Issues and Trends of Wildlife Conservation in

Issues and Trends of Wildlife Conservation in Northeast India

2014

A preliminary survey of butterfly diversity in Dampa Tiger Reserve of Mizoram, Northeast India 1

Zothansangi, 2Catherine 1 H.T.Lalremsanga

V.L.

Ruati

2

N.Senthil

Kumar,

1

G.Gurusubramanian

and

1

Department of Zoology, 2Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University, Aizawl- 796004, Mizoram, India. Email: [email protected] Abstract Dampa Tiger Reserve, the largest protected area in Mizoram is a part of the Indo Myanmar biodiversity hotspot, one of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots. A detailed scientific study on butterfly fauna from Dampa Tiger Reserve is still lacking. In this preliminary survey (November 2010, AprilJuly 2011 and on September 2012.), 125 species of butterflies from the five families were recorded which is approximately 8.3% of India’s total butterflies. This is the first study on butterfly diversity in this area and it is a challenge and our aim to explore further and document butterfly fauna, which will be a useful platform for conservation and quantitative study of diversity. Keywords: Butterfly diversity, Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram Introduction The Northeastern region of India is a geographical ‘gateway’ for much of India’s flora and fauna, and as a result, the region is one of the richest in biological values. The region represents important part of Indo Myanmar bio-diversity hotspot, one of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots (Chatterjee et al., 2006). The Indian part of this hotspot is one of the most species-rich regions in the Indian Sub-continent, with considerable endemism at subspecies level The high species richness and endemism make this an especially important region for butterfly diversity and conservation in India. (Kunte at al., 2012) This region needs imperative awareness for conservation because of high degree of host plant and butterfly endemism and the threats it faces. Dampa Tiger Reserve of the northeastern state of Mizoram lies on the international border with Bangladesh. It is the largest protected area in Mizoram and a detailed scientific study on butterfly fauna from Dampa Tiger Reserve is still lacking. So it has been selected as a site for this present study. Butterflies are taxonomically well studied group, which have

received a reasonable amount of attention throughout the world (Ghazoul, 2002). Butterflies are classified into two superfamilies; Hesperioidea, consisting of a single family Hesperiidae (Skippers) and Papilionoidea, having four families: Papilionidae (Swallowtails), Pieridae (Whites and Yellows), Nymphalidae (Brush-footed butterflies) and Lycaenidae (Blues) (Kehimkar, 2008). Butterflies are also good indicators of environmental changes as they are sensitive and are directly affected by changes in the habitat (Haribal, 1992). Butterflies are sensitive biota which gets severely affected by the environmental variations and changes in the forest structure and composition as they are closely dependent on plants (Pollard, 1993). Many butterfly species are strictly seasonal and prefer only a particular set of habitat (Kunte, 1997) and they are good indicators in terms of anthropogenic disturbance and habitat quality (Kocher and Williams, 2000). The diversity of butterfly species is high in natural habitats than the modified ones (Nayak et al., 2004). 256

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Issues and Trends of Wildlife Conservation in Northeast India There are about 18,000 species of butterflies in the world (Kehimkar, 2008). India's diverse and varied fauna include a rich heritage in butterflies and moths. Evans (1932) recorded approximately 1439 species of butterfly from British India. India hosts 1,501 species of butterflies (Gaonkar, 1996 and Kehimkar, 2008) of which 321 are Skippers, 107 Swallowtails, 109 Whites and Yellows, 521 Brush-footed butterflies and 443 Blues.

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not be carried out due to the weather and random visits to this area. On April 2011, a quantitative sampling was done on Nymphalid butterflies; they were observed, counted and recorded in each area of the forest. Results and discussion 125 species of butterflies from five subfamilies were recorded during this survey. From Nymphalidae family, 1180 individuals of 76 species representing eight subfamilies were recorded and were given in the table below. 13 species from Papilionidae, 8 species from Lycaenidae, 18 species from Pieridae and 10 species of Hespiridae were observed and recorded. Nymhalid butterflies were the most common and most observed family in this area.

