2017 Quarterly Magazine of Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society Apr-Jun 2017
PATTAMPOOCHI
Q2
My Best Butterfly Moment 2016 Butterfly Photography—Some Useful Tips (Part 1) Butterflies and Environment Changes Life Cycle– Common Banded Peacock Photo Gallery
PATTAMPOOCHI
Dear Butterfly Lovers, வணக்கம் [Greetings]. The Editorial team wholeheartedly thanks all those who have gone through the first edition of the News Letter and the encouragement provided. Here is the second issue! And we would like to stress again the purpose of bringing out these. One of the main purposes of the Newsletter is to put on record the happenings and observations, on butterflies, in the state of Tamil Nadu for the long term benefits on our understanding of the winged beauties. In the intervening period (between Jan and Mar of 2017), Tamil Nadu saw one of the low points of butterfly movements. This is not only reflected in the sightings when we made to the field but also in terms of postings in our on line forum. While the Month of March gave some hope with unusual rains all over the state, especially in the hills, we wait for a good season to begin actually. This (April 2017) is also a month where we could witness migration of the Tigers and Crows from the hills to the plains. We wish it happens this time without fail. In the current issue, the cover is decorated by the paintings of Ms. Vinithashri Gautam, who readily agreed to give us one of her and I am sure all readers will appreciate the same. The consolidation of “My best Butterfly Moment of 2016” is presented and we thank all the members for their participation and sharing their memories. Mr. Gopal Krishnan has shared his experiences in terms of simple and effective terms on how to make pretty good butterfly images. From our experience, all of us know, they are not easy and we are sure this chapter will help you with a tip or two. Mr. Vishwa Nathan has dealt the interrelation between butterflies and environment and the impact of one on another. A good read and food for thought too. Mr. Theiva Prakasham has provided us with yet another interesting and rare life cycle, and this time of a Common Banded Peacock. And to honour the members who post regularly (min 3 and above during the Quarter), we have chosen one of their best posts and compiled for the viewing of all. We believe that the News Letter belongs to every one of us and expect good contribution from all our members . Hope to see some good contribution in the coming Quarters from some of you. And, please do send us your feedback on this newsletter issue, by writing to tamilnadubutterflies@gmail.com
Editorial Team Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society Pattampoochi– A quarterly magazine of Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society Wings 1 Veins 2 Apr– Jun 2017. Issued on 01.04.2017 Issued from Coimbatore, TN For Private Circulation Only. Copy right is with TNBS. Please write to us for getting permission to use any of the contents Editor: A Pavendhan Editorial Team: Bala Krishnan, Gopal Krishnan, Nishanth CV, Theivaprakasham H , Vishwa Nathan
My Best Butterfly Moment 2016 #Mybestbutterflymoment2016
The Tamil Nadu Butterflies FB Forum ran a “Mybestbutterflymoment� for a second year in running. The idea is to recollect the best moment an individual can remember and share with all members as a way of saying good bye to the year end. All in all, 11 responses were there and it was quite interesting to go through all of them. And we have reproduced the same here for everyone to go through!
Jeswin Kingsly I would like to share few words not alone the best moments, I would also like to put up how it happened! Its been hardly 4 months since we started Butterflying in Mettupalayam. Actually I had a small love towards butterflies that was made strong when I simply asked the Kallar Garden - Mettupalayam 's receptionist about people who comes for Butterflying. He shared a contact of our Vinod Sriramulu sir. Then I just pinged him and asked him to teach Butterflying and as of a sudden he was here with us in Kallar the weekend with Manoj Sethumadhavan sir, Ramesh Veera sir and Jee Jeevith bro. They taught us Butterflying. And made a 'Pullayar Suli' for our new i n t e r e s t . Then slowly we got in contact with Mohan Prasath bro who introduced us to #TNBS. Who is also supporting and encouraging us still. We were also introduced to Pavendhan Appavu sir who keeps motivating and helping us throughout. The Journey with #TNBS is really a great part and especially 2016 was a great year. Got plenty of friendship through this and enjoying every moments of Butterflying. So far in this four months I have got 150 species. And expecting more the next year. I have plenty of memories which I shared only few. Thanks all for making this last few months of this year a beautiful and colourful year as never before!
