(IN) Rare butterfly sighted after 100 yrs

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Rare butterfly sighted after 100 yrs

11 Sep 2009, 0324 hrs IST, Simang Daimary, TNN

 

KOKRAJHAR: Deep within the graveyard of butterflies, there moves a flutter of

hope. And the awestruck nature-lover, bewildered at the miraculous triumph,

captures a quick moment of the blithe spirits flight for posterity.

 

Kushal Choudhury, a young lepidopterologist and lecturer at Kokrajhar Science

College, has spotted a rare breed of swallowtail butterfly considered extinct at

Ultapani Reserve Forest. The jungle, under Haltugaon forest division, is

notorious for being the deathbed of hundreds of these winged creatures.

 

Choudhury, who has been working on a butterfly project since 2002 and is

researching on swallowtail butterflies for his PhD since 2008, said, " The Yellow

Crested Spangle (Papilio Elephenor Doubleday) was resighted after a long gap of

100 years in Ripu-Chirang Wildlife Sanctuary (RCWS) that extends between

89:554-90:304E and 27:154-26:354N in the Bodoland Territorial Council of western

Assam.''

 

He added, " The sanctuary is a transitional zone between Manas Tiger Reserve in

the east and Buxa Tiger Reserve (West Bengal) in the west. It also has strong

linkages with Bhutan Biological Conservation Complex as it is located just at

the foothills of Phipsu Wildlife Sanctuary and Royal Manas National Park of

Bhutan.''

 

At first, Choudhury believed that it was a mutated spangle butterfly (Papilio

protenor) that is similar in size and colour. The yellow markings on the abdomen

and the bright yellow head were the most striking and peculiar features of this

butterfly. He then circulated the photographs on ButterflyIndia ;

an e-group for butterfly watchers around the world. It was finally identified

and confirmed as the Yellow crested Spangle by Krushnamegh Kunte, post-doctoral

research fellow at FAS centre for systems Biology, Harvard University.

 

" The Yellow Crested Spangle belongs to the Genus Papilio under the family

Papilionidae. Papilio elephenor is a highly endangered, federally protected

species listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,

and is placed under the Endangered (EN A1c, B1 2bc) category of the Red Data

list of IUCN (Gupta et al, 2005),'' the lepidopterologist said.

 

The butterfly is also endemic to the eastern Himalayas and northeastern India.

Butterfly exeprts like Bingham (1907), Evans (1932) and Winter-Blyth (1957) have

described the presence of this butterfly in Assam and Nagaland and Khasi Hills

about 100 years ago, but there has been no recent report of its sightings or

documentation till now.

 

Choudhury has also discovered another butterfly, called Moores cupid (Shijimia

moorei Leech, 1889, old name Everes moorei). It is a tiny butterfly and its

flight is very fast compared to its size. Choudhury said, " It is also an

extremely rare butterfly under the Lycaenidae family. It is mainly found in

Japan and southern China. Several decades earlier, its presence was reported

from Meghalaya's Khasi hills after which, it was not reported from anywhere else

in India. This species is also listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection)

Act, 1972 and categorized as Critically Endangered (CR A1c, B1 2bc) in the IUCN

Red Data list''.