Rare species of Butterfly rediscovered in Assam

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090827/jsp/northeast/story_11414524.jsp

 

Thursday , August 27 , 2009

 

Rare view of a species lost for 100 years

 

When Kushal Choudhury, a lecturer at the Kokrajhar Science College, first

saw the stripes on the dark-brown wings of the butterfly, he thought he was

dreaming.

 

Choudhury, on a recent trip to the Chirang Reserve Forest in lower Assam,

was looking at the highly endangered Yellow-crested Spangle butterfly (*Papilio

elephenor*), a species which was last seen over 100 years ago.

 

“My documentation is the first report of this species in Assam after a

hundred years and my photograph is the first live photograph in the world

other than the specimen kept at the British Museum in London,” Choudhury

said.

 

He will publish his findings in the *Journal of Threatened Taxa*, considered

the Bible of endangered species. “The species is so rare, that it was like a

divine experience,” Choudhury added.

 

This butterfly is endangered worldwide and is included in the *Red Data Book

* of International Union for Conservation of Nature.

 

Choudhury has been working on butterflies in the Bodo area for the past

decade.