Butterfly survey: Five new butterfly families detected

A recent butterfly survey held at Siurmalai hills in Tamil Nadu has detected the presence of five new butterfly families.

The traced butterfly families are Swallowtails, Whites and Yellows, Brush-footed Butterflies, Blues, and Skippers.

The study was coordinated by the Sirumalai range office of the forest department along with the NGO, The Nature and Butterfly Society (TNBS). A total of 22 volunteers from TNBS joined hands with the forest officials under the guidance of Divisional Forest Range officer, A. Mathivannan.

Sirumalai range of forests has a total of 13,987 hectares ranging from a height of 400 metres to 1600 meters. With its pleasant weather throughout the year, the forest range has rare species of flora and fauna.

Some noted species sighted across all families were Blue Mormon, Small Grass Yellow, Grass Yellow, Chocolate Albatross, Common Tree brown, Dark Brand Bushbrown, Transparent Six line Blue and Palani Bushbrown.

According to the volunteers of TNBH, who had actively participated in the survey, the sighting of Palni Bushbrown of the Nymphalidae butterfly family was a major highlight as it is one of the rarest species that could be seen.

The volunteers also sighted Plane, a species from the Lycaenidae family which was sighted for the first time in the Eastern Ghats.