Vicky Chinna The Butterfly Counts Not Months But Moments, And Has Time Enough. Most Inspiration bro...Sharan Venkatesh, Shiva K u m a r , Theivaprakasham Hari.... In all butterfly Watcher...
My Best Butterfly Moment 2016 Sharan Venkatesh It's actually moments instead of a single moment. I can't just think of one moment. As said last year too, through out the year there's something or the other which becomes an unforgettable moment. Have also shared few sightings from nearby states too. Don't feel like mentioning best moments from our state alone. Butterflies has NO BOUNDARIES. This is going to be lengthy, and I'm not sure if everyone will read it FULLY and COMMENT BACK . But I definitely love sharing with you all. So here it goes. #Mybestbutterflymoment2016 kick-started at the very first day of the year 1.1.16 with the sightings of RESTRICTED SPOTTED FLAT with Vinod Sriramulu anna at Kallar. We were doubting this sps for so long which at last turned to one rarity. Then comes BANDED ROYAL female from madikeri, Coorg. We family went for a new year trip which turned out to be a butterfly paradise, best was sighting a female royal waiting it to open its wings and making a picture. Then comes the much awaited ALIDA ANGLE, Have always wanted to sight it in Rajapalayam and I was sure it would be here In Ayyanar falls - with much support and encouragement from Ramasamy SRK uncle I made it finally to sight it. FEB - This was the month we had our Megamalai butterfly walk and from this walk I completed documenting 200sps of Butterflies in 6½ months ,and guess what it was PALNI FOURRING which was the 200th. And also my long time wait for RED PIERROT finally happened irrespective of too many jealousies from the CBE brothers Theivaprakasham Hari and Ramanasaran Hari. And in this month I did my lifecycle of BANANA SKIPPERS too which was too interesting to do. MARCH - my first best ever trip for butterflies I would say ,and that was in Manjolai, KMTR. Thanks Umesh anna for your good hospitality and sharing your knowledge on butterflies and also our great luck combo in the field which fetched us SPOT PUFFIN , CLEAR SAILER , BICOLOR ACE , DARK CEYLON 6LINEBLUE, ROUNDED 6LINEBLUE and my second sighting of EVERSHEDS ACE, and also TAMIL CATSEYE. From the end of this trip I also completed one of my family series "PANSIES". APR - April was literally dry in my place but that never disappointed me from exploring. Happy that myself , Santhosh Kshathriya , Pranav Abi have waiting for hours for this male INDIAN SUNBEAM to bask and shot its beautiful bright orange open wing. MAY - A dream come true for my second trip to Manjolai, KMTR. And to continue my luck streak with Umesh anna, I'm so thankful to him for showing me his YELLOWBASED TREE FLITTER which he reared as soon as myself and Pranav got down. We also sighted few individuals the next day along with COLOUR SERGEANT,IMPERIAL,PALE 4LINEBLUE and others. Again from this trip I completed photo documenting "SERGEANT" family. And also early stages of y.b.flitter. JUN - June again was another unforgettable month for me myself and Pranav as there were plenty of LARGE OAKBLUEs in his farm and it's the first time I'm sighting it. Ayyanar falls indeed never disappoints, it brought us LARGE GUAVA BLUE from nowhere amidst the hot sunny afternoon , myself , Ramasamy srk uncle Also sighted SILVERSTREAK BLUE which I couldn't make a picture. we sighted COMMANDER laying eggs and we were able to do its interesting lifecycle. This month team TNBS were on a trip to Manjolai with sightings like TINSEL, I should definitely say this members of Rajapalayam butterfly club were so jealous:P and we immediately took our bikes to Courtallam , and guess what we were back with. Yes ,it's a FLUFFY TIT and that’s one unforgettable memory and a trip. Thanks to Pavendhan na and prakash. JUL : it's like every dog has its day, the missed chance of last month finally accomplished when team TNBS visited Rjpm. Yes it's the SILVERSTREAK BLUE which came so near to us when we were not even in a butterflying mood and waiting for lunch, thanks to God who showed some mercy. This walk I got sighting of GUADY BARON which is an other rare one and new to RAJAPALAYAM list.
