Rare butterfly, The Empress, rediscovered from Debang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh after 88 years

Tweet

The Empress, (Sasakia funebris) spotted from Debang Valley District in Arunachal Pradesh
(Photo Courtesy: JOTT/Arun P Singh)

All he was able to get were two quick pictures. It never came back, despite patient wait for long hours. But the pictures were worth it, since they are the first of a live Empress to be recorded from the country.  The moment was simply unbelievable for the researcher who accidentally met The Empress, (Sasakia funebris) from Upper Debang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh, since it was going to be the first record of the rare butterfly from India after 88 years.

Arun P. Singh of Ecology & Biodiversity Conservation Division, Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam was carrying out a survey on ‘Reassessment of forest types of India’ in the Upper Debang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh when he chanced upon this rare butterfly on the side of the Anini-Mippi Road. During the survey, “this species was incidentally photographed on the road side and later identified”, says the research correspondence regarding the rediscovery published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The butterfly “preferred to remain in cover but came down to an eroded mud patch along the road to drink during bright sunshine for a minute or so before disappearing again into thick cover above”, says the researcher in the correspondence.

With a wing span of 125 to 130 mm, the butterfly is comparatively larger and very distinctive with its black colour and red eyes. The forewing cell (the middle portion of the butterfly wing) has a red streak while the hind wing has red markings in the base. The outer halves of the wings of this butterfly have dim white streaks in V shape also.

Historical Records of The Empress from India

Though the butterfly is also found in parts of China, records from India are very scarce. Considered very rare among the winged beauties, The Empress was last reported from India in 1924, when British entomologist O C Ollenbach collected a male specimen from Jakhama in Naga Hills which is now preserved in the National Forest Insect Reference Collection at the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun. Earlier, four specimens of the same butterfly were reportedly collected at Jakhama in Naga Hills in 1911 and 1912. In both the cases, it was reported from altitudes higher than 1500 meters.

The Empress, (Sasakia funebris) spotted from Debang Valley District in Arunachal Pradesh.
(Photo Courtesy: JOTT/Arun P Singh)

The present rediscovery has high conservation significance since extensive surveys of butterfly population in neighbouring states of North East India and Myanmar in the recent past have failed to record the presence of the species. The new record is also an extension to the range of this insect since the place is approximately 200 kilometers away from Naga Hills and is situated in a different hill range at an altitude of 1657 meters. According to the researcher, the area of the rediscovery was mixed sub-tropical broad-leaf forest. The species is protected in India with inclusion in the Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

The place from which it is recorded is less disturbed by human intervention, says the research communication. “Biotic interference were low although threats to the forests in the area include shifting cultivation, grazing, fuel wood and timber extraction on a minor scale”, it says. However, the insect is a much sought item for insect smuggling rackets since it costs up to $15 dollars for a single individual in the international curios markets. 

Rare plant rediscovered after 75 years from Kallar Valley in Western Ghats of Kerala

Tweet

Researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute has discovered an elusive plant - Ophiorrhiza barnesii, which was thought to be ‘possibly extinct’ since its first discovery, from Kallar Valley in Idukki district of the Southernmost Indian state of Kerala. According to a journal article about the discovery published in the latest issue of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, the plant was last reported 75 years ago, in 1937 by British botanists.

Ophiorrhiza barnesii, a rare plant
 rediscovered from Southern Western Ghats

According to sources, the researchers accidentally zeroed in on the plant while making a collection of threatened plants of Southern Western Ghats for ex situ conservation. The discovery now throws light into the still to be explored floral richness of Western Ghats, which is one of the eight hottest hot-spots in the world. The plant is one among the 20 members of the Ophiorrhiza genus found in the state of Kerala.

‘Possibly Extinct’

It was in 1939, that the plant was first described by a British botanist C E C Fischer based on two collections made by another British Botanist Prof. Edward Barnes. Both of the two specimens were collected from Kallar Valley during 1937. However, the plant has remained elusive since then with no further collectors or researchers reporting the plant from any other part of the state. According to researchers, subsequent botanical explorations even considered the chances that the plant may be possibly extinct by this time.

However, the rediscovery now puts it in the class of the rarest plants found in the Southern Western Ghats. To confirm the authenticity of the claim, the researchers reportedly compared the present specimen collected form Kallar Valley with the specimens in the earlier collections preserved at Royal botanic Gardens, Kew in London.

