Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2018 | 10(13): 12769–12791

 

 

A preliminary checklist of butterflies from the northern Eastern Ghats with notes on new and significant species records including three new reports for peninsular India

 

Rajkamal Goswami 1, Ovee Thorat 2, Vikram Aditya 3 & Seena Narayanan Karimbumkara 4

 

1,2,3,4 Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064, India 

1 rajkamalgoswami@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 ovee.thorat@atree.org, 3 vikram.aditya@atree.org, 4 seena.narayanan@atree.org

 

 

 

doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3730.10.13.12769-12791   |  ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0355B1C9-21C8-4F00-A85F-63F001B59FB4

 

Editor: Sanjay Sondhi, Titli Trust, Dehradun, India. Date of publication: 26 November 2018 (online & print)

 

Manuscript details: Ms # 3730 | Received 13 August 2017 | Final received 12 October 2018 | Finally accepted 23 October 2018

 

Citation: Goswami, R., O. Thorat, V. Aditya & S.N. Karimbumkara (2018). A preliminary checklist of butterflies from the northern Eastern Ghats with notes on new and significant species records including three new reports for peninsular India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(13): 12769–12791; https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3730.10.13.12769-12791

 

Copyright: © Goswami et al. 2018. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.

 

Funding: Academy for Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru and the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP).

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Author Details: Rajkamal Goswami’s broad research interests includes conservation science with a focus on animal community dynamics across natural and modified ecosystems. He is currently assisting in the coordination of a large-scale project on the mapping and inventory of bioresources in the north-eastern region of India at ATREE. Ovee Thorat is a PhD student at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru. She uses an interdisciplinary approach to study landscape change in arid and semi-arid grasslands in India. Her PhD research involves understanding how development interventions have transformed the landscape of Banni grasslands. Vikram Aditya is a PhD student in conservation science and sustainability studies at ATREE. His primary research interests lie in community and landscape ecology. He is currently focusing on mammal diversity and distribution patterns in tropical forest landscapes with a focus on the northern Eastern Ghats region.Seena Narayanan Karimbumkara is a Senior Research Associate & Assistant Museum Curator at ATREE. Her broad expertise includes insect ecology and taxonomy. Currently her research has been focussed on the biosystematics of scarabaeine dung beetles of the Indian Subcontinent and she has worked extensively on the dung beetles of India across both Western Ghats and Northeast India.

 

Author Contribution: Rajkamal collected data in the field, compiled the checklist and wrote the manuscript. Ovee collected data in the field, contributed to the manuscript and prepared the image plates. Vikram facilitated logistics during field data collection, helped in data collection and contributed to the manuscript. Seena helped in data collection, contributed to the manuscript and worked on the taxonomy of the butterflies.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the Academy for Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru and the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) for financial support.  The authors thank all the participants and resource persons who attended ATREE’s Certificate Course on Conservation Science, 2015 for their support and company during the survey.  Much thanks to Dr. Aravind Madhyastha for contributing image for the paper and Ms. Binita Goswami for her help in confirming the identification of numerous species from the images included in this paper.  Thanks to Sanjay Sondhi, whose comments helped to further strengthen this paper.

 

 

 

 

Abstract: The northern Eastern Ghats is an area with significant biodiversity value but remains poorly explored except for a few charismatic taxa such as birds, mammals and reptiles.  Very few studies have looked at the invertebrate diversity of these hill ranges, particularly butterflies.  We present the first peer-reviewed checklist of butterflies from the northern Eastern Ghats based on a rapid and intensive survey carried out at five sites over 16 days across the buffer area of Papikonda National Park and Araku Valley in 2015 and 2016.  We report a total of 102 species of butterflies from six lepidopteran families.  Seventeen significant records include numerous first reports: three new species reports for peninsular India, nine for Eastern Ghats and 14 for the northern Eastern Ghats.  This checklist adds 17 species to the known butterfly fauna for the state of Andhra Pradesh.  It is hoped that findings from the study will help to mobilise conservation research, action and attention for the northern Eastern Ghats forest habitats, which are currently threatened by large scale development, security threats due to the Naxalite insurgency and mesoscale exploitation of forest resources.

 

Keywords: Andhra Pradesh, Araku Valley, checklist, Lepidoptera, northern Eastern Ghats, Papikonda National Park.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The Eastern Ghats is a 1,750km long mountain range located along the eastern edge of the Indian peninsula.  Even though studies and inventories carried out till date indicate its high diversity value, the Eastern Ghats remain one of the least explored natural landscapes of India.  Its wide elevational range from almost sea level to 1,690m contains diverse vegetation types ranging from dry-scrub and dry deciduous to dry-evergreen, moist-deciduous and semi-evergreen that support diverse flora and fauna.

Unlike the Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats is not a continuous mountain range.  Instead they comprise of a series of patchy and isolated hill sections which are divided into three main zones based on their location: southern Eastern Ghats, central Eastern Ghats and northern Eastern Ghats (Rao 2000).  Owing to the patchiness of the hills and variations in temperature, precipitation and elevation, each zone has its own unique floral and faunal assemblages.  Variable intensities of forest-related activities such as shifting cultivation, hunting (by local communities), and plantations (usually by the state and/or policy-driven) has further led to an increase in the heterogeneity and diversity of the available land use and forest habitats (Beehler et al. 1987; Rawat 1997; Ganesh et al. 2015).

Among the three sections, the northern Eastern Ghats has the most diverse vegetation types including some of the most dense forests.  Such diversity and abundance of forests is due to the relatively higher rainfall in the area, ranging from 900–1,700 mm annually, (Pattanaik et al. 2009b; Sreekar et al. 2010).  The presence of perennial rivers such as the Godavari and the Mahanadi also contribute to creating conducive conditions for high forest density and diversity.  In comparison, the central and the southern Eastern Ghats landscapes are drier with sparser vegetation due to lower elevation, lesser rainfall and higher annual temperatures.

Recent studies have shown that the northern Eastern Ghats region, owing to its proximity to the eastern Himalayan, the Indo-Malayan and the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspots, acts as a mixing and transition zone for these three distinct ecoregions.  Therefore, elements of all these three hotspots has been observed in the northern Eastern Ghats, leading to higher diversity of plants and animals; for example, Stripe-necked Mongoose Herpestes vitticollis, recently discovered from the northern Eastern Ghats, was earlier recorded only from the Western Ghats (Balaji & Satyanarayana 2016).  Similarly, birds such as the Ruby-cheeked Sunbird Chalcoparia singalensis and Pale-chinned Blue Flycatcher Cyornis poliogenys, earlier known as ‘northeast birds’ have been recorded from the northern Eastern Ghats (Prashanth 2016).  Apart from sharing biological attributes with the proximate ‘hotspots’, the northern Eastern Ghats is home to several rare, endemic and threatened species of flora and fauna, including reptiles such as the Golden Gecko Calodactylodes aureus (Javed et al. 2007), Jeypore Ground Gecko Geckoella jeyporensis (Agarwal et al. 2012), a new species of caecilian Gegeneophis orientalis (Agarwal et al. 2013), birds like the Yellow-throated Bulbul Pycnonotus xantholaemus (Sreekar & Srinivasulu 2010) and the Critically Endangered Blewitt’s Owl or Forest Owlet Heteroglaux blewetti (Azeez et al. 2008; Kumar et al. 2010).

Biodiversity inventories and studies carried out till date has focussed on a few taxa, such as aves (Price 1979; Ripley et al. 1986; Kumar et al. 2010), mammals (Aditya & Ganesh 2016; Balaji & Satyanarayana 2016) and reptiles (Chettri & Bhupathy 2010; Agarwal et al. 2013); however, the invertebrate taxa of the Eastern Ghats, particularly the northern Eastern Ghats, remain almost unexplored.

Among invertebrates, butterflies (order Lepidoptera, sub-order Rhopalocera) are among the most charismatic taxa.  The beauty and ubiquitous nature of butterflies makes it the most effective invertebrate flagship which can be used to stimulate awareness, research and policy support for the conservation of invertebrate and overall biodiversity (Barua et al. 2012).  India is very rich in butterfly taxa with over 1,300 species (Varshney & Smetacek 2015); however, they are not uniformly distributed and most of them (>1000 species) occur in the northeastern region (Varshney & Smetacek 2015).  In recent times, there has been an exponential growth in biodiversity documentation in India, particularly during the last decade, owing to the rapid proliferation of digital and mobile photography.  Birds and butterflies have received disproportional attention of the amateur naturalist and citizen scientists in this digital age, probably owing to their ubiquitous nature (Chandler et al. 2017).  Yet, such coverage is not uniform across the geography of the country, even for well-surveyed taxa such as butterflies.  Even today, there are many regions from where even basic information about species occurrences are lacking.  The northern Eastern Ghats is one such region.

