Rediscovery of Lethe europa tamuna with notes on other threatened butterflies from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

3 Pages·1997·1.6 MB·English

by  K Veenakumari

Volume 51, Number 3 273
NIELSEN, M. C. 1970. New Michiganbutterflyrecords. Lepid. Soc. 24:42-47.
J.
Perkins, O. A. 1968. Addenda to the list ofthe butterflies of Michigan. J. Lepid. Soc.
22:119-120.
Owen A. Perkins,2806Linwood, Royal Oak, Michigan 48073-3023, USA.
Receivedforpublication 18February 1997; revisedandaccepted5April1997.
JournaloftheLepidopterists'Society
51(3), 1997,273-275
REDISCOVERYOFLETHEEUROPA TAMUNAWITH NOTES ON
OTHERTHREATENED BUTTERFLIES FROM THE ANDAMAN AND
NICOBAR ISLANDS
Additional keywords: Legalprotection, status reassessment.
Drawingondatafrom the IUCN Conservation MonitoringCentre, the United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP) (1987)—listed six species ofbutterflies as th—reatened from
the Indiancoastalregion. Fourofthese one species andthree subspecies are endemic
to the Andaman and Nicobar islands (Table 1). Three ofthese taxa have been termed
"veryrare"whileGraphiumepaminondas Oberthurwastermed"locallycommon"byboth
Evans (1932) and Ferrar (1948). Khatri (1996) recently reported that two ofthese taxa,
Lethe europa tamuna de Niceville andNeptis sankara narde Niceville, were extirpated
ontheseislands. Wepresentherenewinformationonthreeofthe fourtaxarated"threat-
ened" from the Andaman and Nicobarislands, includingbiological notes onthe rediscov-
eryofLetheeuropa tamuna.
Lethe europa tamuna de Niceville (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae). Thisisoneofthe rarest
butterflies from the islands, beingknown previouslyfrom a single female specimen col-
lectedon Little Nicobar. Ferrar(1948) reportedobservinganotherfemaleon GreatNico-
barsometimebeforehe lefttheislands in 1931. On acollectingtripto Great NicobarIs-
landin December 1996, the seniorauthorobservedfourfemales, and found twoeggs and
two larvae ofthis butterflyat three localities in the Campbell Bay areaofGreat Nicobar.
Both the adults and immatures were found along roadsides where the forests had been
disturbed byhuman activity. One ofthe females was seen resting on moist sand on the
banks ofastream. Anotherfemalewas observedovipositingon the uppersurface ofaleaf
of the climbing bamboo, Dinochloa andamanica Kurz. Eggs were laid on leaves well
within the clump, noton the fringes. The larvae (Fig. IB) were sleeved andobservedpe-
riodicallyforabouttwoweeks.Theyfedandpassedthroughseveralinstars,andconfirmed
D. andamanica as ahostplantthat supports development. We suspectthis butterflyis not
as rareaspreviouslythought,butits status canbereliablyassessedonlyafterfurtherstud-
ies areconducted.
Doleschallia bisaltide andamana Fruhstorfer (Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae). This
butterflyhasbeenconsideredrarerinthe Nicobars (CarandCentral Nicobar) thaninthe
Andaman islands (Evans 1932, Ferrar 1948). Its cryptic habits have perhaps contributed
to an underestimate ofits abundance. We have observed eggs, larvae and adults ofthis
butterflyat S. Andaman and at Great Nicobar. The larvae completed theirlife cycles on
theplantsonwhichtheywerefound,when sleeved (seeTable 1). We foundfrom 15to58
adults feeding on the smallwhite blossoms ofmedium sized trees ofLigustrumglomera-
tum Blume (Oleaceae) atChidyatapu (Fig. ID) in S. Andamanin 1994, 1995and 1996. At
Campbell BayonGreatNicobar, 16eggswereobservedonP. album (Nees) Merr. (located
inless than 30minofsearch); 3 femaleswerealsoobservedinflight.
274 Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
TABLE 1. Threatened species ofbutterflies forthe South Asian Seas region from the
database ofthe IUCN Conservation MonitoringCentre (UNEP 1987). Status represents
ratings byEvans (1932) and Ferrar (1948); IUCN categories are as definedpriorto Mace
& Lande (1991) and Mace & Stuart (1994). All except Graphium epaminondas are listed
as Schedule I speciesinthe IndianWildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as revisedto 1991.
IUCN
Taxon Region Distribution Status Category LarvalFoodplant
Letheeuropa Dinochloaandamanica
tamuna India S. Nicobars veryrare rare Kurz (Poaceae)
Doleschallia S. Asia Andamans notrare rare Pseuderanthemum
bisaltide album (Nees)
andamana Merr. (Acanthaceae)
CarNicobars veryrare Phaulopsis imbricata
