Recent sightings of two very rare butterflies, Lethe margaritae Elwes, 1882 and Neptis nycteus de Nicéville, 1890, from Sikkim, eastern Himalaya, India

Rai, S.M.; Bhutia, Karma Dorjee; Kunte, Krushnamegh

doi:10.11609/jott.o2965.3319-26

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, the legacies of those pioneers were not taken forward and as a result the documentation of butterflies in Sikkim was very sporadic thereafter. The butterfly of Sikkim was brought in the limelight only recently through a book on butterfly (Haribal 1992) and thereafter the interests towards butterfly research in the state have increased (Chettri 2000, Kunte 2010, Acharya and Bijayan 2011, Rai et al 2012.…”

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confidence: 99%

Distribution of butterflies along a trekking corridor in the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas

Chettri

Paudel²

2015

Conservation Sci

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SummaryAim The aim of the research was to understand the distribution pattern of butterflies along attitudinal and disturbance gradients in a trekking corridor in Sikkim, India.Location Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, West Sikkim, India. Material and MethodsThe study focused on two sets of data, one on inventory of species along the trekking corridor and the other on butterfly species and their numbers along the 19 permanent plots measuring 30x40m. Among the 19 plots, four each was laid in degraded forests (canopy cover <40%) and undisturbed forests (canopy cover >40%) within the warm temperate broadleaf forest (1780-2350 m), and five and six in degraded and undisturbed forest respectively in cool temperate sub-alpine forest (2350-3600 m). The surveys were conducted thrice a season for two seasons. All individuals recorded from the 114 pseudo replicate plots (19 plots, 3 times a season for 2 seasons) and the casual observations were considered for preliminary analysis for dominant families.Key findings Among the 189 species recorded, Nymphalidae family was dominant (44%) followed by Lycanidae (19%) and the least number of species was recorded from Riodinidae (1%). Likewise, 69% of the species recorded were found to be 'fairly common' , 16% 'common' and 11% rare. The highest number of species per transect was recorded from the disturbed condition (7.1±0.7 Standard Error) at warm temperate broadleaf forest (WTBF) followed by undisturbed condition (6.7±0.8) and the least was recorded at the undisturbed condition (4.1±0.5) of cool temperate subalpine forest (CTSF). Similarly, the butterfly species diversity, its richness and evenness significantly differed between the forest types i.e. WTBF and CTSF and showed negative correlation along altitudinal gradients. Conservation implications Study concludes that the human interventionsand tourism enterprises are bringing subtle changes in butterfly habitat and may have major effects on some of the habitat specific species if they are not seriously considered in the management interventions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of butterflies along a trekking corridor in the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas

Chettri

Paudel²

2015

Conservation Sci

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“…The study showed that tea plantation systems and secondary forest systems near natural forest area of Darjeeling are equally important in the conservation of butterflies along with natural forest. In the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya, few recent studies have provided information on butterflies from different parts of Sikkim (Acharya & Vijayan 2011, 2015Kunte 2010;Rai et al 2012;Chettri et al 2018b;Dewan et al 2018;Sharma et al 2020), however, very few studies have been conducted in Darjeeling (including Kalimpong) Hills (Roy et al 2012;Sengupta et al 2014). Thus, the findings of the study add to the limited existing literature on butterflies of Darjeeling Hills, especially in a tea estate area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Butterfly diversity in an organic tea estate of Darjeeling Hills, eastern Himalaya, India

Pradhan

Khaling

2020

J. Threat. Taxa

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The study was undertaken from March–May 2019 to explore the butterflies in the human-modified tea dominated landscape of Darjeeling Hills and understanding the diversity, community structure, habitat specialization, and conservation status of butterflies in an organic tea estate. Sampling was done in the two representative ecosystems of tea plantation and secondary forest within the study area. Altogether 71 species and sub-species across 43 genera belonging to five families were recorded during this study, of which seven are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1972.

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“…With a gap of almost two decades, systematic studies on butterflies in the region have increased in recent years (Acharya & Vijayan 2011, 2015Chettri 2015). Species protected under Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, such as Symbrenthia silana (Kunte, 2010), Lethe margaritae and Neptis nycteus (Rai et al, 2012) have recently been rediscovered in the state after almost 100 years. All these studies have indicated the probability of occurrence of many species that awaits rediscovery or possibly even new species discovery.…”

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<b>A new record of the lesser-known butterfly Small Woodbrown <I>Lethe nicetella</I> de Nicéville, 1887 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) from Kangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim, India</b>

2018

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This study reports the recent sighting of Small Woodbrown Lethe nicetella from Khangchendzonga National Park in West Sikkim District, India. It was originally described by de Nicéville (1887) based on the collection of males and one female by Otto Möller from Sikkim but the exact type locality was unknown. We also reviewed various historical and contemporary reports on the description and distribution of this species. We did not find any report of collection or sighting of the species from India after Elwes & Möller (1888). The occurrence of this species in Sikkim is mentioned in Haribal (1992) but it is not clear whether the report is based on sightings or historical records because sighting location is not given, indicating its description based on museum specimens. Hence, we conclude that the Small Woodbrown L. nicetella was sighted after a gap of around 120 years. Further, we have provided the first photographic records of a live individual of this species from India. Our finding indicates a possibility of existence of many cryptic taxa that should be explored using morphological and molecular approaches.

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Recent sightings of two very rare butterflies, Lethe margaritae Elwes, 1882 and Neptis nycteus de Nicéville, 1890, from Sikkim, eastern Himalaya, India

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

Distribution of butterflies along a trekking corridor in the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas

Distribution of butterflies along a trekking corridor in the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas

Butterfly diversity in an organic tea estate of Darjeeling Hills, eastern Himalaya, India

<b>A new record of the lesser-known butterfly Small Woodbrown <I>Lethe nicetella</I> de Nicéville, 1887 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) from Kangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim, India</b>

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