Apart from being ecologically rich, the northern Eastern Ghats is also one of the most threatened forested regions of the country owing to the presence of scarce and highly valuable natural resources such as bauxite, iron, coal and water.  The pressure to mine these resources, most of which overlap with dense forests, has already caused considerable loss of forest habitat and is triggering large scale land use change (Samata 2003; Oskarsson & Nielsen 2014).  The lack of knowledge about the bare minimum attributes of biodiversity and ecology from the region hampers the ability of both the agencies and the civil society to take informed decisions about the impact of these projects on the ecology and biodiversity of the region.

The interactions of butterflies, as larvae and adults, with different sets of host plants and their sensitivity to micro-climate, moisture, topographic and light level changes makes them excellent ecological and environmental indicators (Murphy et al. 1990; Kremen 1992).  Therefore, it is critical and urgent to document the butterfly diversity of these fragile, but biologically diverse and rich regions.

Most recent lists of butterflies from the Eastern Ghats have come from the central Eastern Ghats (Chandra et al. 2007) and southern Eastern Ghats (Harinath et al. 2014).  We found numerous errors in identification and taxonomy of butterflies wherever they have provided images and therefore the quality of information in these studies is questionable.  Earlier, Best (1954) had compiled a list of butterflies from Nagalapuram and Servarayan (anglicised as Shevaroy) Hills located in the southern Eastern Ghats in the present day Tamil Nadu.  The Zoological Survey of India’s Fauna of Andhra Pradesh series reported three new distribution records from Prakasam and Kadapa districts in 2007 (Majumdar 2007; Maulik 2007).  Among the recent efforts to study the butterflies of the Eastern Ghats, the most significant has been the Eastern Ghats Insect Survey Project carried out by the Zoological Society of India’s which resulted in a two volume edited report (Anonymous 1986a,b).  These volumes had five chapters dedicated to butterfly fauna, the first two being list of collections from Javadi Hills, located in the Namakkal District of central Tamil Nadu (Khatri 1986d) and Kolli Hills, situated in the Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts of Tamil Nadu (Khatri 1986a).  The remaining two chapters describe the Nymphalid and Lycaenids of Eastern Ghats (Khatri 1986b,c).  An additional chapter in volume 1 in the same report discusses some phenological and geographical variations in the butterflies from the Eastern Ghats (Khatri 1986e).  Most of these surveys, however, have been focussed mostly in the Tamil Nadu sections of the Eastern Ghats, covering its southern parts.  Very few studies have focussed on the butterfly fauna of the northern Eastern Ghats from Andhra Pradesh, and thus has remained comparatively under-explored, particularly in terms of its butterfly fauna.

In this paper, we present the first checklist of butterflies from the northern Eastern Ghats with notes on new and interesting records.

 

 

METHODS

 

Study area

The northern Eastern Ghats is spread over an area of 16,948.35km2 in northern Andhra Pradesh covering the districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and West Godavari.  The current study was conducted at two sites in the northern Eastern Ghats falling within Andhra Pradesh - the buffer area of Papikonda National Park (henceforth PNP) around Maredumilli and Araku Valley.

PNP (17.267–17.691 and 81.281–81.694) is located in the East and West Godavari districts of north, coastal Andhra Pradesh and is spread over an area of 1,012km2.  The dominant vegetation types in PNP are southern tropical mixed moist deciduous, along with some semi-evergreen and dry deciduous forest patches (Champion & Seth 1968).  The topography is hilly and undulating with steep slopes with an elevation range of 20–850 m.  Annual average precipitation is approximately 1,309mm with temperatures ranging from 15–45 0C.

About 200km north of PNP lies the Araku Valley (18.209–18.4420 and 82.700–83.115), a small hill station spread over an area of 36km2, in the western part of Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh close to the border with Odisha.  The elevation ranges from 930m in the Valley to 1,690m at Jindhagada Peak and is composed of a mosaic of semi-evergreen forests, coffee and pepper plantations and shifting cultivation plots, called ‘podu’ locally.  The vegetation around the Valley is composed of moist deciduous forests with semi-evergreen patches with patches of degraded forest and scrubs (Champion & Seth 1968).

 

Survey sites

We opportunistically surveyed an area of approximately 100km2 in the buffer area of PNP around Maredumilli between 21 July and 29 July 2015, and once again between 27 August and 29 August in 2016 (Table 1) at three specific localities—Jalatarangini, Kutravada and Maredumilli.  Jalatarangini is located along the Rajahmundry-Jagdalpur highway (SH 41) at an elevation of 460m and forms the northeastern border of PNP.  The habitat type is dense moist deciduous forest interspersed with teak and coffee plantations.  Kutravada is located about 7km northeast of Jalatarangini, at an elevation of 450m on the Maredumilli-Gurtedu Road.  The locality is situated close to the Kutravada Village and is composed of moist deciduous forest and shifting cultivation plots, some of which has been planted with teak.  Both of these localities are along the Pamuleru River, which forms the main drainage of PNP and is the second largest river within PNP after the Godavari.  The third locality is close to Maredumilli Village surrounded by old teak plantations and secondary growth moist deciduous forests about 7km southeast of Maredumilli Village.  It is located at an elevation of 400m along the Rajahmundry-Jagdalpur State Highway 41.

In Araku Valley we surveyed two localities: Sunkarametta and Bisupuram from 30 July to 2 August 2015.  Both are located close to the Visakhapatnam-Jeypore highway (Image 1).  Sunkarametta is located about 15km from Araku at an elevation of 1,200m and is surrounded by coffee plantations interspersed with degraded moist deciduous forest patches.  Bisupuram Village is located about 5km east of Sunkarametta at an elevation of 1,100m and is close to the Katiki waterfalls.  The habitat is degraded moist deciduous forest interspersed with podus.

 

Data Collection

Intensive non-invasive butterfly surveys were carried out in the above mentioned six locations.  The period of our survey coincided with the retreating south-west monsoons when the butterfly activity is known to peak. Owing to paucity of funds and limited time available, we decided to focus on the peak period for butterfly activity.

All possible habitat types in the survey areas were scanned for butterflies from 06.00hr to 18.00hr. Even though butterfly activity peaks during the late morning and noon, we surveyed during early mornings as well as late afternoons and evenings to include crepuscular species.  The species which were difficult to identify in the field were photographed with good quality cameras and later identified to species level wherever possible.  We handled only those specimens which were found to be injured or dead.

Species were identified using Evans (1932), Wynter-Blyth (1957), and Kehimkar (2008, 2016).  To confirm the various new records presented in this paper, ranging from the northern Eastern Ghats to peninsular India, we checked the known distribution of the species in question from three authoritative books by Evans (1932), Wynter-Blyth (1957), and Varshney & Smetacek (2015) .  To further verify the new records for Eastern Ghats, we reviewed the published literature, namely, Best (1954), Khatri (1986a,b,c,d), Majumdar (2007), and Maulik (2007);  while Majumdar (2007) and Maulik (2007) were scanned to cross-verify the new records for Andhra Pradesh.  To check the unpublished photographic records, we scanned two expert-curated online portals- Butterflies of India (https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org) and India Biodiversity Portal (IBP, http://indiabiodiversity.org/).  Both these portals allow users to access butterfly observations with information on the location and date of the records.

Finally, a checklist was prepared on the butterflies recorded from this region in which the species were arranged according to sub-families under each family.  The names were listed alphabetically under each sub- family according to their genus and species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 1. Table showing the survey sites, localities, dates and number of days surveyed.

Sites

Localities

Survey dates

No of days surveyed

Buffer area of Papikonda National Park

Jalatarangini

21–29 July 2015, and 27–29 August 2016

12

Kutravada

Maredumilli

Araku Valley

Sunkarametta

30 July–2 August 2015

4

Bisupuram

Total Survey effort (in days)

16

 

 

 

RESULTS

 

We recorded a total of 102 species across six families.  Nymphalidae was the most species-rich family with 38 species while only one species was recorded for Riodinidae (Table 2).

 In the following text we provide notes on known distribution records of the new and significant butterfly records along with observation notes on their habit, habitat and commonness in the surveyed sites.  Additionally, we provided detailed identification keys for cryptic species, particularly those which share similar morphological features with other species.