The Elusive plant of Western Ghats

The elusive plant is just like any other casual plant you may find in the Western Ghats with its perennial erect herb nature. Usually found as part of the under growth in the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats at an altitude of 1200 to 1600 meters from the mean sea level, the plant bears small white flowers. The flowering and fruiting season of the plant falls in the September to December period.

According to researchers, the plant is also found along the banks of the streams in the forests. It is found “usually associated with Sonerila wallichii, Ophiorrhiza roxburghiana, O. barberi, Elatostemma sp., etc”, says the research article.

However, with the rediscovery, researchers are raising doubts about the identity of another rare plant of the same genus found in Western Ghats - Ophiorrhiza falcate. Described by British naturalist Beddome in 1861 from the Anamalais, the plant resembles O. barnesii, in its description.

Flowers of Ophiorrhiza barnesii

However, rigorous searchers in the specimen collections in the foreign herbariums where the collections from pre-independent India are kept failed to trace back the original specimen based on which Beddome described the species. 

“Unfortunately, searching the specimens at The British Museum, Natural History (BM); Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K) and The National Herbarium, The Netherlands (L) also became futile.”, says the researchers.

Researchers seriously doubt that both the species should be one and the same; however, without detailed surveys at the Anamalais, it will be too early to speculate in that direction, say the researchers.

After the discovery, now a specimen of the plant is preserved at the herbarium at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Palode in Thiruvananthapuram. The researchers have also added some individuals of the plant to the gene pool that is developed in the institute as part of ex situ conservation of wild plant varieties.

E.S. Santhosh Kumar, P.E. Roy, and S.M. Shareef from Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala have co-authored the study.

Striated Fivering spotted after 90 years in India during Neyyar WLS butterfly survey

Tweet

Thiruvananthapuram: Butterfly researchers were stunned when they accidentally met and photographed Striated Five-ring (Ypthima striata ), a rare butterfly from Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala during a recent butterfly survey,  since the last records of this small butterfly from India dates back to 19th century.

Image Courtesy: Indian Foundation for Butterflies

According to Dr. Kalesh Sadashivan, a butterfly expert and PRO of Travancore Natural History Society (TNHS), the record is the first one after 90 years, when the butterfly was last reported from Nilgiri by British collectors. 

“The highlight of the survey was the discovery of the Striated Five-ring by Dr. Kunte and Dr.Milind which is the only known record in the country in the last 90 years. It was never found after it was collected from the Nilgiris in the last century”, says a post in the official group of TNHS in Facebook.

The butterfly was spotted near Venkulamedu near Anainirathy base camp inside Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary by a team lead by Dr. Krushnamegh Kunte  and Dr. Milind Bhakare during the survey. The photographs made by the survey team which are available Indian Foundation for Butterflies, could be the first live pictures of the rare butterfly from India.

Historical records show that G F Hampson has mentioned about the butterfly in his “Butterflies of the Nilgiri District”, published in 1888. According to his accounts, he collected a male specimen of the butterfly from Nilgiris at 5000 ft on August 25^th of 1888. He has mentioned the habitat of the butterfly as the southern slopes of the Nilgiris with an elevation of 2000 to 4000 ft. 

According to Dr. Kunte, the new discovery is very important since the first record is from north of the Palghat gap and is some 500 to 600 kilometers from the latest report. Thus the new record indicates that the actual distribution of Striated Five-ring is not just restricted to Nilgiris.

Apart from the record of Striated Five-ring, the survey teams have also spotted Joker, an elusive butterfly which has been reported just twice from Kerala during the last 120 years. 

239 butterfly species identified at Peppara and Neyyar WLS

 According to sources, the survey has recorded a total of 239 butterfly species among which 22 are found only from Western Ghats from Peppara and Neyyar WLS together. The teams has reported 186 species of butterfly species from Neyyar WLS and 153 species at Peppara WLS. The findings of the survey may be published into a booklet detailing the butterfly diversity of Peppara and Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuaries, said sources. 

The three-day butterfly survey was jointly conducted by Kerala Forest Department and Travancore Natural History Society  during December 14th to 16th. According to TNHS, More than 30 volunteers from different parts of the country took part in the survey.

Now watch two mating Common Fivering butterflies after the break.

