2017 Quarterly Magazine of Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society Jul-Aug 2017
PATTAMPOOCHI
Q3
An update on the re-validation of species in Tamil Nadu Butterfly Stamps from India Post Butterfly Walks– Siruvani Hills Flutters from Kanyakumari Butterfly Walks– Valparai Butterflies of Sathyamangalam TR From the Facebook Pages
PATTAMPOOCHI
Dear Butterfly Lovers, வணக்கம் [Greetings]. The Editorial team places on record our sincere thanks to all those who have gone through our first two editions of the News Letter and providing good response and valuable feedback. Here is the third issue! And we would like to stress again the purpose of bringing out these (that 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). The period went by (April to June 2017) was a mixed bag with respect to butterfly activities. The traditional downward migration of Milkweed butterflies have again failed with just stray reporting from down south of TN. Rains have however bounced back and made an improved show, starting from southern districts from April end to May and that saw one of the dramatic migration of local and long distance nature of mainly Common Emigrants from Kanyakumari district to North TN, all the places recording the migration movement until 2nd week of June. A detailed report on this will be in the next issue. We have also witnessed South West monsoon battering the Western Ghats. We are sure this is going to be cheerful year after a failure last year! In the current issue, the cover is decorated by the doodle art work of Ms. S. Sahithya. An update on the revalidation exercise undertaken for the state is provided and the species count stands at 306. Stamps have always fascinated the children and the adults alike and stamp collection is one of the oldest hobby around. We have tried to put in a section where stamps issued from India Post (from Post Independence) are listed. Amirtha Balan, an young naturalist hailing from Kanyakumari district has narrated his experience with butterflies from the part that he is in. Two sections on butterfly trips to Valparai and ever the favourite Siruvani hills are narrated by members who participated followed by a trip report to Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve by Subhiksha, another young naturalist from Chennai. The issue ends with the regular photo gallery section picked up from Facebook postings during the quarter by members. 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 3 Jul– Sep 2017. Issued on 01.07.2017 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
An update on the re-validation of species in Tamil Nadu At the end of December 2016, we have reported 298 species as part of revalidation exercise. Subsequent to this, until June 2017, we have added 8 more species taking the numbers to 306. This means that 17 more species are yet to be revalidated from the target list of 323. Naturalists, Butterfly enthusiasts and others are out in field regularly to map the remaining 17 species for the state and it is very well possible that some of them may not even occur and some new species may just expand to our area. Systematic and regular exploration and survey of not only plains but core area of Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats will really help!
S. No
Family
Target
Available
1
Papilionidae
19
19
2
Pieridae
32
31
3
Nymphalidae
96
90
4
Lycaenidae
91
86
5
Riodinidae
2
2
6
Hesperiidae
83
78
323
306
Total
95%
The following table provides details of the 8 species sighted along with person who recorded it and date and place. The details of some of them can be found in our official Facebook page while some of them have been sent to our society by email with validation details. S. No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Species Name Broad-tail Royal Blue Nawab Tufted White Royal Maculate Lancer Small Palm Bob Palni Fritillary Five-bar Swordtail Lesser Albatross
Person recorded Subhiksha Maxim Umesh Pavukandy Umesh Pavukandy Umesh Pavukandy Umesh Pavukandy Lekshmi Ravindran Nair Vasanthan Panchavarnam Theivaprakasham H and Nishanth CV
Place Valparai Manjolai Manjolai Manjolai Manjolai Kodaikanal Top Slip ATR (Valparai)
Date October 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017 April 2017 18.02.15 01.05.17
The following table provides the names of remaining 17 target species S. No
Scientific Name
Other Common Names (as per IFB website)
Eurema nilgiriensis Amathusia phidippus Mycalesis igilia
Common Name (as per BNHS Field guide) Nilgiri Grass Yellow Palmking Small Long-brand Bushbrown
1 2 3 4
Mycalesis visala
Long-brand Bushbrown
Long-branded Bushbrown
5
Lasippa viraja
Yellow Jack Sailer
6
Neptis (soma) palnica
Creamy Sailer
7
Doleschallia bisaltide
Autumn Leaf
8
Anthene emolus
Common Ciliate Blue
9 10
Tarucus indica Arhopala bazaloides
Pointed Pierrot Tamil Oakblue
Indian Pierrot Dusted Oakblue
11
Arhopala abseus
Aberrant Bushblue
Aberrant Oakblue
12
Tajuria maculata
Spotted Royal
Spotted Royal
13
Hasora badra
Common Awl
14
Thoressa sitala
Sitala Ace
15
Zographetus ogygia
Purple Spotted Flitter
16
Hyarotis microstictum/ Hyarotis coorga Caltoris canaraica
Brush Flitter
Kodagu Brush Flitter
Kanara Swift
Karwar Swift
17
Sahyadri Long-branded Bushbrown
Palni Sailer
Nilgiri Plain Ace
Butterfly Stamps from India Post Postage stamps Ever since, Penny Black, issued on 1st May 1840, in the United Kingdom, postage stamps have gone beyond the main purpose as evidence of payment of postage. All countries in the world issue postage stamps periodically on various themes. In India Although the Indian Post Office was established in 1837, Asia's first adhesive stamp, the Scinde Dawk, was introduced in 1852 by the British East India Company. The First Stamp of Independent India was issued on 21 November 1947. It depicts the Indian Flag with the patriots' slogan, Jai Hind (Long Live India), on the top right hand corner. It was valued at three and one-half annas.