 

Family: Hesperiidae

Subfamily: Coeliadinae

Bibasis sena (Moore, [1866]) (Orange-tailed Awl) (Image 2(2))

This is the first report of this species from the Eastern Ghats.  This species was encountered twice - inside a dense forest patch near Maredumilli early in the morning at 07:23hr on 18 July 2015 while a second individual was seen along the highway in a dense forest patch near Jalatarangini 06:39hr on 20 July 2015. So far from India, this species has been reported from the Western Ghats, central to eastern Himalaya and the northeast and is known to be rare throughout its range (Wynter-Blyth 1957).  This species is listed within the Part II of Schedule II list of protected animals under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act (Anonymous 1972).

 

Hasora badra (Moore, [1858]) (Common Awl)

This is the first record of this species from the Eastern Ghats.  We observed this species nectaring near the small sluice gate dam on Pamuleru River near Kutravada, early in the morning on 29 August 2016.  Previously, it was known to be distributed in the Western Ghats and northeastern India (Varshney & Smetacek 2015).  This species was recorded from Bhitarkanika National Park, Kendrapara District, in Odisha which is not part of the Eastern Ghats (Kalesh et al. 2017).

 

Hasora sp. (An Awl sp.) (Image 2(3)

This species was encountered frequently during our survey and we observed a total of eight individuals during our surveys of 2015 and 2016 in the area.  Six individuals were recorded between 200–400 masl whereas two individuals (one male and one female) were seen at Araku Valley at 1,200m.  The associated habitats ranged from semi-dense forests (deciduous) to small fragments of tree forests in coffee-plantation and meadows dominated landscape.

Earlier we suspected this species to be Hasora leucospila Mabille, 1891 based on the white band which extended slightly above the tornus in the hindwing and presence of purple sheen on its forewings.  Moreover, its distribution was known from India: from the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and its recent report from Khurda District, Odisha in the northern Eastern Ghats (V. Sarkar pers. comm. 5 May 2017).

Both the main wing-based distinguishing character were clearly seen in the images of seven individuals we had photographed during the survey.  In one of the images, we observed yellow hyaline spots in space two and three of the underside of forewings, indicating that it might be a female (Chiba 2009); however, when we tried to run the dichotomous identification key following Chiba (2009) to confirm species level identification, we found the presence of an apical white spot in the forewing of all the individuals that we had photographed during our survey.  According to Chiba (2009) this characteristic goes against the morphological traits of leucospila species and in the absence of specimens, we couldn’t conclusively run and complete the key.  Therefore we retain this species as an unidentified Hasora sp.

 

Hasora vitta (Butler, 1870) (Plain Banded Awl) (Image 2(4))

We recorded this species from a dense forest patch late in the evening on 20 July 2015, when it was feeding on trash deposited near the highway which passes through the PNP near Maredumilli.  We also recorded this species at another location near Jalatarangini.  This species is not common in its entire known range in India which includes the Western Ghats and adjoining areas from Maharashtra to Goa up to Kerala and northeast India (Evans 1932; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Varshney & Smetacek 2015).  Apart from our record, the only other record from Eastern Ghats comes from an image of this species by Vivek Sarkar which is uploaded on IFB portal from Mundasaru in Kandhamal District of Odisha (Kunte 2017).  So far, based on the existing reports, this species seems to be restricted to the northern parts of Eastern Ghats.

 

 

 

 

Family: Hesperiidae

Sub family: Hesperiinae

Cupitha purreea (Moore, 1877) (Wax Dart)

(Image 2(6))

Our record of Cupitha purreea during this survey is the first report of this species from the Eastern Ghats.  We observed only one individual of this species from an old regenerating ‘podu’ (local name for shifting agriculture) forest with lots of lianas, close to Pamuleru River near Maredumilli on 20 July 2015.

The known Indian distribution of this species is along the Western Ghats from Maharashtra to Kerala, eastern Himalaya, northeastern India and the Andaman Islands (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Varshney & Smetacek 2015).  Globally, its range extends up to Sulawesi from Thailand, Laos, Langkawi, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and the Philippines (Moore 1877, 1884; Piepers et al. 1910; Corbet & Pendlebury 1992; Vane-Wright & de Jong 2003).  This species is not common throughout its range.

 

Iambrix salsala (Moore, [1866]) (Chestnut Bob) (Image 3(1))

We recorded several individuals of this species on 18, 19 and 20 July 2017, from a riparian forest habitat flanked by shade coffee plantations near Maredumilli, in the northern Eastern Ghats.  Apart from our record, the only other record of this species from the Eastern Ghats is that by Subramanium Kalluri (SK) from the same location in December 2010 (Kandoth 2018).  The species is common in northeastern India where it can be seen in urban and semi-urban gardens as well as in the open areas, cultivations and plantation near forests and forest edges.  All records of this species in India Biodiversity Portal, (IBP) (Goswami 2017) and Butterflies of India web portal (BOI) (Kandoth 2018), baring the one mentioned above, is restricted to the northeast, southern Bengal, the Western Ghats, eastern and central part of Karnataka and eastern Tamil Nadu.  According to Varshney & Smetacek (2015) the species is distributed from Gujarat to Kerala and Uttarakhand to northeastern India.

 

Matapa aria (Moore, [1866]) (Common Redeye) (Image 3(2))

In the northern Eastern Ghats, only one record of this species was obtained within the campus of the Forest Guest House at Maredumilli on 20 July 2015.  This is the first record of this species from the Eastern Ghats.   This species was earlier known from northern India (Uttarakhand, Delhi) and northeastern India, southern Bengal and southern India (Varshney & Smetacek 2015; Wynter-Blyth 1957).  The species is common in its range in northeastern India and the Western Ghats.

 

Potanthus sp. (Dart) (Image 3(4))

We recorded several individuals of Potanthus genus around Maredumilli beween 18 and 23 July 2015.  There are no recent records of any species from the Potanthus genus from the Eastern Ghats or southern Bengal.  Specimens of this genus from Eastern Ghats needs to be collected and examined to determine species level distribution in the Eastern Ghats.  Species level identification is difficult based on wing patterns and external morphological characteristics in this genus.  Among the most abundant species of this genus, two species are known to occur in peninsular India and its hill ranges.  P. pseudomaesa is known to be distributed from Jammu & Kashmir to northeastern India, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and southwards down to Kerala (Varshney & Smetacek 2015).  P. palnia is known from Karnataka and Kerala (Varshney & Smetacek 2015) while Wynter-Blyth (1957) recorded its distribution from the southern Indian hills. 

 

Hersperiidae

Subfamily: Pyrginae

Odontoptilum angulatum (Felder, 1862) (Chestnut Angle) (Image 4(1))

This is the first record of this species from the Eastern Ghats.  We encountered only one individual of this species around the damp areas of moist deciduous forest during the survey on 20 July 2015 indicating that it might be rare in the Eastern Ghats.  This butterfly is fairly common within its known range of the Western Ghats (Maharashtra to Kerala), western and central Himalaya, eastern Himalaya and the northeast (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Varshney & Smetacek 2015).

The known range of this species, which is closest to the Eastern Ghats, is from a record from Simlipal National Park in Odisha (Saji & Chandrashekharan 2017).  Best (1954) did not record this from his survey of Nagalapuram Hills in southern Andhra Pradesh.  The preferred habitat of this species is moist forests.  In the Eastern Ghats, such forests mostly occur in the northern Eastern Ghats.  Therefore, it is likely that the distribution of this species within the Eastern Ghats is probably restricted to the moist forests of northern Eastern Ghats.

 

Sarangesa purendra Moore, 1882 (Spotted Small Flat) (Image 4(2))

Our observation of three individuals of this species on 18 July 2018 is the first report of this species from the Eastern Ghats.  This species was sighted along the forest edges close to the Jalatarangini waterfall frequently during our July 2015 and August 2016 surveys in the area indicating that the species is locally common.  The known distribution of this species is from northern Karnataka in the south till Maharashtra, Gujarat and Sindh region (Wynter-Blyth 1957).  It has also been reported from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand (Varshney & Smetacek 2015).  It is not rare throughout its range.

 

 

 

 

Hersperiidae

Family: Lycaenidae 

Subfamily: Polyommatinae

Nacaduba berenice (Herrich-Schäffer, 1869) (Rounded six-lineblue) (Image 6(1))

Our observation of the species from Araku Valley near Katiki waterfall on 26 July is the first report of this species from the Eastern Ghats.

Two sub-species of N. berenice are reported from India. N.b. nicobaricus (Wood-Mason & de Niceville 1881) is distributed in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands while N. b. plumbeomicans (Wood-Mason & de Niceville 1881)’s distribution so far has been reported from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and northeastern India (Varshney & Smetacek 2015).

