Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2024 | 16(7): 25609–25612
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8233.16.7.25609-25612
#8233 | Received 20 October 2022 | Final received 05 June 2024 | Finally
accepted 09 July 2024
First record of Pieris napi L. (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)
from Kashmir Valley, India
Firdousa Rasool 1 & Altaf
Hussain Mir 2
1,2 Entomology Research Laboratory,
Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir
190006, India.
1 firdousabintirasool@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 draltaf_786@yahoo.com
Editor:
Kushal Choudhury, Bodoland University, Kokrajhar,
India. Date of publication: 26 July 2024
(online & print)
Citation:
Rasool, F. & A.H. Mir (2024).
First record of Pieris napi L.
(Lepidoptera: Pieridae) from Kashmir Valley, India.
Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(7):
25609–25612. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8223.16.7.25609-25612
Copyright:
© Rasool & Mir 2024.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium
by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: The current study was funded by Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF)
and is a component of my Ph.D. work.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We are thankful to the Department
of Zoology, University of Kashmir- Srinagar, for providing lab facilities.
Abstract: Pieris napi, a well-studied butterfly species distributed
throughout the world, has remained undiscovered from Kashmir Himalaya to date.
The present study reports the Pieris napi for
the first time from Kashmir. This paper describes the diagnostic features and
distribution patterns of the butterfly species in this region. It also includes
specimen photographs and a distribution map of the species.
Keywords: Dachigam National Park, distribution, general hosts, Geranium
sp., green-veined white butterfly, new record, Pir
Panjal range, preservation, Rubus
sp., Stellaria media, Zabarwan Range.
There are 34 different Pieris species reported
in the world (Kirti et al. 2020). Pieris napi
is found in the Himalayan region, including the northeastern states of India
such as Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Nagaland, and Uttarakhand, as well as Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Japan,
North America, and Japan (Geiger & Shapiro 1992; Shaoji
2009; Gogoi 2013; Lodh
& Agarwal 2015; Tadokoro 2015; Tadokoro 2017). The geographic distribution of the Pieris
napi comprises the cool-temperate to cold wooded
biomes of the Northern Hemisphere (Geiger & Shapiro 1992). In Russia, Pieris
napi is present in the Caucasus; middle Siberia,
and southwestern Siberia. It is a polymorphic species represented by a complex
set of forms (Nuzhnova & Vasilevskaya
2013). The permanence of habitat and the oviposition on different hosts of the P.
napi were studied by Ohsaki
& Sato (1999). However, some researchers considered them as
individual species, while others do not discriminate between various Pieris species
such as P. bryoniae, P. pseudorapae,
P. euorientis, P. persis,
P. narina, P. bowdeni,
P. dulcinea, P. ocshenheimeri,
and P. tomariana, instead, they view the P.
napi complex as a superspecies in a broad sense.
The P. napi has been considered as a separate
species by many authors and has provided distinguishing characteristic features
(Richards 1940; Ohsaki & Sato 1999; Rayor et al. 2007; Bibi et al. 2022). Richards (1940)
studied in detail the structural differences in eggs, pupae, larvae, and the
hosts of Pieris rapae and Pieris napi. The Pieris napi, a
multivoltine butterfly is widely spread in Europe at elevations below 200 m.
Females of Pieris napi produce few large eggs,
tend to be sedentary, and usually select those plants whose locations are
long-lasting (Ohsaki & Sato 1990). As per Ohsaki (1979) Pieris napi lays
eggs only on Arabis plants in the shade
in the Kyoto area, Western Japan.
Since only five Pieris species have been
reported in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir—Pieris brassicae, Pieris canidia,
Pieris rapae, Pieris ajaka,
and Pieris deota—this survey focused on the
Kashmir Valley. It also included high-altitude forest areas like the Pir Panjal Range, Dachigam National Park, and various vegetable-growing
regions of Kashmir.
Materials and Methods
Study area: The present study was conducted in
high-altitude forest areas such as the Pir Panjal Range, Dachigam National
Park, and various vegetable-growing regions of Kashmir, UT Jammu
& Kashmir. The Dachigam National Park is a part
of the Zabarwan range of the western Himalaya located
at 34.1547°N & 74.9155°E and altitude 1634.36 m (Image 1).
