On the presence of Aglaiscashmirensis Kollar (Nymphalidae) and Heliophorus senaKollar (Lycaenidae) in Rupa, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Manari Greeshma

GopuramHouse, P.O. Kolathara, Kozhikode, Kerala 673655, India

Email: greeshma6@gmail.com

Date of publication (online): 26 August 2010

Date of publication (print): 26 August 2010

ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)

Editor: Peter Smetacek

Manuscript details:

Ms # o2384

Received 11 January 2010

Finally accepted 07 July 2010

Citation: Greeshma, M. (2010). On the presence of Aglais cashmirensis Kollar (Nymphalidae) and Heliophorus sena Kollar (Lycaenidae) in Rupa, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa2(9): 1165-1166.

Copyright: © Manari Greeshma 2010. 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.

Acknowledgements:I am grateful to Peter Smetacek, Bhimtal, Uttarakhand, for identifying the butterflies, to Dr. Prashanth Mohanraj, Bangalore, Karnataka and Maria Abraham, Mallikassery, Kerala, for help with literature and to my husband, Lt. Col. S. Sarkar for his support.

For images – click here

The butterflies of Arunachal Pradesh are not well known. Among the earliest lists of the area is that by Betts (1950) who reported the Papillionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae and Riodinidae. Subsequently Arora & Mondal (1981) reported the Papilionidae. There does not seem to be any list of the Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae of the area.

Materials and Methods: Butterflies in and around Rupa (27⁰11’60”N & 92⁰24’E, 1800m), Arunachal Pradesh, India, were photographed between May 2008 and November 2009. These were sent to Peter Smetacek, Bhimtal, India for identification. Among the species recorded, there were two that deserved special notice, the Indian TortoiseshellAglaiscashmirensis Kollar (Image 1) and the Sorrel Sapphire Heliophorussena Kollar (Image 2).

Discussion: Aglais cashmirensisand Heliophorussena are residents of Rupa and the larval host plants of both, i.e. UrticaL. (Urticaceae) and Rumexhastatus D. Don (Polygonaceae) respectively, are well established throughout the area.

Aglaiscashmirensis aesis Fruhstorfer was noted by Betts (1950) from “Meadows, 5000 to 8000 ft in temperate Momba country only”, Momba referring to the human inhabitants of a part of what was then the Balipara Frontier Tract. However, subsequent authors such as Haribal (1992) and Kehimkar (2008) apparently overlooked this report and gave a distribution as far west as Sikkim (Haribal 1992) and Bhutan (Kehimkar 2008) for the species when it is, in fact, well established in western Arunachal Pradesh.

It is on the wing from February to December but absent in the months of June, July and August, which is the wet season in this area. It has been noted mainly at widely cultivated exotic garden flowers such as Gaillardia pulchella, Chrysanthemum indica,C. frutescens,Tagetes minutaand Tagetespatula.

It is a common insect near habitation and wasteland where its larval food plant, Urtica sp., grows plentifully.

Heliophorussena has so far not been reported from Arunachal Pradesh. Haribal (1992) does not mention the species while Kehimkar (2008) states that it is found from Afghanistan to Nepal. The present record extends the distribution of this species to western Arunachal Pradesh. While this species was previously considered a west Himalayan endemic, it is now clear that it has a pan-Himalayan distribution and may well be found even further east, since the range of the larval host plant, Rumex hastatus,extends from Afghanistan to southwestern China (Polunin & Stainton 1984).

The distribution of H. sena is of interest. Earlier authors such as Evans (1932) and Wynter-Blyth (1957) reported it from Chitral to Kumaon. Thus it appeared to be a west Himalayan endemic, although the distribution of its larval hostplant, R. hastatus, was known to extend to southwestern China. Since there are other members of the genus with a very restricted distribution, such as Heliophorusoda Hewitson (Himachal Pradesh to Uttarakhand in India (Evans 1932)) and Heliophorusbakeri Evans (Chitral to Himachal Pradesh in India (Evans 1932)), it appeared that climatic factors were restricting H. sena from extending its distribution to the extent of its larval host plant. It is now evident that the butterfly extends over most of the range of R. hastatus. Robinson et al. (2001) report H. sena as having also been bred on Abutilon(Malvaceae) on the basis of a card index in the Natural History Museum, London, but this does not appear to be its food plant of choice, since Abutilon is also found at low elevation on the Gangetic plain where the butterfly does not venture.

H. sena is quite local and will rarely be found more than a few hundred meters from the nearest patch of R. hastatus. Where there is an undisturbed patch of the plant, the butterfly can be very common for most of the year.

It is a common butterfly in Rupa, especially in the vicinity of its larval host plant. Since R. hastatusgrows abundantly near river banks and waterbodies, the butterfly is commonest in such places. It is on the wing from February to November. It is very fond of Hydrangeablossoms and is also attracted to Calendula officinalis.

Conclusion: The range of two Himalayan butterfly species is extended eastwards to Rupa in western Arunachal Pradesh. Although A. cashmirensis was reported from the area earlier (Betts 1950), the report was evidently overlooked and so it has become necessary to re-report it.

Both A cashmirensis and H. sena are common and well established in Rupa and their presence earlier was reported but overlooked in the case of the former and simply not reported in the case of H. sena, since the Lycaenidae of Arunachal Pradesh do not appear to have been reported in the literature so far.

REFERENCES

Arora, G.S. & D.K. Mondal (1981). On the Papilioninae (Papilionidae: Lepidoptera) from Arunachal Pradesh and Adjoining areas of Assam in North-Eastern India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Paper 29: 65pp+7pl.

Betts, F.N. (1950). On a collection of butterflies from the Balipara Frontier Tract and the Subansiri area (northern Assam). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 49(3): 488-502.

Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, x+454pp+32pl.

Haribal, M. (1992). The Butterflies of The Sikkim Himalaya and Their Natural History.Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation, Gangtok, 217pp.

Kehimkar, I. (2008). The Book of Indian Butterflies. Bombay Natural History Society and Oxford University Press, Oxford, xvi+497pp.

Polunin, O. & A. Stainton (1984). Flowers of The Himalaya. Oxford University Press, Delhi, 580pp.+128pl.

Robinson, G.S., P.R. Ackery, I.J. Kitching, G.W. Beccaloni & L.M. Hernandez (2001). Hostplants of The Moth and Butterfly Caterpillars of The Oriental Region.The Natural History Museum and Southdene Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, 744pp.

Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957). Butterflies of The Indian Region. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, xx+523pp+72pl.