The species belongs to the six-lineblue group of butterflies which are difficult to identify in the field and without careful and technical diagnosis of its morphology can be easily misidentified as one of three very similar species with overlapping distributions - N. kurava Moore, 1858 (Transparent six-lineblue), N. beroe C. & R. Felder, 1865 (Opaque six-lineblue), and N. calauria C. Felder, 1860, (Dark Ceylon six-lineblue).

The main distinguishing features of N. berenice are rounded termen of fore and hindwings and the lack of zig-zagged lunules at the outer-discal region on the forewings (Wynter-Blyth 1957).  Another identification key, which sets this species apart from the other two similar species, is the inner line of the discal area which joins the lower ends of the outer line of the cell-ending region (Evans 1932).

 

Lycaenidae

Subfamily: Theclinae

Loxura atymnus (Stoll, 1780) (Yamfly) (Image 6(6))

Our report of L. atymnus from Maredumilli is its first record from the northern Eastern Ghats.  Two individuals of this species were observed on 18 July 2018.  This species is not uncommon throughout its range which includes the Western Ghats from Maharashtra to Kerala, central India (Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh), and in northern India (Uttarakhand) to northeastern India, along with the Andaman & Nicobar Island (Evans 1932; Varshney & Smetacek 2015; Wynter-Blyth 1957).  Wynter-Blyth (1957) has reported this species from the Servarayan Hills (anglicised as Shevaroy by Wynter-Blyth) which forms one of the southernmost parts of the Eastern Ghats and is part of Tamil Nadu.

 

 

 

 

Family: Nymphalidae          

Subfamily: Cyrestinae       

Cyrestis cocles (Fabricius, 1787) (Marbled Map) (Image 8(1))

Our observation of this species on 20 July 2015 is its first record from Eastern Ghats.  The species was observed mud-puddling at an elevation of 400m in a hill stream surrounded by dense forest patch near the Jalatarangini water fall.  The location is frequently visited by tourists and is highly disturbed.  This rare nymphalid is known from the northeast region of India including Sikkim along with southern part of Bihar and Odisha, which was its southernmost limit.  So far, this is the southernmost limit of this species in India.

In the northeast too, this species has been recorded from areas with high human activity.  This species is listed within the Part II of Schedule II list of protected animals under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act (Anonymous 1972).

 

Subfamily: Danainae

Euploea sylvester (Fabricius, 1793) (Double Branded Crow) (Image 8(6))

This is the first record of this species from the northern Eastern Ghats.  We observed a dead specimen of this species on the 20 July 2015.  The specimen was found on the tar road and was probably a case of roadkill.  On examination, the specimen was found to be E.s. coreta as it had the two parallel long brands on the upper side of the forewings (Image 8(6)).

The subspecies E.s. coreta Godart, 1819 was found mud-puddling in damp patches on the side of the roads along the denser part of the forest around Maredumilli.  This species, although locally ‘very common’, particularly during the rainy and immediately after the rainy season throughout its range, hasn’t been reported yet from the northern Eastern Ghats (Wynter-Blyth 1957), probably because the species is almost indistinguishable from E. core based on the underside wing-markings.  Thus, it might have gone unreported.

 

 

 

 

Nymphalidae

Subfamily: Limenitidinae

Neptis sappho (Pallas, 1771) (Pallas’ Sailer)         

(Image 10(1))

This is the first record of this species from Peninsular India.  We observed several individuals during our surveys in July 2015 and August 2016.  This species was encountered at about 1,100m in the highly degraded forest in Araku Valley near the Katiki Waterfall as well as at 400m in and around Maredumilli.  The species is very similar to the Common Sailer (N. hylas) which we have also recorded from the northern Eastern Ghats; however the characteristics based on which N. sappho could be distinguished from N. hylas—(the veins in the UNH-under-hindwing is not blackened and in the forewing not blackened at least till cell) (Evans 1932)—could be photographed and therefore could be correctly identified.  The species was found to be uncommon in the sites we recorded them from.

Our record of this species represents a significant range extension, adding a new species to the list of butterflies of peninsular India.  From India, this species was so far known from western, central and eastern Himalaya and the northeastern region (Varshney & Smetacek 2015).

 

Nymphalidae

Subfamily: Satyrinae

Lethe drypetis (Hewitson, 1863) (Tamil Treebrown) (Image 11(2))

Our record of this species on the 28 August 2016 from Maredumilli and Jalatarangini water fall sites is the first record of this species from the Eastern Ghats.  We observed four individuals during 2015 and another two during 2016 around the same locations in wet riparian vegetation.  On both the days, rain had preceded our visit and the species was recorded resting in the shady understory.  The species seemed to be locally common.

The subspecies L.d. todara Moore, 1881 is found in India and is distributed in the Western Ghats from Goa to Kerala and the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha (Varshney & Smetacek 2015).

 

Papilionidae 

Subfamily: Papilioninae

Graphium eurypylus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Great Jay) (Image 12(2))

Our observation of a single individual of Graphium eurypylus on 19 July 2015, mud puddling among yellows, papilionids and hedge blues in a damp teak plantation close to Maredumilli forest campus, is the first report of this species from peninsular India.  Our record represents a significant range extension of the species from its current known range in the eastern Himalaya and the northeast of India (Varshney & Smetacek, 2015).  The subspecies G.e. macronius Jordan, 1909 has been reported from the Andaman Islands.

Morphologically, in terms of wing markings and patterns, the species is similar to Graphium evemon (Boisduval, 1836) and Graphium doson (Felder & Felder, 1864).  The key characters in the underwing patterns, which distinguish it from the two similar species, could be detected from the images we shot.  On the underside hindwing of this species, the costal bar is joined to the dark basal band across the cell and that the extreme end of the cell is red instead of brown (Evans 1932; Wynter-Blyth 1957).  In very rare cases when the costal band in the UNH is not joined to the basal bar, then the basal margin of the silver band between them is notched (Evans 1932).  This species is listed within the Part II of Schedule II list of protected animals under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act (Anonymous 1972).

 

Papilio helenus Linnaeus, 1758 (Red Helen)

Our record of P. helenus from Maredumilli on 19 July 2015 is its first report from the northern Eastern Ghats. The species has not been recorded from Odisha or southern Bengal yet.

A relatively common butterfly of the forests, P. helenus is widely distributed across India.  It has been reported from western and central Himalaya, eastern Himalaya and northeast and peninsular India (Evans 1932; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Varshney & Smetacek 2015).  Within peninsular India, the butterfly so far has been reported from the Western Ghats, southern Eastern Ghats from the Servarayan Hills and Bangalore.

 

Papilio polymnestor (Cramer, 1775) (Blue Mormon) (Image 12(6))

Our record of this species from multiple locations around Maredumilli, is its first report from the northern Eastern Ghats.  We observed the species during morning and late afternoon nectaring around the forest edges close to streams and rivers on all days during our survey periods in 2015 and 2016.

P. polymnestor is a large common butterfly in peninsular India and found in urban, rural as well as edges of forested areas.  Although the butterfly is believed to be endemic to peninsular India (Kunte & Gadgil 2000), its occurrence has been reported from as far as Sikkim, southern Bihar, West Bengal (Wynter-Blyth 1957) as well as neighbouring Bangladesh (Larsen 2004).  RG has also recorded this species from Nongpoh located in the northern Khasi Hills, Meghalaya at 600m.

From the Eastern Ghats, there is only one previous record of this species by Best (1954) from the Nagalapuram Hills in southern Andhra Pradesh, close to the Tamil Nadu border.

 

 

 

 

Pieridae        

Subfamily: Coliadinae

Eurema andersonii (Moore, 1886) (One-spot Grass Yellow) (Image 13(3))

Our record of one specimen of Eurema andersonii on 18 July 2015, which lay injured on the SH 41 near Rampachodavaram probably after being hit by a vehicle, is its first report from northern Eastern Ghats.  On both sides of the roads were teak plantations of variable age.  This is the only record of this species we have got so far from our entire survey effort.

This butterfly’s known distribution in India so far ranges from Uttarakhand, central Himalayan region, northeast, and the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu in peninsular India and the South Andaman Islands (Varshney & Smetacek 2015; Sondhi & Kunte 2018).

Gandaca harina (Horsfield, [1829]) (Tree Yellow) (Image 13(4))

Our observation of Gandaca harina on 18 July 2015 from a shade coffee plantation edge close to Maredumilli, is the first report of this species from peninsular India.

