| Roopak Goswami |
Limenitis rileyi. Picture courtesy: British Natural History Museum, London
Guwahati, Jan. 31: A butterfly, spotted in Arunachal Pradesh nearly three decades back, has been finally described as a new species.
The Limenitis rileyi Tytler was sighted by London-based naturalist Purnendu Roy in Upper Dibang Valley district in 1987, and has now been reported in the current issue of Journal of Threatened Taxa. "This sighting of L. rileyi represents the first record of this species from India, thus adding to India's butterfly fauna," the article says.
The species was previously recorded in southeast Tibet, Myanmar and northern Vietnam.
Roy had found a single male specimen on July 19, 1987, at a height of around 1,800 metres near Anini in Upper Dibang Valley in a wet sub-tropical broad-leaf forest.
A neighbouring subspecies, L. rileyi xizangana Huang, was recorded in southeast Tibet in 1998. The Dibang Valley record lies between southeast Tibet and northeast Myanmar records and fills a gap in the distribution. No subspecies determination has been made because of the sample size of one. Records of L. rileyi from southeast Tibet and northeast Myanmar indicate a flight period of June to August at altitudes between 1,600m and 2,400m.
"When I collected the butterfly back in 1987 in Upper Dibang Valley, there was no freely available literature to identify this species. Even now it is not illustrated on the Internet to my knowledge. H.C. Tytler unfortunately did not illustrate the species when he described it in 1940 from northeast Myanmar. At the time it was bit of a dead end for investigation so I had left it tentatively identified to a related species L. mimica that occurs in Myanmar and China.
"In 2012, my partner Jo persuaded me that I should spend more time on butterflies again. After hearing about the work of Sanjay Sondhi of Titli Trust, I contacted him and offered to assist in the surveying of moths and butterflies at Pakke tiger reserve and Eaglenest wildlife sanctuary. It was after that trip that I decided to approach the British Natural History Museum, London, to assist in identifying what I could not identify in 1987. David Lees identified the species as L. rileyi. He also recognised that another specimen I had was not described before, which I named Callerebia dibangensis in 2003," Roy told The Telegraph.
He said the butterfly is found in wet sub-tropical Montane forests at around 1,800m. Such areas can be inaccessible in monsoon owing to landslides and with frequent rains it can be a lottery to observe butterflies. Consequently, species that fly in monsoon like this species, maybe overlooked, he added.
Roy said habitat loss is the greatest risk to any species. Where the species was collected, the forest is quite fragmented and so locally could be at risk. There are larger forests where it may be less at risk but these are quite inaccessible or in protected areas. "I think it is essential that local biodiversity is conserved and that we are not just left with islands of biodiversity, inaccessible to most people and more vulnerable. For the lower forests, the proposed Dibang Valley dam is a major threat. Despite being initially rejected by the forest advisory committee in 2013, it has been given the go ahead again and some of India's finest forests will be destroyed," he said.
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Showing posts with label Tibet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tibet. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
New butterfly, spotted three decades back
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
More than 350 new species discovered in Himalayas
More than 350 new species of animals, fish and plants have been discovered in one of the world's "most biologically rich areas" over the last decade, conservationists said today.
Among the discoveries are a bright green frog (Rhacophorus suffry) which uses its red and long webbed feet to glide in the air Photo: WWF
But the Eastern Himalayas, a region spanning Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet, north eastern India and the far north of Burma, is also one of the areas most under threat from climate change, a report by WWF warns.
It is feared the impacts of a warming climate, such as melting glaciers and flooding, will exacerbate existing environmental threats including logging, overgrazing, the wildlife trade and pollution.
Already only a quarter of the region's original habitat, which includes the lowland home of Asian elephants, clouded leopards, cobras and geckos and the high northern region where snow leopards, red pandas and blue sheep are found, remains.
The region harbours 10,000 plant species, 300 mammals, 977 bird species, 176 reptiles and 269 types of freshwater fish, has the highest density of the Bengal tiger and is the last bastion of the greater one-horned rhino, WWF said.
But some 163 species are globally threatened with extinction, the Eastern Himalayas – Where Worlds Collide report warns, with 14 of them critically endangered.
In the last 10 years, 244 new plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, two birds and two mammals – a macaque monkey and a miniature muntjac, the oldest and smallest species of deer – have been discovered.
When scientists first spotted the "leaf deer", they thought it was a juvenile of another species but DNA tests confirmed it was a distinct and new species.
The discoveries of 353 new species, which also included a bright green frog, which uses its red webbed feet to "fly" through the air and species of orchids, poppies and bamboo, puts the area on a par with Borneo as a hot spot for new wildlife.
The Eastern Himalayas are also the site of the discovery of the oldest fossil gecko species known to science, the 100 million-year-old gecko, found in an amber mine in the far north of Burma.
Mark Wright, WWF's conservation science adviser, said: "These exciting finds reinforce just how little we know about the world around us.
"In the Eastern Himalayas we have a region of extraordinary beauty and with some of the most biologically rich areas on the planet.
"Ironically, it is also one of the regions most at risk from climate change, as evidenced by the rapid retreat of the glaciers, and only time will tell how well species will be able to adapt – if at all."
The WWF report calls for a number of measures to protect the environment of the Eastern Himalayas, and the people that live in and depend on the region for their food, fresh water and livelihoods.
The study urges Bhutan, India and Nepal to work together for a region-wide vision for conservation and sustainable development and to tackle wildlife crime.
It also calls for efforts to support communities to cope with the impacts of climate change and says development such as hydropower schemes and tourism ventures must take the environment into account.
The conservation charity is also calling for governments meeting in Copenhagen in December for talks on a new climate change global deal to commit to a reduction in emissions of 40% by developed nations by 2020, compared to 1990 levels.
Mr Wright said: "There is no room for compromise on this issue; without these cuts the Himalayas face a precarious future – impacting both the unique wildlife and the 20% of humanity who rely on the river systems that arise in these mountains."
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