My Best Butterfly Moment 2016 AUG : August was lil bit dull but we local members were happy observing migration of 100s of CROWS, and BLUE TIGERS SEPT : Team Rajapalayam butterfly club was on a trip to Siruvani for a butterfly walk which wasn't that promising and fed up. Worried we would be returning with nothing, the next day sudden plan to Kallar with team WYNTER BLYTH ASSOCIATIONManoj na , Jee Jeevith na , vinod na and I was pleased to meet butterfly expert Vkchandrasekharan Lic sir. Such a great and humble person. The trip which was worthless turned out to be the best from this KALLAR AND NILGIRIS trip. We got ORCHID TIT , NILGIRI TIT , YELLOW BREASTED FLAT AND BABY FIVE RING. All rarities in one GO. One of the best occasions. Also from this trip completed photo documenting other family "HEDGE BLUES". Got WHITE DISC HEDGE BLUE as a lifer. NEVER TO FORGET wildlife week was celebrated and I was happy to be teaching various school kids about butterflies and getting NOV : from Nilgiris trip, till Nov mid not much good butterflying sessions and days went dull. My cousin Rajith Kumar showed me a pic he took in his spinning mill saying this butterfly came today and 2-3 were flying around. Seeing his picture after clarifying doubts with experts it was PLAINS BLUE ROYAL. I visited his mill after 3 days and I was shocked to see nearly 30+ individuals were just flying restlessly in the bushes of neem tree. All the neem there had Loranthus and few among the individuals were freshly eclosed. One more unforgettable moment to CHERISH. Also never to forget Butterflies of India by Isaac Kehimkar sir was finally in my hands which featured my pictures of rare and endemic EVERSHEDS ACE. DEC : last month of the year, thought I can visit eco park Courtallam which turned out to be a dull day. I was there butterflying from 9.40am to 12.30pm and no interesting activity was going on. When I decided to just leave the park and go home, 2 individuals of MANY-TAILED OAKBLUES came from nowhere and sat right in front of me. Dreams do come true. There's always something called as LUCK. Managed to make a decent picture. Back home in Rajapalayam I have got 100s of COMMON JEZEBEL caterpillars, pupas etc. and I wanted to do a setup photography. I took 3 cats which was about to pupate and put them in a stick. In 1.5 days they pupated in a line and it was so exciting for me to wait for it to eclose so that it would be too colourful and a dream image anyone will look up to. Likewise it got eclosed 5-6 days later and I had made my dream image. Recently I got a chance to attend Arippa Butterfly meet where I got to meet one of INDIAS butterfly legend Peter Smetacek sir. Learnt a hell lot of information's from him and he was so kind and spoke/taught like a friend. Never to forget moment having met him nearby my locale. We got to sight two Rare Oakblue sps, ROSY OAKBLUE and TAMIL OAKBLUE in the same patch in 30seconds gap. How lucky I was I couldn't imagine. Happy to have got 4 OAKBLUE sps in a year.
This year was yet another great year though it was too dry compared to last year. But each moment is to be cherished and loved. Happy that I started trying out doing lifecycles though most were failures , and just learning scientific names of them. looking forward for another FABULOUS YEAR.
Prakash Gurunathan Many-tailed Oakblue - Siruvani - 6th Nov 2016
Gopal Krishnan Stalking and capturing this endemic beauty during butterfly walk along with our TNBS friends in Kallar is my cherished moment of this year. Nilgiri Tit-Hypolycaena nilgirica. Aug 16.Kallar.TN.
My Best Butterfly Moment 2016 A Pavendhan Manjolai: A beautiful hill station in the KMTR. Although Tea Estates are predominantly visible to the naked eyes, the Sholas tucked between them and the surroundings are true paradise for the butterflies. Thanks to the TN FD and Umesh Pavukandy, we had a great 2 days outing in June 2016. This is a place where rarities are commoner and commoners are rarity! I had packed many a beautiful species including Striated Five-ring, Spot Puffin. Pale 4-lineblue, Malabar Banded Swallowtail, Common Onyx, Colour Sergeant, Malabar Flash, Small Leopard and Banded Royal, for the first time. A visit , I will cherish for my life!
