Range Extension on the Wavy Maplet Chersonesia Intermedia (Nymphalidae, Lepidoptera), from Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, India

2008·1.2 MB·

by  Krushnamegh Kunte

.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Ace Thoressa sitala de Niceville and the Evershed’s Ace ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T. evershedi Evans, 1910. We cannot assess relevant
conservation issues for these butterflies if we do not have I thank V.V. Sivan for his help in identifying the host
any information about them. Considering the rapid habitat plants,andDeepaAgashe,RamanaAthreya,S.Kalesh,Satya
degradation and destruction that is taking place in the Prakash and C. Susanth forcomments on an earlierdraft of
biologically diverse southern Western Ghats, I hope such the manuscript. Thanks are due to the Principal Chief
basic information on these species will be available soon Conservator ofForests (Tamil Nadu) for granting research
through a more collaborative effort from naturalists in permission, andtothe local staffoftheForestDepartmentat
southern India. This will ultimately help us protect these the IndiraGandhi National Parkand Wildlife Sanctuary, the
endemics andtheirhabitats. AnamalaiHills,forprovidinglocalpermitsandcooperation.
Bell, T.R. (1927): The common butterflies of the plains of India Kunte, K. (2000): Butterflies ofPeninsular India. Universities Press
(including those met with in the hills stations ofthe Bombay (Hyderabad) and Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore).
Presidency).J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc.31: 951-974. Pp. 254.
Evans, W.H. (1910):Alistofthe butterfliesofthe Palni Hillswiththe Larsen,T.B.(1988):ThebutterfliesoftheNilgirimountainsofsouthern
descriptionsoftwonew species. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 20: India(Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera).J.BombayNat.Hist.Soc.85:
380-392. 26-43.
Evans,W.H.(1932):TheIdentificationofIndian Butterflies(2nded.). Ugarte, E. & L. Rodricks (1960): Butterflies of the Palni Hills:
Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai. Pp.454. acomplementary list. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 57: 270-277
RANGE EXTENSION OFTHE WAVY MAPLET
13.
CHERSONESIA INTERMEDIA (NYMPHALIDAE, LEPIDOPTERA),
FROM PAKKE TIGER RESERVE, ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
1
Krushnamegh Kunte2
'AcceptedNovember06,2007
2SectionofIntegrativeBiology, UniversityofTexasatAustin, 1 UniversityStation,C0930,Austin,TX78712,USA.
Email: [email protected]
Tribe Cyrestini (Nymphalidae, Lepidoptera) is distinguishedfrom C. risa inhaving: (a) the fifth line on the
represented in India by two genera: (a) Cyrestis Boisduval, upper side of the wings reddish-brown and diffused, and
1832, and (b) Chersonesia Distant, 1883; commonly known (b)thesixth linefromthewing-basecurvedandprominently
as Maps and Maplets. Of these, Chersonesia is highly angled near costa (Evans 1932; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Corbet
restrictedindistribution: Chersonesiarisa(Doubleday, 1848), and Pendlebury 1992; Pinratana and Eliot 1996). The fifth
the Common Maplet, occurs in the Himalaya from Kumaon andsixthlinesinC. risaareblack,straightandofequalwidth,
andNepaleastwardtonorth-eastIndia,extendingtoLndo-China similartothe first four lines.
and south-east Asia (Smith 1989). Chersonesia intermedia The precise localities from which C. intermedia was
Martin, 1895,theWavyMaplet,isalsodistributedinIndo-China previouslycollectedinManipurareunknownbutthesighting
andsouth-eastAsia, butis morerestrictedin India. Ithasbeen reported here comprises the first record ofthe species from
collectedfromManipurandNagaHillsinnorth-eastIndiaand Arunachal Pradesh and in the eastern Himalayas, at least
is reportedly very rare (Evans 1932; Wynter-Blyth 1957). 400to600kmawayfromthepreviouslyknowndistributional
Note that the subspecies of C. intermedia that occurs in range ofthe species. Itwill be usefultofindout whetherthe
NE India, i.e. C.i. rahrioides Moore, 1896, was previously species also occurs in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam or
treated under C. rahria (Evans 1932). Chersonesia rahria whetheritreachesPakkeonlythroughtheforestedmountains
(Moore, 1858),ascurrentlyclassified,doesnotoccurinIndia. ofthe south-eastern and northernArunachal Pradesh.
On May 30, 2007 I photographed C. intermedia mud- Thefieldtriponwhichthissightingwasmadewasfunded
puddlinginastream-bedrunningthroughtheevergreenforest bytheAmericanPhilosophicalSociety'sLewisandClarkFund
