfer) syn. M. gyas gyas (Westwood), from north-east India (Singh
2006). Besides, the Bi-spot Royal Ancema
ctesia ctesia (Hewitson), and the Powdery Green Sapphire Heliophorous
tamu tamu (Kollar) were also recorded here west of Kumaon, the previous
western limit of the distribution of these species in the Himalaya (Wynter-Blyth1957;
Smith1989; Varshney 1997). Twelve
species (marked with an asterisk in the appendix) are listed in Schedules I, II
& IV of the Indian Wild life (Protection) Act (1972) as amended up to 2006
(Anon 2006). Except for the Lofty
Bath White Pontia callidice; Common Silverstripe Fabriciana kamala;
Azure Sapphire Heliophorus androcles moorei and Golden Sapphire H.brahma,
the remainder of the 35 species recorded from Nanda Devi National Park (Baindur
1993; Uniyal 2004), were recorded in the present study.
The number of species of swallowtails
(Papilionidae) in an areas is an indicator of the over-all species richness of
butterflies any where in the Indian Sub-continent (Singh & Pandey
2004). By taking the ‘Papilionidae’
species proportion as 7.4% of the total number of species occurring in an area
in the Western Himalayas (Singh & Pandey 2004) the number of species in the
study area, where 13 species of ‘Papilionidae’ were sampled, was
estimated to be ca. 176 species as per this methodology. The present figure of 147 species
recorded in the study area in KMDR is ca. 83% of the total number of species
estimated in the area. Families,
especially, ‘Lycaenidae’ and ‘Hesperiiidae’ were under
represented, judging from their species proportions of the five major families
in the total number of species found in the Western Himalayas (Singh &
Pandey 2004). One reason for
recording less number of species than estimated could be that only 10-15
percent of the land area in KMDR was sampled due to inaccessible terrain and
low lying areas (below 1,300m) under agriculture and high altitude alpine
habitats (above 3,800m) were left out. Although sampling was done during every month from March-mid December,
however sampling intensity was low as the total sampling period was only 43
days within the two year study period, which could be another reason for
missing a number of species.
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