CV Nishanth The best butterfly moment in my life was spotting Common Onyx for the first time in Coimbatore. A day to remember for ever.
Theivaprakasham H 2016 was one of my best years with more learning especially on Host Plant and early stages of butterflies. The year started with an intensive search for Common Banded Peacock early stages. Stunts like climbing up the tree, getting to tree tops, analysing the young twigs of every host plant were done during the search for Common Banded Peacock's Egg and Caterpillar. Exactly after a year of search, I found an young larvae on a plant of Chloroxylon swietenia during the second week of January 2016 at Kallar Gardens, Coimbatore. Finally, the hard work earned me a stunning rare beauty.
Geethanjali Raghunathan Siruvani , a place which never disappoints the naturalists. Being a fresher in this field, I get to know a lot many interesting facts about butterflies. These tiny creatures are not only a feast for our eyes but a counterbalance for nature . My inspiration includes Mr. Theivaprakasham Hari and Mr. Pavendhan Appavu who endlessly shower their ideas!
My Best Butterfly Moment 2016 Pradeep Kumar A trip to the Ayyanar falls was a remember able one and I would like to post #Mybestbutterflymoment2016 from it. Though our team was in hot pursuit for the Silverstreak Blue, we never managed to get one. But suddenly I observed sparkling blue in the waters. When I took a close look at it, I got to knew it was a butterfly and after taking it away from the water, I found out that was a butterfly and to my surprise was a Silverstreak Blue. We all had a pleasant photoshoot with it and the butterfly had another day to live :) Silverstreak Blue , Ayyanar Falls , Aug 2016
Vishwa Nathan
Anand Sundaram In 2016 I had lot of learning in terms of Butterflies ,This are my best Butterfly moments ,When I saw the open wing of Indian Sun Beam I was Completely mesmerized and When I tried to document this Monkey Puzzle ,the guy in the photo consistently harassed and disturbed me- what a coincidence.
Butterfly Photography—Some Useful Tips (Part 1) Butterflies ,one of the most colorful and elegant insects are a wonderful subject for photography. With the advent of Digital camera equipment (Point &shoot cameras, DSLRs and smart phones with high res. cameras) photo taking has become affordable to many of us. The hassle of buying film rolls, developing them and making prints are gone now and we can instantly see the results in the monitor. It is fun and has become cheaper to take pictures now a days. As every other art form, there is learning curve for Photography too. We generally start with capturing the subject without worrying about the “angles”. It is good and useful for record purposes. They are generally called “snap shots” in photography parlance. In due course we realize that something is missing in our pictures to make the good “PHOTOGRAPHS”. To make our pictures stand out and attract the attention of the viewers, we need to walk some extra mile! We can realize the gap between our snap shots and Great photographs by Professionals by studying their images carefully. Apart from high end, expensive camera gear (full frame sensors DSLRS and expensive dedicated macro lenses) and sophisticated techniques in post processing, there are some simple and easy techniques which we can do to make our pictures more pleasing.
1 Shoot at the eye level
This is taken from human eye level perspective, in which we see the subject generally during a walk
2 Try filling the frame
The wings of butterflies have very beautiful colour scales and patterns which can be enjoyed by having a closer look. To achieve this please try to shoot at the minimum focusing distance of your camera/lens (It will be handy if the camera has a manual focusing option)
This is captured at the eye level of the subject by kneeling down
Butterfly Photography—Some Useful Tips (Part 1)
3 Try composing the frame in a way that the background of the subject is free of clutters Even though there are techniques in DSLR photography (by using bigger sensor cameras and wider apertures) we can achieve some amount of subject isolation by meticulously composing.
4 Give breathing space at front of the subject so that they can fly freely!
5 Rule of Thirds Applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, instead of placing the subject at center of frame.
Butterfly Photography—Some Useful Tips (Part 1)
6 Shoot from unconventional angle to make a picture which will stand out from the crowd
7 Try shooting behavioral pictures (like nectaring, flying, mating and mud-puddling) apart from shooting portraits!
There are lots of high end photography techniques to achieve higher level professional outputs. But the above tips can be applied in ordinary consumer level cameras itself and we have desirable results. Happy clicking!
