Sight Record of Polyphenic Forms of Appias Albina Darada C. & R. Felder (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

2004·0.52 MB·

by  C F Binoy

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS October25,2001 ANIL KUMAR
WildlifeInstituteofIndia,
IamgratefultoDr.Q.H. Baqri,PrincipalInvestigatorof PostBox 18,Chandrabani,
theproject“StudiesontheFaunal DiversityintheTharDesert DehraDun24800 Uttaranchal,
1,
ofRajasthan” forfacilities, andthe MinistryofEnvironment India.
and Forests,New Delhi forfinancial assistance. Email:[email protected]
REFERENCE
Rahmani,A.R. (1997): TheeffectofIndiraGandhi Nahar ProjectontheAvifaunaoftheTharDesert.J BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 94(2): 233-266.
25. SIGHT RECORD OF POLYPHENIC FORMS OF APPIAS ALBINA DARADA C. & R.
FELDER (LEP1DOPTERA: PIERIDAE) IN THE NILGIRI BIOSPHERE RESERVE
TheCommonAlbatrossAppiasalbinadaradaC.& R. was collected on 9.ii.2000 from the same locality as
Felder, protected under Schedule II ofthe Indian Wildlife f. semiflava, and is deposited in the KFRI collections (Coll.
(Protection) Act, 1972 (Anon. 1990), is one of the most C.F.Binoy).
abundantbutterfliesfoundat lowerelevations inthe Western
Ghats. The species has a wide geographic range and is Remarks
distributed almost throughout the Oriental Region (Larsen Occurrence of the polyphenic forms of A. albina
1987). Bothsexesareusuallywhite,withtheforewinghaving daradacoincidedwiththepopulation build-upandmigration
a narrow dark apical and a series ofterminal markings. The ofthisspeciesalongwiththepieridsA. indrashivaSwinhoe.
females usually bear 4 to 5 additional apical white spots on A. wardii Moore and Cepora nadina remba Moore in New
the forewing. Amarambalam during February 2000. It was interesting to
During a recent study on insect diversity of New note that these forms were not observed during rest ofthe
AmarambalamforestsoftheNilgiri BiosphereReserve,afew year.
specimensofA. albinawerecollectedfromthebanksofRiver
Karimpuzha at Meenmutti located at an elevation of650 m ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
duringFebruary2000. Thefemalesshowedpolyphenismand
twoforms,namelyformsemi/Javaandform/lavabesidesthe CFB is grateful to Dr. Konrad Fiedler, Professor,
usualfemalefoimwerecollected.Thedetailsofthepolyphenic University ofBayreuth, Germany, fora useful discussion on
formsrecordedaregivenbelow. the subject and N. Chaturvedi, Curator, Bombay Natural
A. albina darada f. semiflava: The underside ofthe History Society, for sparing some literature. This study was
forewingapexandthatofthehindwingareyellow, insteadof made in connectionwith aprojectsponsoredbythe Ministry
white. Although Wynter-Blyth(1957) statesthatthis form is ofEnvironmentandForests,Govt,ofIndia. Wearegratefulto
notrare,only5 specimenscouldbecollectedfrom Meenmutti the Director, KFRI, forhis interest inthis study.
inthisstudy.Ofthese, 3 specimenswerecollectedon8.ii.2000
and 2 on 9.ii.2000 (Coll. C.F. Binoy). The specimens are March19,2002 C.F.BINOY
deposited in the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) GEORGEMATHEW1
collections. DivisionofEntomology
A. albina darada f.flava: This form isyellowon both Kerala Forest Research Institute,
the dorsal and ventral side and has been reportedto be ‘very Peechi680653,Kerala,India.
rareinSouth India’byWynter-Blyth(1957).Asinglespecimen 'Email:[email protected]
REFERENCES
Anonymous (1990): The Indian Wildlife Act (Protection), 1972. Natraj Publishers, Dehra Dun. Pp. 86.
Larsen,T.B. (1987): ThebutterfliesoftheNilgiri mountainsofSouth India(Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera).J BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 84(1): 26-54.
Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957): Butterflies ofthe Indian Region. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay. Pp. 523.
328 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 101 (2), May-Aug 2004