Materials and methods Study site: The forest within Dampa Tiger Reserve (92o 25.03' East; 23o 38.72' North; 500 - 1,100 m elevation) is like an island surrounded by extensive bamboo tracts (Birand and Pawar, 2001). The landscape is undulating, with hills running from north to south. Small, temporary and perennial rivulets flow all over this reserved area. The reserve consists of moist deciduous forests in the lower reaches and evergreen and semi evergreen forests with natural grasslands at higher altitudes. There are large tracts of secondary forest in the landscape dominated by bamboo brakes and regenerating fallow jhum land. Dampa has one of the last remaining low to mid-elevation forests in western Mizoram. There is very little contiguity of woody forest. It is a biodiversity hotspot with a variety of flora and fauna of Indo-Malayan origin. Field survey: The survey was done during the months of November 2010, April-July 2011 and on September 2012. In the reserve areas of Dampa. Visual encounter survey (VES) method was used in all sampling efforts, since VES was found to be an effective sampling method especially in tropical condition covering wide geographical area. The butterflies sighted were photographed digitally and were later identified using the identification key of Wynter-Blyth (1957), Ehrlich (1958), Ackery (1984), Haribal (1992) and Kehimkar (2008). The survey was done during daytime from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm as butterflies are usually seen with sunlight. However, even and regular samplings could

Fig. 1: A graph showing Diversity of Butterfly families Comparing datas from this present study and from the previous records in India and Mizoram, we can say that Dampa Tiger reserve is highly rich in Butterflies having around 8.3% of India’s total butterflies. This preliminary survey was insufficient and had limitations in the number of observations and in methods of sampling. However, as butterflies are very sensitive to alterations in their habitats, host plant and local weather it was observed that the distributions and diversity in each seasons every year was quite variable. This is the first study on butterfly diversity in this area and it is a challenge and our aim to explore further and document butterfly fauna, which will be a useful platform for conservation. 257

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Table: Butterflies of Dampa Tiger Reserve recorded during the survey period. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

Family Nymphalidae

45

Athyma selenophora

Tirumala septentrionis Danaus genutia Danaus chrysippus Parantica aglea Tirumala limniace Parentica sita Parantica melaneus Euploea aglea Euploea midamus Euploea mulciber Euploea radamanthus Euploea klugii Euploea core Polyura athamas Charaxes bernardus Charaxes marmax Polyura eudamippus Faunis eumeus Discophora sondaica Thaumantis diores Lethe confusa Lethe europa Lethe verma Lethe rohria Lethe chandica Lethe distans Mycalesis visala Mycalesis mineus Ypthima baldus Ypthima huebneri Orsotriaena medus Neope bhadra Melanitis leda Orinoma damaris Ethope himachala Elymnias hypermenstra Elymnias patna Vagrans egista Cethosia cyane Cethosia biblis Vindula erota Cirrochroa aoris Cirrochroa tyche Athyma perius

46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75

Athyma cama Pantoporia paraka Pantoporia hordonia Neptis miah Neptis soma Neptis hylas Parthenos sylvia Lebadea martha Euthalia phemins Euthalia aconthea Tanaecia lepidea Lexias pardalis Athyma nefte Tanaecia jahnu Chersonesia risa Cyrestis thyodamus Pseudergolis wedah Adriadne ariadne Adriane merione Euripus nyctelius Hestina nama Herona marathus Rohana parisatis Symbrenthia hippoclus Junonia iphita Junonia atlites Junonia almana Junonia lemonias Hypolimnas bolina jacintha Kallima inachus Family Papilionidae Graphium sarpedon Graphium Agamemnon Graphium antiphates Chilasa clytia Papilio polytes Papilio helenus Papilio memnon Papilio alcmenor Papilio demoleus Papilio paris Papilio polcytor Atrophaneura aristolochiae Troidea helena