Texts & Pictures by: S. Gopalakrishnan
Butterflies and Environment Changes Butterflies are very sensitive to environmental change, which makes them excellent indicators of ecosystem health. Their disappearance from an area often signals an imbalance in the local system as result of habitat destruction. Increasing temperatures caused by global climate change will ultimately affect the flight season timing of these winged beauties. With warmer temperatures butterflies emerge earlier in the year, and their active flight season occurs earlier," says Heather Kharouba, lead author of the paper published in 2013 Global Change Biology, and he added. "This could have several implications for butterflies. If they emerge too early, they could encounter frost and die. Or they might emerge before the food plants they rely on appear and starve. "Even a slight decline in butterfly population will have consequences for other species going up the food chain. In addition, emerging earlier than usual can also affect migration patterns for some of the butterfly species. Change is normal and constant process, and butterfly populations increase and decrease naturally over periods of many years. But because butterflies are so dependent on the continual existence of very specific habitat to maintain a healthy population and good breeding conditions, they are vulnerable to even the slightest imbalance in nature. Human interference in the environment causes stress on the ecosystem, and nature often cannot adapt quickly enough to compensate for the changes in the habitat. Some of the major threats to ecosystems are habitat loss due to industrial and urban development, intensive farming practices, pollution, and overuse of pesticides. And intense fire suppression, which would seen to be means of protecting habitats, can actually lead to profound ecological changes. This restricts the growth of nectar sources and host plants and has led to a decline in the population of butterflies. And the invasive exotic species is also a problem, since they may be predators or may breed more successfully and out-compete native butterflies. Draining wetlands and reclaiming heathland for agricultural use has led to seriously declining the numbers of butterflies. Poorly planned housing, industrial development and construction of new roads can cut through fragments critical habitats. Fragmentation of habitats, where pockets of suitable breeding grounds are left is a serious threat to butterfly survival. Lack of connecting areas leaves the populations in each fragment isolated and unable to intermingle and breed.
Butterflies and Environment Change Global warming is causing new climate conditions and patterns that in turn are leading to changes in growing seasons, patterns of seasonal breeding and shift in species ranges where the area a species can normally live and breed. Longer, hotter summers and/or shorter winters can interface with both the growth of host plants and breeding cycle of butterflies. Successive drought in an area eventually leads to changes in the predominant vegetation, which causes changes in the ecosystem. The climatic changes also result in an increase in natural disasters such as hurricanes and tropical storms. Recovery from the devastation caused by these events takes many years, and many species simply cannot adopt and survive. Butterfly conservation is so important as the Butterflies are of great ecological importance for many reasons: they are pollinators, they are part of the food web and they are good measure of the health of the habitats (ecological indicators). Butterflies are part of our natural heritage and have been studied for over 300 years. People like butterflies because they are beautiful with many being iconic and popular. Butterflies have fascinating life-cycles that are used in many countries to teach children about the natural world. The transformation from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis is one of the wonders of nature. Thousands of people travel abroad each year looking for butterflies and moths. Eco-tours bring income to many European countries and developing countries around the world (e.g. the valley of the butterflies in Rhodes and the Monarch roost in Mexico). Butterflies have been around for at least 50 million years and probably evolved some 150 million years ago. They are part of Life on Earth and an important component of its rich biodiversity. Butterflies and moths are a highly diverse group comprising over 250,000 species and make up around one quarter of all named species. Butterflies are flagship species for conservation in general and in particular for invertebrates. Butterflies are an extremely important group of ‘model’ organisms used, for centuries, to investigate many areas of biological research, including such diverse fields as navigation, pest control, embryology, mimicry, evolution, genetics, population dynamics and biodiversity conservation. The long history and popularity of butterfly study have provided a unique data resource on an insect group unmatched in geographical scale and time-scale anywhere in the world. This has proved extremely important for scientific research on climate change. Last but not least Butterflies have a right to exist, as much as any other species on the planet.
