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

Article Sidebar

PDF/A HTML
Published: Nov 26, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3730.10.13.12769-12791
Keywords:
Andhra Pradesh, Araku Valley, checklist, Lepidoptera, northern Eastern Ghats, Papikonda National Park

Main Article Content

Rajkamal Goswami
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4225-7763
Ovee Thorat
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3240-9161
Vikram Aditya
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3888-4369
Seena Narayanan Karimbumkara
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1313-4668

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. 

Article Details

Issue
Vol. 10 No. 13 (2018)
Section
Communications

Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT.  This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership.  Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.

Author Biographies

Rajkamal Goswami, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064, India

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

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

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

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.

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.