ontheroadtoKhadi inPakkeTigerReserveinWestKameng forExplorationandFieldResearch.Localarrangementsmade
district ofArunachal Pradesh. The species could be easily byMr.TanaTapi,DFO,PakkeTR,aregratefullyacknowledged.
108 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 105 (1), Jan-Apr 2008
o
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
REFERENCES
Corbet,A.S.&H.M. Pendlebury(1992):TheButterfliesoftheMalay Offset, Bangkok,pp. 140.
Peninsula. KaulaLumpur, MalayanNatureSociety, pp. 595. Smith, C. (1989): Butterflies of Nepal (Central Himalaya). Tecpress
Evans,W.H. 1932):TheIdentificationofIndian Butterflies. Mumbai, ServiceL.P, Bangkok. Pp. 352.
(
Bombay Natural History Society, pp.454. Wynter-Blyth,M.A.(1957):ButterfliesoftheIndianRegion.Mumbai,
Pinratana,A.&J.N.Eliot(1996):ButterfliesinThailand.Vol.3.Bosco BombayNatural HistorySociety, pp. 523.
14. INTRASPECIFIC COLOUR VARIATION IN SPIDER PARAWIXIA DEHAANII
(DOLESCHALL) (ARANEIDAE; ARANEAE), A CASE STUDY IN SANJAY
GANDHI NATIONAL PARK, BORIVLI, MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA1
DharmendraKhandal2andD.B. Bastawade3
'AcceptedDecember04,2003
Ky Mr. R.S. Sharma,KalyanMarket, Ramgarh-Swhekhawati,Sikar331 024,Rajasthan, India.
Email: [email protected]
’ZoologicalSurveyofIndia,WesternRegionalStation,Acurdi,Pune, Maharashtra, India.
The Araneid genus Parawixia was raised by F.O.P. ThefemalespecimensrecentlycollectedatSGNPshow
Cambridgein 1904withthetypespeciesP deschricta(F.O.P. fourvariants ofabdominal colourpattern.
Cambridge); the genus has a wide range of distribution in (1) Abdomen grayish with light brown tinge and a
South America, Mexico, India, Malaysia and Japan. conspicuous ‘V’ likedarkerbrown patch in thecenterofthe
P dahaanii(Doleschall) istheonlyknown Indianspecies so abdomen giving more pointed appearance to the anterior
farreportedfromKarnataka,WestBengal,GujaratandSikkim lateral shoulderhumps (Fig. lb).
states.ThepresentreportisthefirstreportfromMaharashtra (2) Abdomen is completely light reddish brown with
in SanjayGandhi National Park, Borivli,Mumbai. Recently, only two white dots between the anterior lateral shoulder
the species has been reported by about 15-16 female humps. (Fig. lc).
specimens almost in the same locality ofSGNP It was very (3)Abdomenyellowishbrownwithsomeblackpatches
surprisingtonotethedifferentcolourmorphsamongthesame in ‘V’ shape manner and rest of the abdomen blackish
population ofthis species. (Fig. Id).
The broad identification characteristics ofParawixia (4)Abdomen completely blackish brown without any
dehaanii (Doleschall) total body size ranges between markings (Fig. le).
18-22 mm in length, cephalothorax longer than wide, Thecolourmorphsinspiderare known andhavebeen
narrowing in front,typicallyclothedwithwhitepubescence discussedbydifferentworkers,unfortunatelyexceptTikader,
in middle portion, spines and hair with granular base on there are almost no authentic reports on such aspects from
cephalic region elevated in the middle, forming a bulgejust India. Tikader (1982) have reported as many as 18 colour
behind the ocular area, ocular quad slightly wider in front morphsinNeosconamukerjai(Tikader),acommoncolonial
thanbehindandsituatedonelevation,lateraleyesnearlysame species in and around Pune city (Maharashtra). Campon
in size, placed closely and situated at the base of horn-like (2001) reported colour variations in the colonial species
tubercles; chelicerae strong, reddish-brown with moderate Parawixia bistriata, he states that adult females are
bossatthebase;legslongandstrongwithoutbandbutdarker present in two distinct colour morphs (brown and yellow
ontarsi; abdomentriangularacutely pointedposteriorly and opisthosomes), which make the individuals cryptic on the
on anterior lateral spine like shoulder humps, five pairs of substrates they are found during their solitary stage prior to
sigillaondorsumarrangedmid-longitudinally,epigynumwith oviposition; leafsubstrates oron the branches and trunks of
swollen base provided with stout, beak-like pointed trees. His experiment showed that the yellow morph
,
unwrinkled scape, bent at right angle with the base. individuals exhibit substrates preference whereas the
The described colour pattern shows chalk white brown morph individuals do not.
transversebandextendingbetweenthepairofanteriorlateral Tikader (1982) has discussed the possible factors
shoulderhumps,darkbrownonrestoftheabdomendorsum, associated with colour variation in animals, such as
ventrum grayish brown patches (Fig. la). (a) altitude, latitude and longitude, (b) climate, (c) rainfall.
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 105 (1), Jan-Apr 2008 109