Rare frog spotted from Western Ghats again

Tweet

short URL for this story:- http://goo.gl/eUAG5

A rare frog believed to be found only in a specific part of the Anamudi summit in Eravikulam National Park in the Indian state of Kerala has been spotted from Poovar, a part of Western Ghats hill ranges some 20 kilometers away from the place of its earlier report.

Resplendent Bush Frog, (Raorchestes resplendens)

According to a research correspondence published in the latest issue of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, the new record is approximately 20 kilometer away from the peak in the in north east direction, but within the boundary of the same national park. The researchers have made an unexpected confrontation with the frog during the survey of the endangered Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) present in Eravikulam National Park.

Known as Resplendent Bush Frog, (Raorchestes resplendens), the rare frog is categorized as critically endangered by IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group. It was first reported in 2010 by a team of researchers including the famous batrachologist Biju from Anamudi peak, which is the highest peak in the state of Kerala.

The elusive frog which has brightly colored reddish orange upper side was found in the grass land region in Poovar which is similar to the habitat from which it was first found. According to the correspondence, the frog was spotted inside a grass clump.

Conservation significance of the new findings

The new finding important as it gives valuable information about the range of distribution of the species, which is significant in the conservation of the species. When the frog was first found and described, it was believed that it had a very restricted presence and is found only within a 3 square kilometer area. However, the new finding reveals that the range of distribution of the frog is actually more than 3 square kilometers.

“It is likely that R. resplensens may be more widespread in the high altitude primary grasslands of Eravikulam National Park and surrounding areas of the Western Ghats, than it was earlier thought.”, says the correspondence.

 In 2010, when it was first spotted, researchers searched in nearby places, but failed to find the frog from different habitats in the vicinity. This has made them believe that the frog is present in only one type of locality in a small range.

In the present spotting, the most adjacent shola forest patch was one kilometer away, which means that the frogs may be living in the grass land itself. However, the first observations on Resplendent Bush Frog have revealed that the frogs use bamboo thickets in the vicinity to burrow their eggs. Thus the grassland sholas and related bamboo thickets at Eravikulam may be significant in a conservation perspective.

When it was first found in 2010, it was named Raorchestes to honour C. R. Narayan Rao, a pioneering batrachologist in India.  The resplendens name was given for the splendid colour of the frog. According to researchers, this rare frog is notable for its color as well as short limbs also. 

Cryptothela Sundaica, a rare spider spotted after 122 years from India

Tweet

Short url for this story : http://goo.gl/Mzxqp

After a gap of some 122 years, a rare spider has been reportedly spotted from India since it was first recorded by a British Spider Researcher in 1890. 

Cryptothela Sundaica
Image Copy Right Sudhikumar

According to A V Sudhikumar, an Arachnologist with the Zoology Department of Christ College Irinjalakkuda in the South Indian state of Kerala, his team has found the rare spider Cryptothela Sundaica, from the forest patches of Thommankuthu waterfall near Thodupuzha in Idukki district.

The spider was earlier reported by British Archnologist R F Pocock in 1890s from Udagamandalam in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. Interestingly, the earlier report was about a male member of the species while the new record is about a female one. 

A Cryptic spider

According to Sudhikumar, the genus is called ‘Cryptothela’, for their cryptic nature which always hides them from the eyes of the researchers. The spider, with the size of a small beetle, according to the researcher, is mud coloured and is difficult to distinguish from the surroundings since it is often found amidst dead and decaying leaves. 

However, the researchers were lucky this time since the spider they have spotted at Thommankuthu was a female carrying a triangular, white egg sac over her. 

Living on a diet of worms and insects, Cryptothela Sundaica has many tricks to avoid attackers. “If disturbed, it exhibits catalepsy (acting like dead when disturbed)”, says Sudhikumar. 

According to the researcher, the finding may be shortly published at the journal of Journal of Arachnology published by American Arachnological Society. 

The new spotting is very important as organisms not recorded for a period of 100 years are usually considered extinct. However, there are hardly any scientific studies conducted on the species in the recent past. 

According to Wikipedia, Cryptothele is a genus of spiders which comes under Zodariidae family of spiders. Cryptothele has ten described species of spiders including Cryptothela Sundaica. It also shows that the species was also reported by Tamerlan Thorell from Singapore in 1890s and has two sub species.