References: 1. American Museum of Natural history / the butterfly conservatory. Different articles. By hazel Davis/Carol A butler. 2. www.enn.com / climate change may affect butterfly flight season. 3. Butterflies and climate change- by Astrid Caldas. 4. Www.inaturewatch.org/climatic change impact on butterflies. 5. Butterfly lady.com.
Concept & Text by: S. Viswanathan Pictures: Darshan M. Trivedi & A Pavendhan
Life Cycle: Common Banded Peacock Host Plant: Chloroxylon swietenia Common Banded Peacock (Papilio crino Fabricius, 1793) is a brightly colored butterfly resembling our National Bird Peacock. This butterfly is a fast flyer, very commonly seen is many parts of Tamil Nadu. The early stages of this butterfly underwent 3 stages of metamorphosis namely egg, caterpillar and chrysalis. Egg Eggs are laid mostly on the top-most tender branches Chloroxylon swietenia tree. First and Second Instar
First instar caterpillar is dark greenish white colored with a pair of abdominal white line marking. A pair of yellowish brown lateral spines can be found on each of the three thoracic segments and the last two anal segments. The spines at the first thoracic segment and last anal segment are larger in size. During second instar, the head portion gets enlarged, lateral spines get reduces in size, the abdominal white line marking gets dull. Third Instar The third instar caterpillar looks similar to second instar. Third instar caterpillar fades in colour and slowly turns greenish yellow. Except the spines at the first thoracic segment and last anal segment all other spines on the body gets reduced in size drastically. The abdominal white line begins to thin and finally fades away. At the end of third instar stage the caterpillar remains inactive for 2 or 3 days without feeding on the leaves. Fourth and Final Instar During fourth instar, the caterpillar completely changes its colour to pale green. The abdominal line and spines disappear. The white head marking line is formed. During fifth or final instar, the caterpillar feeds on leaves at faster rates. At the end of fifth instar, the caterpillar gradually shortens in length and searches around for a safe pupation site.
Pupation
Final instar caterpillar settles in a branch at upright position and starts attaching itself to the branch using silk pad and a silk girdle. The pupation starts after a day. Chrysalis is pale green in colour. The pupal period lasts around 10 days. The Pupa turns transparent revealing the wing markings of the butterfly on the night before eclosion.
Eclosion The adult was seen eclosed by early morning. After eclosing, the adult butterfly was seen hanging upside down, drying up their wings and ejecting Meconium. After drying up the wings and warming up its body temperature, the butterfly flies
Life cycle by: H. Theivaprakasham
From the Facebook Pages...
Common Hedge Blue by H Theivaprakasham
Common Grass Yellow by Pamela Sai
Five-bar Swordtail by Vasanthan Panchavarnam
Southern/Tailed Palmfly by Darshan M Trivedi
Crimson-tip by Pavendhan Appavu
Common Imperial by Harish G Mallaya
Grass Jewel by Arun Kumar
Forget-me-not by Rama Neelamegam
From the Facebook Pages...
Many-tailed Oakblue by Jeswin Kingsly
Blue Tiger by Amol Mande
Plane by Gopal Krishnan
Pygmy Scrub Hopper by Jee Jeevith
Pale Palm-Dart by Vishwa Nathan
Indian Red Flash by Lakshmi Kumar
Zebra Blue by Thalavai Pandi
Guava Blue by Vinithashri Gautham
From the Facebook Pages...
Yellow Orange-tip by Hema Mohandas
Black-vein Sergeant by Sharan Venkatesh
Indian Cupid by CV Nishanth
Common Pierrot by Bala Krishnan
Common Cerulean by Sundaram Thiyanes
Joker by Senguttuvan Subburathina
Small Salmon Arab by Rajalakshmi Kalimuthu
Chestnut Bob by Indira Srinivasan
From the Facebook Pages...
Common Mormon by Naveen
Plain Tiger by Leema Robert
Club Beak by Geethanjali Raghunathan
Malayan by Amirtha Balan
Lime Butterfly by Ravi Muthuswamy
Common Evening Brown by Shakthi Maheshvaran Rajendran
Common Gull by Bhanu Mathi
Crimson Rose by Indira Srinivasan