(Forst.) Sweet
(Acanthaceae)
Central Nicobars veryrare
Neptissankara
nar India N. Andaman veryrare rare unknown
Graphium
epaminondas S.Asia Andamans notrare, insuffi- Uvaria rufa Bl.
locally ciently (Annonaceae)
common known
Graphium epaminondas Oberthur (Papilionidae: Papilioninae). Although thisbutter-
flywas among the first collected from the islands (Hewitson 1874), nothingwas known
about its biologyuntil its larvalhostplant andlife cyclewereworked out (Prashanth Mo-
hanraj &Veenakumari 1994). Ithas averyshort flightperiodwith adults onthewingbe-
tweenAprilandJune (Prashanth Mohanraj &Veenakumari 1996). Itislocalizedinits dis-
tribution on S. Andaman. Mount Harriet National Park and some other localities on S.
Andamancontinueto supportgoodpopulations ofthebutterfly,butweconsiderithasde-
clinedin abundance from the earlierreportsbyEvans (1932) andFerrar(1948). The spe-
ciesisnotcurrentlythreatenedthoughsomeofitsbreedinglocalitieshavebeendestroyed
(Prashanth Mohanraj &Veenakumari 1996).
Neptis sankara nar de Niceville (Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae). About halfa dozen
historicalspecimensofthis specieshavebeencollectedfrom theAndamanislands (Ferrar
1948). No specimens havebeen collected recently, andwehavenotencounteredthe spe-
cies in our studies. Ifthe butterflyis confined to N. Andaman (where Ferrar spotted his
onlyspecimen) thenwe maywellhave missed this species on our short, sporadicvisits to
the island. We doubt the species is extirpated, as N. Andaman is far less disturbed than
S. Andaman.
Overone fourthofthebutterfliesoftheAndaman and Nicobarislands havebeenrated
as"rare"or"veryrare"byFerrar(1948), theonlypersontohavecollecteddiligentlyforas
longaperiod as eightyears from these islands. Given the relativepaucityofdata,we feel
that until more detailed field studies on Andaman and Nicobarbutterflies are conducted,
statements aboutthe statusoftheislands' species shouldbe madewith caution.
We are grateful to A. K. Bandyopadhyay, Director, C.A.R.I., for supporting us in our
studiesonthenaturalhistoryofthebutterflies oftheseislands. WethankP. V Sreekumar,
Botanical Survey ofIndia, Port Blair for the identification ofthe plant specimens, and
Bikas Mondal, Tamil Das and Kinnu Ram forpatient and cheerful assistance in the field.
Permission to studyinsects from the National Parks and Sanctuaries ofthese islandswas
granted by the Chief Wildlife Warden, Andaman and Nicobar islands (Order No.
CWLW/WL/47/1294). We also acknowledge financial assistance from the MinistryofEn-
vironmentand Forest, GovernmentofIndia, New Delhi (OrderNo. 14/44/91-MAB/RE).
Volume 51, Number 3 275
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FlG. 1. Lepidoptera from Andaman and Nicobar Islands: A, adult Lethe europa
tamuna; B, larvaofLetheeuropa tamuna; C, the strikinglydifferentlarvaofLetheeuropa
nudgara (ssp.tamuna is confinedtothe S. Nicobarswhile ssp. nudgara is restrictedtothe
Andamans); D,Doleschalliahisaltideandamana feedingonablossom ofLigustrumglom-
eratum Blume.
Literature Cited
Evans, W. H. 1932. The identification ofIndian butterflies (2nd revised Ed.). Bombay
Natural HistorySociety. Diocesan Press, Madras, pp. x + 454,xxiipis.
FERRAR, M. L. 1948. Thebutterflies ofthe Andamans and Nicobars. Bombaynat. Hist.
J.
Soc. 47:470-491, 5pis.
Hewitson,W. C. 1874.Alistofbutterflies,withdescriptionsofnewspecies,fromtheAn-
damanislands. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4)xiv:356-358.
Khatri, T C. 1996. Butterflies ofthe Andaman and Nicobar Islands: conservation con-
cerns. Bes. Lepid. 32:170-184.
PRASHANTHJ. MOHANRAJ &VEENAKUMARI, K. 1994. T—he larval foodplant and fife history
of Graphium (Pathysa) epaminondas Oberthur a papilionid endemic to the An-
damanislands. Butterflies 7:24-34.
1996. Host plants, phenologies and status ofswallowtails (Papilionidae), Lepi-
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doptera, in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean. Biol.
Conserv. 78:215-221.
UNEP, 1987. Environmental problems of the South Asian Seas region: an overview.
UNEP Begional Seas Beports and Studies, No. 82. United Nations EnvironmentPro-
pp. 50.
K.VEENAKUMARIANDPrashanth Mohanraj, CentralAgriculturalResearch Institute,
P. B. No. 181, PortBlair 744 101, Andamans, India
Receivedforpublication 16April 1997; revisedandaccepted21July 199',