76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88

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Family Lycaenidae 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125

Hypolycaena erylus Talicada nyseus Abiosara fylla Abiosara Zemeros flegyas Jamides seleno Zizeeria karsandra Catochrysops strabo Family Pieridae Ixias pyrene Hebomoia glaucippe Appias lyncida Appias albina Pieris brassicae Pieris napi Pieris canidia Prioneris thestylis Prioneris clementha Delias pasithoe Delias descombesi Delias hyparete Delias eucharis Eurema hecabe Eurema blanda Eurema sari Catopsila pomona Catopsila puranthe Family Hesperidae Aeromachus jhora jhora Astychus pythias Pelopidas mathias Oriens golaides Celaenorrhinus pulomaya Borbo cinnara Megisba Malaya Spindasis syama Cheritra freja Caleta elna Cupha

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G

C

B

D

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E

F

H

I

Fig. 2: Some of the butterflies recorded from Dampa Tiger Reserve: (A)Atrophaneura polyeuctes; (B) Cyrestis thyodamas; (C) Lebadea Martha; (D) Cirrochroa aoris; (E) Kallima inachus; (F) Neptis soma; (G) Polyura athamas; (H) Moduza procris;(I) Ethope himachala. `

Fig. 3: Mudpuddling of Butterflies

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Kehimkar, I., 2008. The Book of Indian Butterflies. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, pp 497. Kocher, S. D., Williams, E. H., 2000. The diversity and abundance of North American butterflies vary with habitat disturbance and geography. Journal of Biogeography, 27: 785-794. Kunte, K. J., 1997. Seasonal patterns in butterfly abundance and species diversity in four tropical habitats in northern Western Ghats. Journal of Biosciences, 22: 593-603. Kunte K.J., Sanjay Sondhi, Bensen M. Sangma , Rohan Lovalekar , Kedar Tokekar & Gaurav Agavekar .2012. Butterflies of the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, northeastern India: their diversity and conservation. Journal of Threatened Taxa. 4(10): 2933–2992 Nayak, G., Subramanian, K. A., Gadgil, M., Achar, K. P., Acharya, Padhye, A., Deviprasad, Bhatta, G., Ghate, H., Murugan, Panda, P., Thomas, S., and Thomas, W., 2004. Patterns of diversity and distributing butterflies in heterogeneous landscapes of the Western Ghats, India. Envis Technical Report No.18. Centre for Ecological Sciences Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, pp 1-28. Pollard, E. and Yates T. J., 1993. Monitoring Butterflies for Ecology and Conservation London: Chapman and Hall, pp 274. Wynter-Blyth, M. A., 1957. Butterflies of the Indian region. The Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, pp 523.

Acknowledgement We are thankful to Mr. Laltlanhlua Zathang, Forest Division Officer for his permission to survey in Dampa Tiger reserve and Mr. Zakhuma for photographs and field survey. References Ackery, P. R., 1984. Systematic and faunistic studies on butterflies. In: The biology of butterflies (Ed. R. I. Vane-Wright & P. R. Ackery), London: Academic Press, pp 429. Birand, A. and Pawar, S. (2001) A survey of birds in Northeast India. Final Report Center for Ecological Research and Conservation, Mysore, India. Capinera, J. L., 2008. Butterflies and moths. Encyclopedia of Entomology. (2nd Ed.) Academic Press, pp 631–664 Chatterjee, S., Saikia, A., Dutta, P., Ghosh, D., Pangging, G. and Goswami, A. K. (2006). Background Paper on Biodiversity Significance of North East India for the study on Natural Resources, Water and Environment Nexus for Development and Growth in North Eastern India. Evans, W. H., 1932. The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed.) Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, pp 454. Ghazoul, J., 2002. Impact of logging on the richness and diversity of forest butterflies in a tropical dry forest in Thailand. Biodiversity and. Conservation, 11: 521–541. Haribal. M., 1992. The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and their Natural History. Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation, Gangtok, pp 217

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