Apart from this record, we observed this species only twice and believe that it might be rarely distributed in the northern Eastern Ghats within its preferred habitat of forest with dense forest canopy.  The sub-species, G. h. assamica Moore, 1906, so far known to be occurring across the northeast and West Bengal (Varshney & Smetacek 2015) was recently reported from Kumaon by Sondhi (2017).  Two other sub-species G. h. andamana Moore, 1906 and G. h. nicobarica Evans, 1932 has been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands respectively.

 

 

Table 2. Species richness across the six families of butterflies recorded during the survey

 

Family

 No. of species

Nymphalidae

38

Lycaenidae

23

Hesperiidae

21

Pieridae

10

Papilionidae

9

Riodinidae

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

A rapid and opportunistic but intensive survey of butterflies at a few sites within the northern Eastern Ghats resulted in recording 102 species of butterflies out of which 17 records were highly significant in nature.  These included three new species records for peninsular India, nine new species records for the Eastern Ghats and 14 new species records for the northern Eastern Ghats.  Nine of the species are accorded highest protection under the Indian Wildlife Act (Anonymous 1972) which include species such as the Orange-tailed Awl Bibasis sena, a new species for the Eastern Ghats and Great Jay Graphium eurypylus, a new species record for the Indian peninsular region.  We add 17 new butterflies to the existing butterflies of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Highest number of new species records (six) were obtained for members of the Herperiidae family, probably because most butterfly survey tends to take place once the day gets warmer, usually late morning, once the sun is fully out.  Most of the Hesperiidae are shade loving and are usually crepuscular, i.e., they are most active during the early morning and evenings.  Moreover, they are also fast moving and cryptic, therefore difficult to observe and capture images.

Among the other more camera-friendly and relatively more ubiquitous butterfly families, most new records were for species which are difficult to identify without handling them.  Such as the Double-banded Crow Euploea sylvester.  A few are impossible to identify conclusively without high quality images which manages to capture finer identifying morphological characteristics and wing-markings.  For example, the Rounded Six-lineblue Nacaduba berenice, the Pallas’ Sailer Neptis sappho and Great Jay Graphium eurypylus.

Thus, while the number of new records underlines how under explored the region has been till date, the high turnover of butterfly species within a short rapid survey underscores the importance of the northern Eastern Ghats as an area with significant butterfly diversity.  During our survey, we recorded very high butterfly activity along the streams and roads with hundreds of lycaenids, pierids and papilionids seen to be mud puddling.

Numerous records of both Western Ghats, northeastern Indian and Himalayan butterfly species during our survey strengthens the theory that the Eastern Ghats is a transitional zone which facilitates species mixing and might have been crucial in the colonisation of peninsular India by the oriental fauna, which is known to comprise 78% of all butterflies known so far from the Western Ghats (Kunte 2016).

The Eastern Ghats, particularly the northern Eastern Ghats, is under severe developmental pressure today.  Large areas, some of which include the sites we surveyed has been earmarked for many upcoming development and mining projects, including the Polavaram hydroelectric project, which will lead to the creation of one of the largest dams in India.  The resulting reservoir is poised to submerge a substantial area comprised of primary forests.  We feel that development at such high ecological costs has been allowed in the northern Eastern Ghats without much resistance, unlike other ‘biodiversity hotspots’, mainly because it has not received due attention from the conservation community.

The area is a goldmine for both the amateur natural historians and the conservation biologists seeking new avenues and area to study and conduct research.  Higher engagement with this very poorly explored region will help to highlight its precarious status.  For example, besides Polavaram, five other medium irrigation dams at Bhupathipalem, Musurumilli, Kovvadakalva, Jalleru and Surampalem have come up around PNP.  Mining activities, particularly for bauxite in the mineral laden hilltops in Araku is a constant threat to these Ghats (Pattanaik et al. 2009a; Kumar et al. 2010; Samata 2003).  Apart from such large scale threats, continuous use, extraction and disturbances of seemingly low intensities such as unruly and irresponsible tourism, high-demand for bamboo chicken, shifting cultivation, hunting and commercial plantations have been rendering many of these forest patches ‘empty’ by producing long term insidious impacts on the flora and fauna (Ganesh et al. 2015).

The high butterfly diversity recorded in the northern Eastern Ghats can be used to mobilise conservation attention to the ongoing damage to natural ecosystems.  All the sites with high butterfly activity were very close to Maredumilli and can be easily accessed by foot.  With an already existing range of accommodation options for tourists within the forest department campus, PNP has the potential to emerge as a popular butterfly tourism site, which can provide a much-needed profile boost to the region.  Ecotourism is known to benefit conservation activities by enabling frequent monitoring of biodiversity and increasing the popularity of biodiversity rich area.  Further, the eco-tourist tends to articulate strong and influential pro-conservation opinion during flashpoints of crises and threats.  Therefore, we strongly recommend the development and implementation of a well-regulated butterfly tourism plan, within the framework of responsible and low-impact ecotourism, to attract amateur naturalists and nature lovers.

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

The survey showed that both the northern Eastern Ghats and the PNP are very important sites for butterfly diversity and conservation.  Currently both face high conservation threats and the findings may be used to contain or reduce the extent of threat.  The current findings although limited by time and funds, lay the foundation for more long-term, detailed and focussed butterfly surveys in the future.  Diversity studies such as these will help to prioritise area for conservation and research, and designate no go areas for developmental and high intensity extraction/habitat transformation activities.

 

 

Table 3. List of butterflies recorded during the survey along with their schedule according to the Wildlife Protection Act (1972). New species records for Peninsular India, Entire Eastern Ghats, northern Eastern Ghats and Andhra Pradesh are indicated with ‘X’ mark. WPA 1972=Wildlife Protection Act (1972).  PI - Peninsular India; EEG - Entire Eastern Ghats; NEG - northern Eastern Ghats; AP - Andhra Pradesh

 

 

Image number

 Common name

 Scientific name

 Family

 Subfamily

Tribe 

New species record

Schedule Species -WPA, 1972

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PI

EEG

NEG

AP

1

Image 2(1)

Brown Awl

Badamia exclamationis (Fabricius, 1775)

Hesperiidae

Coeliadinae

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

Image 2(2)

Orange-tailed Awl

Bibasis sena (Moore, [1866])

Hesperiidae

Coeliadinae

 

 

X

X

X

Sch II (Part II)

3

 

Common Awl

Hasora badra (Moore, [1858])

Hesperiidae

Coeliadinae

 

 

 

 

 

 

4

 

Common banded Awl

Hasora chromus (Cramer, 1780)

Hesperiidae

Coeliadinae

 

 

 

 

 

 

5

Image 2(3)

Aw sp.

Hasora sp.

Hesperiidae

Coeliadinae

 

 

 

 

 

 

6

Image 2(4)

Plain banded Awl

Hasora vitta (Butler, 1870)

Hesperiidae

Coeliadinae

 

 

 

 

X

Sch IV

7

Image 2(5)

Ceylon Dartlet

Oriens goloides (Moore, [1881])

Hesperiidae

Hesperiinae

Taractrocerini

 

 

 

 

 

8

Image 2(6)

Wax Dart

Cupitha purreea (Moore, 1877)

Hesperiidae

Hesperiinae

Aeromachini

 

X

X

X

 

9

Image 3(1)

Chestnut Bob

Iambrix salsala (Moore, [1866])

Hesperiidae

Hesperiinae

Aeromachini

 

 

 

 

 

10

Image 3(2)

Common Redeye

Matapa aria (Moore, [1866])

Hesperiidae

Hesperiinae

Aeromachini

 

X

X

X

 

11

Image 3(3)

Restricted Demon

Notocrypta curvifascia (Felder & Felder, 1862)

Hesperiidae

Hesperiinae

Aeromachini

 

 

 

 

 

12

Image 3(4)

Dart sp.

Potanthus sp.