Survey and collection: The current study highlighted all Pieris species
of different regions of Kashmir from 2020 to 2021. Random surveys were
conducted fortnightly in different months of the year depending on the
prevailing weather conditions and butterfly activity. The survey was done twice
a month and conducted near water sources, damp patches in the forest areas,
open sunny areas, and blossoming flowers. Adult butterflies were collected with
the help of an insect collecting net. After collection, the butterflies were
kept in jars and killed with ethyl-acetate. Thereafter, these specimens were
then shifted in the relaxing chamber with wet sand for at least 24 hours and
were properly labelled bearing (i) sample number,
(ii) date of collection, (iii) name of the place, and (iv) name of the
collector. The collected specimens were stretched on an insect stretching board
by passing an entomological pin of size 4 through the thorax. The wings were
spread in such a manner that the lower margin of the fore-wing was at a right
angle to the body and the antenna in front of the head.
Preservation: After proper spreading, the specimens were left for
about 2 to 4 days at room temperature inside the Entomology Research Laboratory,
Department of Zoology, and were then shifted to wooden insect-storing boxes
(Image 4). Each specimen was labelled bearing the same information as was
written on the relaxing chamber previously. In order to protect the collected
specimens from pests and fungus, cotton balls dipped in ethyl acetate vapours or benzene-dipped papers were periodically inserted
in these boxes. The storage boxes were kept in clean and shadow places, away
from direct sunlight as per the technique adopted by Borror
et al. (1976), Kunte et al. (2020), and Wynter-Blyth
(1957). The specimens were identified later by using the identification keys of
Evans (1932).
Results and Discussion
Material examined: 4♂, 1♀, Dachigam National Park
along Dagwan River, 20.iv.2022, 34.154°N 74.915°E,
1634.36 m, insect collection nets, coll. Firdousa
Rasool.
Diagnosis: The upper side of both Male and female
is white coloured, veins conspicuously green or
black, the base of the forewing is dusted with black scales, the apex and
terminal border is black down to vein 2, and a black spot is present in the
outer half of interspace 1. Hindwing with a black sub-costal spot. Under side
veins are margined with black, the apex of the forewing and the whole surface
of the hindwing are tinged with yellow, base of the costa
of the hindwing is bright yellow. The female is much darker than the male, all
the markings are broader. The upper side of the body is black with whitish
hairs (Image 3).
Pieris napi was observed to fly inside Dachigam
National Park and mostly rested on the flowers of Stellaria
media, leaves of Geranium sp., and the leaves of Rubus
sp. (Image 1, 2). A total of 5 specimens were collected from the same site
with insect collection nets. Out of 30 different sampling sites, P. napi was spotted and trapped only in Dachigam National Park as it typically occurs in moist
habitats, favours shaded or partly shaded woodland
edges in a cool, moist environment as also suggested by (Howe & Bauer
1975). The present study revealed that P. napi
exhibited the narrowest range of distribution being confined to only Dachigam National Park; outside the Dachigam
National Park, no specimen was collected. The P. napi
and its narrowest natural distribution within forest edge habitat have also
been proved in an experiment conducted by Ohsaki
& Sato (1999) in the northern city of Kyoto, Japan. P. napi eggs and larvae were found on the plants of the
Brassicaceae family like Cardamine flexuosa, acting as the host of the P. napi in the Dachigam National
Park (Image 2(4)), and the same results were obtained by (Chew & Watt 2006;
Friberg & Wiklund 2019). Pieris napi was very difficult to trap as it was flying high
and fast. The species was captured at an elevation of 1676 m (5,500 ft) above
sea level. The same results were documented by Shreeve
(1981) as Pieris napi can fly high and cover
large distances. Pieris napi trapped in
Kashmir is not too much white but has long parallel green veins and broad discal spots that may be due to the variation in morphology
due to the effect of latitude and altitude. According to Espeland
et al. (2007) and Valimaki & Kaitala
(2007), the morphology and life history of P. napi
vary with latitude. P. napi is predominantly
white at low elevations and low latitudes in Scandinavia; however, at higher
elevations and latitudes, it is darker and more melanized
and is frequently known as Pieris bryoniae (Ochsenheimer 1808; Kirby 1896) in central Europe and Pieris
napi adalwinda (Fruhstorfer, 1909) in Scandinavia (Porter et al. 1997).
Richards (1940) found that the proboscis sheath of p. napi
projects only a very short distance in pupae, with its eggs and larvae
being found on cabbage very rarely.
For
images - - click here for full PDF
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