Diversity of Butterflies in Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India Sawant Dipak1 and Naresh Singh2

1 Research Personnel, Wildlife Institute of India, Deharadun- 248001. dipaksawant07@gmail.com, sawant@wii.gov.in 2 Godwana House, Main Road, Tala, Dist- Umaria ,Madhya Pradesh (INDIA) Pin : 484661

Abstract: A checklist of butterflies of Bandhavgarh National Park was prepared based on the observations between November 2009 to June 2010. In total 96 species of 5 families were recorded. Nymphalidae is represented by highest 37 spp of butterflies followed by Lycaenidae with 32 spp. Pieridae, Papillionidae and Hespiriidae reported 11, 9 and 7 species respectively. Introduction: Butterflies belong to order Lepidopterawhich means scaly wings, suborder Rhopalocera refers to same type of antennae. Buuterflies have clubbed antennae making them distinguish from the Moths (order Heterocera). Out of 17,100 species of butterflies found worldwide, over 1500 species are found in India alone (Shrivastava, 2008, Haribal , 1992). It is one of the most interesting insect group on account of their reasonable size, majestic flights, their association with flowers and above all their beautifully coloured wings. The Butterflies have been source of inspiration topoets and writers, and aesthetic enlightment to all nature lovers (Pajni et. Al. 2006). Butterflies are highly sensitive to local climate and vegetation structure, which renders them useful indicators of environmental change (Erhardt, 1985; Howard et al., 1998). Temporal fluctations in Butterfly abundance may help in assessing environmental trends and evaluate effectiveness of habitat conservation efforts. (Boonvanno, et. Al. 2000). Mr. Sateyndra Tiwari, a local naturalist and Mr. Aseem Shivastava have attempted earlier to document the butterfly diversity of the park. These both studies were directed mainly popularising smaller fauna of park and no scientific publication was produced. Mr Tiwari have recorded 134 species of Butterflies during the period 1996 to 2010. (Tiwari pers. Comm.). Mr. Shrivastava has published a pocket fieldguide to butterflies of central India which also includes butterflies from the 4 other tiger reserves in the state. He has recorded 70 butterfly species within the limits of bandhavgarh Tiger reserve (Shrivastava, pers. Comm.). Material And Methods: Bandhavgarh, internationally famous for its tigers was declared as a National Park in 1968 with the initial area of 105 sq. km. An additional 343 sq. km was added in year 1982. It was brought under Project Tiger in year 1994, when 245 sq. km from adjoining Panpatha wildlife sanctuary were merged in National Park. Today it encompasses a core area of 693sq.km with 468sq.km of surrounding buffer zone. Bandhavgarh National Park (233012 N, 804715E to 234545N, 811145E) is spread along the Vindhya range of Central India. The area of national park is mainly undulating terrain with 32 hillocks crowned with flat plateaus and overhanging cliffs. These hills are mainly composed of permeable sandstone. This leads to formation of marshy meadows in valleys and lower reaches. The plateau and slopes are relatively drier. The average

annual rainfall is 1200 mm which is mainly concentrated during the monsoon season which is mid June to mid October. The temperature varies from the lowest of 2C in winter to highest of 47C in summer. In total 37 species of mammals, 270 species of birds and equally diverse flora is recoded in Bandhvgarh. The Bandhavgarh is moist Deciduous Sal forest. The forest is dominated by trees like Shorea robusta, Terminalia tomentosa,Casia fistula, Anogeissus latifolia, Diospyros melanoxylon, Emblica officinalis, Butea monosperma, Boswellia serrata, Chloroxylon sweitenia, and a single species of Bamboo Dendrocalamus strictus. However, very little information is known about the insect diversity. No scientific publication was found on butterflies of Bandhavgah separately. The following checklist was produced based on the personal observations of authors during the stay in Bandhavgarh from November 2009 to February 2010 and Mar 2010 to June 2010 for other research works. The butterflies were identified using the field guides Butterflies of Central India by Shrivastava (2008) and Butterflies of Penninsular India by Kunte (2000). Butterflies with confirmed identification have only been added in the list. Discussion: The order Rhopalocera is represented by total 98 species belonging to 5 different families. In total 99 species of 5 families were recorded. Nymphalidae is represented by highest 37 spp of butterflies followed by Lycaenidae with 32 spp. Pieridae, Papillionidae and Hespiriidae reported 11, 9 and 7 species respectively. Graph 1 : Familywise distribution of Species in Bandhavgarh National Park

Table 1: List of Butterflies of Bandhavgarh

Family Papillionidae Species Bluebottle, Common Jay, Tailed Lime Butterfly Mime, Common Mormon, Blue Mormon, Common Rose, Common Rose, Crimson Swordtail, Spot Pieridae Emigrant, Common Emirant, Mottled Gull, Common Jezbel, Common Pioneer Psyche Wanderer, Common Yellow, Common Grass Yellow, One-spot Grass Yellow, Small Grass Yellow, Spotless Grass Nymphalidae Baron, Common Baron, Gaudy Baronet Brown, Common Evening Brown, Dark Evening Bushbrown, Common/ Dingy Bushbrown, Dark-brand Castor, Common Common Name Graphium sarpedonsarpedon (Linnaeus, 1758) Graphium agamemnon (Linnaeus, 1758) Papilio demoleus (Linnaeus, 1758) Papilio dissimilis (Linnaeus, 1758) Papilio polymnestor (Cramer, 1775) Papilio polytes (Linnaeus, 1758) Pachliopta aristolochiae (Fabricius, 1775) Pachliopta hector (Linnaeus, 1758) Graphium nomius (Esper, 1798) Catopsilia pomona (Fabriciu, 1775) Catopsilia pyranthe (Latreille, 1758) Cepora nerissa (Fabricius, 1775) Delias eucharis (Drury, 1773) Anaphaeis aurata (Fabricius, 1793) Leptosia nina (Fabricius, 1793) Pareronia valeria (Cramer, 1776) Eurema hecabe (Linnaeus,1758) Eurema andersoni (Moore, 1886) Eurema brigitta (Cramer,1780) Eurema laeta (Boisduval,1836) Euthalia aconthea (Cramer, 1777) Euthalia lubentina (Cramer, 1777) Euthalia nais (Forster, 1771) Melanitis leda (Linnaeus, 1758) Melanitis phedima (Cramer, 1780) Mycalesis persius (Fabricius 1775) Mycalesis mineus (Linnaeus, 1758) Ariadne merione (Cramer, 1777)