Hesperiidae

Hesperiinae

Aeromachini

 

 

 

 

 

13

Image 3(5)

Indian Palm Bob

Suastus gremius (Fabricius, 1798)

Hesperiidae

Hesperiinae

Aeromachini

 

 

 

 

 

14

Image 3(6)

Golden Angle

Caprona ransonnettii (Felder, 1868)

Hesperiidae

Pyrginae

Tagiadini

 

 

 

 

 

15

Image 4(1)

Chestnut Angle

Odontoptilum angulatum (Felder& Felder, 1862)

Hesperiidae

Pyrginae

Tagiadini

 

 

 

X

 

16

 

Common Small Flat

Sarangesa dasahara (Moore, [1866])

Hesperiidae

Pyrginae

Celaenorrhinini

 

 

 

 

 

17

Image 4(2)

Spotted Small Flat

Sarangesa purendra Moore, 1882

Hesperiidae

Pyrginae

Celaenorrhinini

 

X

X

X

 

18

Image 4(3)

Suffused Snow Flat

Tagiades gana (Moore, [1866])

Hesperiidae

Pyrginae

Tagiadini

 

 

 

 

 

19

 

Common Snow Flat

Tagiades japetus (Stoll, [1781])

Hesperiidae

Pyrginae

Tagiadini

 

 

 

 

 

20

Image 4(4)

Water Snow Flat

Tagiades litigiosa Möschler, 1878

Hesperiidae

Pyrginae

Tagiadini

 

 

 

 

 

21

Image 4(5)

Common Spotted Flat

Celaenorrhinus leucocera (Kollar, [1844])

Hesperiidae

Pyrginae

Celaenorrhinini

 

 

 

 

 

22

Image 5(1)

Common Hedge Blue

Acytolepis puspa (Horsfield, [1828])

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

23

 

Common Ciliate Blue

Anthene emolus (Godart, [1824])

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

24

Image 5(2)

Elbowed Pierrot

Caleta elna (Hewitson, 1876)

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

25

Image 5(3)

Common Pierrot

Castalius rosimon (Fabricius, 1775)

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

26

Image 5(4)

Lime Blue

Chilades lajus (Stoll, [1780])

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

27

Image 5(5)

Plains Cupid

Chilades pandava (Horsfield, [1829])

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

28

Image 5(6)

Gram Blue

Euchrysops cnejus (Fabricius, 1798)

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

Sch II (Part II)

29

 

Metallic Cerulean

Jamides alecto (Felder, 1860)

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

30

 

Dark Cerulean

Jamides bochus (Stoll, [1782])

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

31

 

Common Cerulean

Jamides celeno (Cramer, [1775])

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

32

Image 6(1)

Rounded Six-Line Blue

Nacaduba berenice (Herrich-Schäffer, 1869)

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

X

X

X

 

33

Image 6(2)

Dingy Lineblue

Petrelaea dana (de Nicéville, [1884])

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

34

Image 6(3)

Tailless Lineblue

Prosotas dubiosa (Semper, [1879])

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

35

 

Common Lineblue

Prosotas nora (Felder, 1860)

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

36

 

Red Pierrot

Talicada nyseus (Guérin-Méneville, 1843)

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

37

Image 6(4)

Angled Pierrot

Caleta decidia (Hewitson, 1876)

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

38

Image 6(5)

Dark Grass Blue

Zizeeria karsandra (Moore, 1865)

Lycaenidae

Polyommatinae

Polyommatini

 

 

 

 

 

39

 

Common Acacia Blue

Surendra quercetorum (Moore, [1858])

Lycaenidae

Theclinae

Arhopalini

 

 

 

 

 

40

 

Purple Leafblue

Amblypodia anita Hewitson, 1862

Lycaenidae

Theclinae

Amblypodiini

 

 

 

 

 

41

Image 6(6)

Yamfly

Loxura atymnus (Stoll, 1780)

Lycaenidae

Theclinae

Loxurini

 

 

X

X

 

42

Image 7(1)

Club Silverline

Spindasis syama (Horsfield, 1829)

Lycaenidae

Theclinae

Aphnaeini

 

 

 

 

 

43

Image 7(2)

Common Silverline

Spindasis vulcanus (Fabricius, 1775)

Lycaenidae

Theclinae

Aphnaeini

 

 

 

 

 

44

Image 7(3)

Fluffy Tit

Zeltus amasa (Hewitson, 1865)

Lycaenidae

Theclinae

Hypolycaenini

 

 

 

 

 

45

 

Angled Castor

Ariadne ariadne (Linnaeus, 1763)

Nymphalidae

 Biblidinae

Biblidini

 

 

 

 

 

46

 

Common Castor

Ariadne merione (Cramer, [1777])

Nymphalidae

 Biblidinae

Biblidini

 

 

 

 

 

47

Image 8(1)

Marbled Map

Cyrestis cocles Fabricius, 1787

Nymphalidae

 Cyrestinae

Cyrestini

 

 

 

X

Sch II (Part II)

48

 

Tawny Coster

Acraea terpsicore (Linnaeus, 1758)

Nymphalidae

 Heliconiinae

Acraeini

 

 

 

 

 

49

Image 8(2)

Common Leopard

Phalanta phalantha (Drury, [1773])

Nymphalidae

 Heliconiinae

Vagrantini

 

 

 

 

 

50

Image 8(3)

Indian Nawab

Charaxes bharata (Felder & Felder, 1867)

Nymphalidae

Charaxinae

Charaxini

 

 

 

 

 

51

Image 8(4)

Black Rajah

Charaxes solon (Fabricius, 1793)

Nymphalidae

Charaxinae

Charaxini

 

 

 

 

 

52

 

Plain Tiger

Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Nymphalidae

Danainae

Danaini

 

 

 

 

 

53

 

Striped Tiger

Danaus genutia (Cramer, [1779])

Nymphalidae

Danainae

Danaini

 

 

 

 

 

54

 

Common Crow

Euploea core (Cramer, [1780])

Nymphalidae

Danainae

Danaini

 

 

 

 

 

55

Image 8(5)

Striped Blue Crow

Euploea mulciber (Cramer, [1777])

Nymphalidae

Danainae

Danaini

 

 

 

 

Sch IV

56

Image 8(6)

Double branded Crow

Euploea sylvester (Fabricius, 1793)

Nymphalidae

Danainae

Danaini

 

 

X

X

 

57

Image 9(1)

Glassy Tiger

Parantica aglea (Stoll, [1782])

Nymphalidae

Danainae

Danaini

 

 

 

 

 

58

 

Blue Tiger

Tirumala limniace (Cramer, [1775])

Nymphalidae

Danainae

Danaini

 

 

 

 

 

59

 

Dark Blue Tiger

Tirumala septentrionis (Butler, 1874)

Nymphalidae

Danainae

Danaini

 

 

 

 

 

60

 

Large Yeoman

Cirrochroa aoris (Doubleday, [1847])

Nymphalidae

Heliconiinae

Vagrantini

 

 

 

 

 

61

Image 9(2)

Baronet

Symphaedra nais (Forster, 1771)

Nymphalidae

Limenitidinae

Adoliadini

 

 

 

 

 

62

Image 9(3)

Grey Count

Tanaecia lepidea (Butler, 1868)

Nymphalidae

Limenitidinae

Adoliadini

 

 

 

 

 

63

Image 9(4)

Colour Sergeant

Athyma nefte (Westwood, 1850)

Nymphalidae

Limenitidinae

Limenitidini

 

 

 

 

 

64

Image 9(5)

Common Sergeant

Athyma perius (Linnaeus, 1758)

Nymphalidae

Limenitidinae

Limenitidini

 

 

 

 

 

65

Image 9(6)

Staff Sergeant

Athyma selenophora (Kollar, [1844])

Nymphalidae

Limenitidinae

Limenitidini

 

 

 

 

 

66

 

Commander

Moduza procris (Cramer, [1777])

Nymphalidae

Limenitidinae

Limenitidini

 

 

 

 

 

67

Image 10(1)

Pallas' Sailer

Neptis sappho (Pallas, 1771)

Nymphalidae

Limenitidinae

Limenitidini

X

X

X

X

 

68

 

Common Sailer

Neptis hylas (Linnaeus, 1758)

Nymphalidae

Limenitidinae

Neptini

 

 

 

 

 

69

Image 10(2)

Great Eggfly

Hypolimnas bolina (Linnaeus, 1758)

Nymphalidae

Nymphalinae

Junoniini

 

 

 

 

 

70

 

Danaid Eggfly

Hypolimnas misippus (Linnaeus, 1764ŽŽ)

Nymphalidae

Nymphalinae

Junoniini

 

 

 

 

Sch II (Part II)

71

 

Grey Pansy

Junonia atlites (Linnaeus, 1763)

Nymphalidae

Nymphalinae

Junoniini

 

 

 

 

 

72

Image 10(3)

Chocolate Pansy

Junonia iphita (Cramer, [1779])

Nymphalidae

Nymphalinae

Junoniini

 

 

 

 

 

73

Image 10(4)

Lemon Pansy

Junonia lemonias (Linnaeus, 1758)

Nymphalidae

Nymphalinae

Junoniini

 

 

 

 

 

74

Image 10(5)

Orange Oakleaf

Kallima inachus (Boisduval, 1846)

Nymphalidae

Nymphalinae

Kallimini

 

 

 

 

 

75

Image 10(6)

Common Jester

Symbrenthia lilaea (Hewitson, 1864)

Nymphalidae

Nymphalinae

Nymphalini

 

 

 

 

 

76

 

Common Palmfly

Elymnias hypermnestra (Linnaeus, 1763)

Nymphalidae

Satyrinae

Elymniini

 

 

 

 

 

77

Image 11(1)

Common Evening-brown

Melanitis leda (Linnaeus, 1758)

Nymphalidae

Satyrinae

Melanitini

 

 

 

 

 

78

Image 11(2)

Tamil Treebrown

Lethe drypetis (Hewitson, 1863)

Nymphalidae

Satyrinae

Satyrini

 

X

X

X

 

79

Image 11(3)

Dark-brand Bushbrown

Mycalesis mineus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Nymphalidae

Satyrinae

Satyrini

 

 

 

 

 

80

 

Common Bushbrown

Mycalesis perseus (Fabricius, 1775)

Nymphalidae

Satyrinae

Satyrini

 

 

 

 

 

81

Image 11(4)

Common Four-ring

Ypthima huebneri Kirby, 1871

Nymphalidae

Satyrinae

Satyrini

 

 

 

 

 

82

 

Common Lascar

Pantoporia hordonia (Stoll, [1790])

Nymphalidae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

83

 

Common Bluebottle

Graphium sarpedon (Linnaeus, 1758)

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Leptocircini

 

 

 

 

 

84

Image 12(2)

Great Jay

Graphium eurypylus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Leptocircini

X

X

X

X

 

85

Image 12(1)

Common Jay

Graphium doson (Felder & Felder, 1864)

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Leptocircini

 

 

 

 

 

86

 

Red Helen

Papilio helenus Linnaeus, 1758

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Papilionini

 

 

X

X

 

87

 

Common Mime

Papilio clytia Linnaeus, 1758

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Papilionini

 

 

 

 

 

88

Image 12(3)

Common Mormon

Papilio polytes Linnaeus, 1758

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Papilionini

 

 

 

 

 

89

Image 12(4)

Common-banded Peacock

Papilio crino Fabricius, 1793

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Papilionini

 

 

 

 

 

90

Image 12(5)

Lime Swallowtail

Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Papilionini

 

 

 

 

 

91

Image 12(6)

Blue Mormon

Papilio polymnestor (Cramer, [1775])

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Papilionini

 

 

X

X

 

92

 

Common Emigrant

Catopsilia pomona (Fabricius, 1775)

Pieridae

Coliadinae

Coliadini

 

 

 

 

 

93

Image 13(1)

Mottled Emigrant

Catopsilia pyranthe (Linnaeus, 1758)

Pieridae

Coliadinae

Coliadini

 

 

 

 

 

94

Image 13(2)

Common Grass Yellow

Eurema hecabe (Linnaeus, 1758)

Pieridae

Coliadinae

Euremini

 

 

 

 

 

95

Image 13(3)

One-spot Grass Yellow

Eurema andersonii (Moore, 1886)

Pieridae

Coliadinae

Euremini

 

 

X

X

 

96

Image 13(4)

Three-spot Grass Yellow

Eurema blanda (Boisduval, 1836)

Pieridae

Coliadinae

Euremini

 

 

 

 

 

97

Image 13(5)

Tree Yellow

Gandaca harina (Horsfield, 1829)

Pieridae

Coliadinae

Incertae sedis

X

X

X

X

 

98

 

Wanderer

Pareronia hippia (Fabricius, 1787)

Pieridae

Pierinae

Nepheroniini

 

 

 

 

 

99

 

Common Albatross

Appias albina (Boisduval, 1836)

Pieridae

Pierinae

Pierini

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

Common Jezebel

Delias eucharis (Drury, 1773)

Pieridae

Pierinae

Pierini

 

 

 

 

 

101

 

Common Gull

Cepora nerissa (Fabricius, 1775)

Pieridae

Pierinae

Pierini

 

 

 

 

 

102

Image 13(6)

Double-banded Judy

Abisara bifasciata Moore, 1877

Riodinidae

Nemeobiinae

Abisarini

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

Aditya, V. & T. Ganesh (2016). Camera trap records of Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus and Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) from Papikonda National Park, northern Eastern Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(5): 8818–8819; https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2401.8.5.8818-8819

Agarwal, I., A. Datta-Roy, A.M. Bauer & V.B. Giri (2012). Rediscovery of Geckoella jeyporensis (Squamata: Gekkonidae), with notes on morphology, coloration and habitat. Hamadryad 36: 17–24;

Agarwal, I., M. Wilkinson, P.P. Mohapatra, S.K. Dutta, V.B. Giri & D.J. Gower (2013). The first teresomatan caecilian (Amphibia: Gymnophiona) from the Eastern Ghats of India - a new species of Gegeneophis Peters, 1880. Zootaxa 3693(4): 534–546; https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3 693.4.7

Anonymous (1972). The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, New Delhi.

Anonymous, ed. (1986a). Eastern Ghats Insect-Part 1. Zoological Society of India, Madras, 80pp.

Anonymous, ed. (1986b). Eastern Ghats Insect-Part 2. Zoological Society of India, Madras, 55pp.

Azeez, P.A., S. Bhupathy, S.N. Prasad, R. Chandra & T.S. Kumar (2008). Report of the Status of Blewitt’s Owl in Araku Valley and Environmental Management Plan in view of the Proposed Bauxite Mines. Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, 89pp.

Balaji, K. & J.E. Satyanarayana (2016). The first record of Stripe-necked Mongoose Herpestes vitticollis Bennett, 1835 (Mammalia: Carnivora: Herpestidae) from the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(14): 9684–9686; https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3123.8.14.9684-9686

Barua, M., D.J. Gurdak, R. A. Ahmed & J. Tamuly (2012). Selecting flagships for invertebrate conservation. Biodiversity and Conservation 21(6): 1457-1476; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0257-7

Beehler, B.M., K.S.R.K. Raju & S. Ali (1987). Avian use of man-disturbed forest habitats in the Eastern Ghats, India. Ibis 129: 197–211; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1987.tb03201.x

Best, A.E.G. (1954). Notes on the Butterflies of the Nagalpuran Hills, Eastern Ghats. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 52(2&3): 365–373.

Champion, S.H. & S.K. Seth (1968). A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India. Manager of Publications, New Delhi.

Chandler, M., L. See, C.D. Buesching, J.A. Cousins, C. Gillies, R.W. Kays, C. Newman, H.M. Pereira & P. Tiago (2017). Involving Citizen Scientists in Biodiversity Observation, pp. 211–237. In: Walters, M. & R.J. Scholes(eds.). The GEO Handbook on Biodiversity Observation Networks. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, 326pp.

Chandra, K., R. Sharma, A. Singh & R. Singh (2007). A checklist of butterflies of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states, India. Zoos’ Print Journal 22(8): 2790–2798; https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.ZPJ.1708.2790-8

Cor, B. & S. Bhupathy (2010). Three little known reptile species from the Araku Valley, Eastern Ghats with notes on their distribution. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(8): 1109-1113; https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2329.1109-13

Corbet, S.A. & H.M. Pendlebury (1992). The butterflies of the Malay Peninsula. Fourth revised edition by J.N. Eliot Color Images by Bernard D’Abrera. Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur, 595pp+564 col. pls.

Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies. 2nd Edition. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, India, 454pp.

Ganesh, T., V. Aditya, G. Malla & M. Prashanth (2015). The ‘empty forests’ of the northern Eastern Ghats. Current Science 109(3): 398–399.

Goswami, R. (2017). Iambrix salsala Moore, 1865 in [online] India Biodiversity Portal, Species Page Iambrix salsala, Accessed on 12/8/2017; https://indiabiodiversity.org/biodiv/species/show/235897.

Goswami, R. & T. Ganesh (2011). Conservation amidst political unrest: the case of Manas National Park, India. Current Science 100: 445–446.

Goswami, R. & T. Ganesh (2014). Carnivore and herbivore densities in the immediate aftermath of ethno-political conflict: the case of Manas National Park, India. Tropical Conservation Science 7(3): 475–487.

Guptha, M.B., P.C. Rao, D.S. Reddy, S. Maddala & P.M. Babu (2012). A preliminary observation on butterflies of Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve, Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India. World Journal of Zoology 7(1): 83–89

Harinath, P., G.M. Bai & S.V. Ramana (2014). Diversity of Butterflies-Strategies adopted for its conservation at Yogi Vemana University campus, Kadapa, AP, India. Discovery 11(27): 34–51.