Commander Costor, Tawny Crow, Common Indian Eggfly, Danaid Eggfly, Great Fivering, Common Lady, Painted Leopard, Common Map, Common Nawab, Common Oakleaf, Orange Pansy, Blue Pansy, Chocolate Pansy, Grey Pansy, Lemon Pansy, Peacock Pansy, Yellow Rajah, Black Rajah, Tawny Sailor, Common Sergeant, Common Sergeant, Staff Threering, Common Tiger, Blue Tiger, Glassy Tiger, Plain Tiger, Striped Treebrown, Bamboo Treebrown, Common Lycaenidae Blue, Common Guava

Moduza procris (Cramer, 1777) Acraea violae (Linnaeus, 1758) Euploea core (Cramer, 1780) Hypolimnas misippus (Linnaeus, 1764) Hypolimnas bolina (Linnaeus, 1758) Ypthima baldus (Fabricius, 1775) Cynthia cardui (Linnaeus, 1758) phalanta phalantha (Drury, 1773) Cyrestis thyodamas (Boisduval, 1836) Polyura athamas (Drury,1773) Kallima inachus (Boisduval, 1846) Junonia orithya (Linnaeus, 1758) Precis iphita (Cramer, 1779) Junonia atlites (Linnaeus, 1763) Junonia lemonias (Linnaeus, 1758) Junonia almana (Linnaeus, 1758) Junonia hierta (Fabricius, 1798) Charaxes solon (Fabricius, 1793) Charaxes berrnardus (Fabricius, 1793) Neptis hylas (Linnaeus, 1758) Athyma perius (Linnaeus, 1758) Pantoporia selenophora (Kollar, 1844) Ypthima asterope (Klug, 1832) Tirumala limniace (Cramer, 1775) Parantica aglea (Stoll, 1782) Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758) Danaus genutia (Cramer,1779) Lethe europa (Fabricius, 1775) Lethe rohria (Fabricius, 1787) Virachola isocrates (Fabricius 1793)

Blue, Common Hedge Blue, Common Line Blue, Dark Grass Blue, Gram Blue, Lesser Grass Blue, Lime Blue, Pale Grass Blue, Pea Blue, Tailless Line Blue, Tiny Grass Blue, Zebra Cerulean, Common Cerulean, Dark Cornelian Cupid, Indian Cupid, Plains Flash, Indian Red Forget-Me-Not Jewel, Grass Judy, Plum Oakblue, Large Pierrot, Angled Pierrot, Common Pierrot, Red Pierrot, Rounded Pierrot, Striped Silverline, Common Silverline, Scarce Shot Silverline, Shot Sunbeam, Angled

Actolepis puspa (Horsfield, 1828) Prosotas nora (Felder, 1860) Zizeeria karsandra (Moore, 1865) Euchrysops cnejus (Fabricius, 1798) Zizina otis (Fabricius, 1787) Chilades laius (Cramer,1782) Pseudozizeeria maha (Kollar, 1848) Lampides boeticus (Linnaeus, 1767) Prosotas dubiosa (Semper, 1879) Zizula gaika (Trimen, 1862) Leptotes plinius (Fabricius, 1793) Jamides celeno (Cramer, 1775) Jamides bochus (Stoll, 1782) Deudoryx epijarbas (Moore 1857) Everes lacturnus (Godart, 1824) Chilades pandava (Horsefield, 1829) Rapala jarbus (Fabricius,1787) Catochrysops strabo (Fabricius, 1793) Freyeria trochylus (Freyer, 1845) Abisara echerius (Stoll, 1790) Arhopala amantes (Hewitson, 1862) Castalius caleta (Hewitson, 1876) Castalius rosimon (Fabricius, 1775) Talicada nyseus (Gurin, 1843) Tarucus extricatus (Butler, 1886) Tarucus nara (Kollar, 1848) Spindasis vulcanus (Fabricius, 1775) Aphnaeus elima (Moore, 1877) Aphnaeus ictis (Hewitson, 1865) Curetis dentata (Moore, 1879)

Sunbeam, Indian Hesperiidae Brown Awl Dark palm Dart Grass Demon Indian Palm Bob Indian Skipper Malabar Flat Rice Swift

Curetis thetis (Druary, 1773) Badamia exclamationis (Fabricius, 1775) Telicota ancilla (Herrich-Schffer, 1869) Udaspes folus (Cramer,1775) Suastus gremius (Fabricius, 1798) Spialia galba (Fabricius, 1793) Celaenorrhinus ambareesa (Moore 1866) Borbo cinnara (Wallace, 1866)

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Mr. Chandrakant Patil, Field Director, BNP for granting the necessary permissions to conduct field research in the park. We would also like to our thanks to Mr. Aseem Shrivastava, Ex-Field Director, BNP and Mr. Satyendra Tiwari for sharing their datas and valuable comments. We are also grateful to all my collegues in Bandhavgarh Tiger Census team and forest staff, without their cooperation this work would not have possible.

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