Javed, S.M., A. Waran & F. Tampal (2007). On the occurrence of Golden Gecko Calodactylodes aureus (Beddome, 1870) in Papikonda Hills, Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India. Zoos’ Print Journal 22(6): 2727–2729.

Kalesh, S., K. Saji, P. Manoj & S. Mazumder (2017). Hasora badra Moore, 1857, Common Awl, In: Kunte, K., S.S. Sondhi & P. Roy (eds.). Butterflies of India. v. 2.28 Indian Foundation for Butterflies, Bangalore. Accessed on 12 August 2017; http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/sp/591/Hasora-badra

Kandoth, S. (2018). Iambrix salsala Moore, 1865, Chestnut Bob, In: Kunte, K., S. Sondhi & P. Roy (eds.). Butterflies of India, v. 2.28. Indian Foundation for Butterflies, Bangalore, Accessed on 11 August 2018; http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/sp/568/Iambrix-salsala

Kehimkar, I. (2008). Butterflies of India. Bombay Natural History Society, Oxford University Press, Mumbai, 487pp.

Kehimkar, I. (2016). Butterflies of India. Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, 516pp.

Khatri, T.C. (1986a). Some additional notes on butterflies (Rhopalocera: Lepidoptera) from the Javadi Hills, Eastern Ghats, pp. 39–43. In:  Anonymous (ed.). Eastern Ghats Insects Part I. Zoological Society of India, Madras, 80pp.

Khatri, T.C. (1986b). On a collection of butterflies (Rhopalocera: Lepidoptera) from the Kolli Hills, Eastern Ghats, pp. 44–60. In:  Anonymous (ed.). Eastern Ghats Insects Part II. Zoological Society of India, Madras, 80pp.

Khatri, T.C. (1986c). Some phenological and geographical variations in the butterflies from the Eastern Ghats, pp. 61–74. In:  Anonymous (ed.). Eastern Ghats Insects Part I. Zoological Society of India, Madras, 80pp.

Khatri, T.C. (1986d). On some butterflies of the Nymphalid Complex (Rhopalocera: Lepidoptera)  from the Eastern Ghats, pp. 1–17. In:  Anonymous (ed.). Eastern Ghats Insects Part II. Zoological Society of India, Madras, 55pp.

Khatri, T.C. (1986e). On some Lycaenidae (Rhopalocera: Lepidoptera)  from the Eastern Ghats, pp. 40–50. In:  Anonymous (ed.). Eastern Ghats Insects Part II. Zoological Society of India, Madras, 55pp.

Kremen, C. (1992). Assessing the Indicator Properties of Species Assemblages for Natural Areas Monitoring. Ecological Applications 2(2):203-217; https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1941776

Kumar, T.S., R. Chandra & P.A. Azeez (2010). The birds of Araku, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(1): 662–665; https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2108.662-5

Kunte, K. (2016). Biogeographic origins and habitat use of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, pp. 1-21 In: Priyadarsanan, D.R., M.S. Devy, K.A. Subramanian, N.A. Aravind & S. Karimbumkara (eds.). Invertebrate Diversity and Conservation in the Western Ghats, India. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore, 266pp.

Kunte, K. (2017). Hasora vitta Butler, 1870 Plain Banded Awl. In: Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (eds.). Butterflies of India, v. 2.28. Indian Foundation for Butterflies, Bangalore, Accessed on 12 August 2017; https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/sp/1059/Hasora-vitta

Kunte, K. & M. Gadgil (2000). India, a Lifescape: Butterflies of Peninsular India. Universities Press, Bangalore, 254pp.

Larsen, T.B. (2004). Butterflies of Bangladesh - an annotated checklist. IUCN, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 158pp+8 colour images.

Majumdar, M. (2007). Lepidoptera: Families: Pieridae, Hesperiidae, Arctiidae and Ctenuchidae, pp. 491–520. In: Anonymous (ed.). Fauna of Andhra Pradesh, State Fauna Series, 5 (Part-3)-Insects. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, 544pp.

Maulik, D. R. (2007). Insecta: Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae (Danainae), Lasiocampidae and Lymantriidae, pp. 521–544. In: Anonymous (ed.). Fauna of Andhra Pradesh, State Fauna Series, 5 (Part-3)-Insects. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, 544pp.

Moore (1877). The Lepidopterous Fauna of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Proceedings of Zoological Society of London (3): 80–632, pl. 658–660.

Moore (1884). Descriptions of some new Asiatic diurnal Lepidoptera; chiefly from specimens contained in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Journal of Asiatic Society Bengal 53 Pt.II(1): 16–52.

Murphy, D.D., K.E. Freas & S.B. Weiss (1990). An Environment-Metapopulation Approach to Population Viability Analysis for a Threatened Invertebrate. Conservation Biology 4(1): 41–51.

Oskarsson, P. & K.B. Nielsen (2014). Development deadlock: aborted industrialization and blocked land restitution in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, India. Development Studies Research 1(1): 267–278.

Pattanaik, C., S.N. Prasad & C.S. Reddy (2009a). Need for conservation of biodiversity in Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh. Current Science 96(1): 11–12.

Pattanaik, C., C. Reddy & K. Reddy (2009b). Ethno-medicinal survey of threatened plants in Eastern Ghats, India. Our Nature 7(1): 122–128.

Payra, A., G. N. Das, B. Boruah, S. K. Dash, U. P. Das & J. Sethy (2016). Butterfly diversity in two selected fringe area of Similipal Biosphere Reserve, Odisha, India, with notes on some important sightings. Journal of Wildlife Research 4(2): 17–25.

Piepers, M.C., P.C.T. Snellen & W.T.C.O. Fruhstorfer (1910). The Rhopalocera of Java - Hesperidae Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 60pp.

Prashanth, M.B. (2016). Birds in the Eastern Ghats. Page 4. Manyam - A newsletter on the Eastern Ghats. ATREE, Bengaluru.

Price, T.D. (1979). The seasonality and occurrence of birds in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 76(3): 379–422.

Rao, M.V.S. (2000). Conserving Biodiversity in the Species-Rich Forests of Andhra Pradesh in Eastern Ghats, India. Selbyana 21(1/2): 52–59.

Rawat, G.S. (1997). Conservation status of forests and wildlife in the Eastern Ghats, India. Environmental Conservation 24(4): 307–315.

Ripley, D., B. Beehler & K. Raju (1986). Birds of the Visakhapatnam Ghats, Andhra Pradesh. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 84(3): 540–558.

Saji, K. & V.K. Chandrashekharan (2017). Odontoptilum angulata Felder, 1862 Chestnut Angle. In: Kunte, K., S.S. Sondhi & P. Roy(eds.). Butterflies of India. v. 2.28 Indian Foundation for Butterflies, Bangalore. Accessed on 12 August 2017; https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/sp/483/Odontoptilum-angulata 

Samata (2003). A study on process of acquisition of land for development of mining industry in schedule-V areas with a focus on violation of PESA in light of the mining and the industrialization process in the schedule-V areas. Samata, Hyderabad.

Sondhi, S. (2017). First records of butterflies Anthene emolus emolus (Godart, [1924]) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae) and Gandaca harina assamica Moore, [1906] (Lepidoptera: Pieridae: Coliadinae) from Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 9(6): 10355–10357; https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3233.9.6.10355-10357

Sondhi, S. & K. Kunte (2018). Butterflies of Uttarakhand - A Field Guide. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh (Dehradun), Titli Trust (Dehradun), National Centre for Biological Sciences (Bengaluru), and Indian Foundation for Butterflies (Bengaluru), x+310pp.

Sreekar, R. & C. Srinivasulu (2010). New site record of Yellow-throated Bulbul Pycnonotus xantholaemus from Andhra Pradesh. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 92(2): 266–267.

Sreekar, R., C. Srinivasulu, M. Seetharamaraju & C.A. Srinivasulu (2010). Selection of egg attachment sites by the Indian Golden Gecko Calodactylodes aureus (Beddome, 1870) (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) in Andhra Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(11): 1268-1272; https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2393.1268-72

Vane-Wright, R. I. & R. de Jong (2003). The butterflies of Sulawesi: Annotated checklist for a critical island fauna Zoologische Verhandelingen 343: 3–268.

Varshney, R.K. & P. Smetacek (eds.) (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal, 261pp.

Wood-Mason, J. & L. de Niceville (1881). List of diurnal lepidoptera inhabiting the Nicobar islands. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 50(3): 224–238.

Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. The Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, India, 523pp.