1981
1993
Butterfly Motif
2000 Northern Jungle Queen, Map, Red Lacewing & Kaiser-e– Hind
1989
Tawny Coster
Butterfly Motif
Butterfly Stamps from India Post 2001
2013
Butterfly Motif
Butterfly Motif
2003
2017
Butterfly Motif
Butterfly Motif
2007
Cruiser & Blue Mormon
Butterfly Motif
Butterfly Stamps from India Post 2001
Andaman Mormon & Andaman Clubtail
>2011
My Stamps– Motif
Ever since, Penny Black, issued on 1st May 1840, in the United Kingdom, postage stamps have gone beyond the main purpose as evidence of payment of postage. All countries in the world issue postage stamps periodically on various themes.
Notes: Pictures courtesy: India Post, Wikipedia & Internet & Personal collections
Butterfly Walks 2017 Butterfly Walk in Siruvani Hills A few members of TNBS decided to check into the Siruvani Hills on account of a recent rains in the hills for butterfly movement, which otherwise have been going dull for quite some months now. Upon reaching and getting proper permission, we started our search. The Cassia fistula (Konrai) trees were in full bloom and we could smell the previous day rain too. The first to welcome us were couple of small colonies of Bright Babul Blue and Small Cupid. They all looked fresh and emerged recently. We then moved to another routine spot, where Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) plants are plenty. This is the place we usually sight Tigers and Crows in good numbers and this time too we were not disappointed, and rather pleasantly surprised to see plenty of Dark Blue Tigers in good numbers after many months. Lineblues and Zebra Blues were feasting on Elephant dung. A lone Indian Cupid engaged the team for a while before we moved from there to the next spot.
The next spot is a couple of kilometres away and the drive was filled with fresh emigrants flying by at least in 1000s and many a mating pairs were seen too. The Emigrants were predominantly Common Emigrants and Mottled were very less in numbers. We also saw by this time a few Spot Swordtails flying by and one of them settling on a nearby plant and offering its glorious open wing which was a treat to watch. The entire stretch was active with Lineblues and Zebra Blues in really good numbers and they were busy attending to animal droppings. Despite the rain on the previous day, the day was sunny and as expected humid. Our next spot is again an open space with plenty of mud-puddling activities. Club Beaks in good numbers, an Angled Pierrot (again appearing after a while), Pointed Ciliate Blues, Dark Blue Tigers, all were vying for a few active spots. Nearby we saw a Plain Tiger going as a prey to a Preying Mantis. The Plain Tiger could not escape from it and went as a food to the intelligent insect. Quite a few Blue Pansies were chasing each other and were engaged actively with Tridax procumbens. An area of approximately 100 square meter is our favourite hunting ground. This palce is always wet with leaked water and be it summer or winter, engages variety of species, and especially blues for mud-puddling. It is no different this time, with Common Hedge Blues, Malayans, Quakers, Common and Tailless Lineblues, Dark Ceruleans, etc were active everywhere. An Angled Flat (Tapena thwaitesi), the only Skipper that we could see in the trip made a brief appearance and passed by. A freshly emerged Common Imperial with its dressing neat and an ever floating angel– Malabar Tree Nymph, were the other highlights from this place. A few of the members went further up the hills and have added species like Malabar Rose, Red Helen, White-bar Bushbrown, Rustic, Tamil Yeoman, Baronet, Great Eggfly, Large Oakblue, Many-tailed Oakblue and Metallic Cerulean. The remaining members on their way back were fortunate to witness a huge congregation of Spot Swordtails and Common Emigrants near a stream and the local people were wondering why we after them and what we get from it? We engaged them briefly conveying the importance of butterflies to the nature and the need to save them. They seem to be nodding over it! Members who organised the walk include Mr. Theivaprakasham (the lead organiser), Mr. Nishanth CV, Mr. Vishwa Nathan, Mr. Bala Krishnan, Mr. Gopal Krishnan. Mr. Pavendhan. A and Geethanjali R.
In the Hills of Sweet Water & Divinity...
In the Hills of Sweet Water & Divinity...
Narration : A. Pavendhan Pictures credit: Members of the Walk
Flutters from Kanyakumari R Amirtha Balan When I was pursuing my second year of Bachelor of Science (Zoology) in 2014, my college professor Mr. Solomon Kirubha. S (Assistant Professor) of Scott Christian College, Kanyakumari came to know about my interest in birds and nature. He took me to a nearby hill named Alamparai near Parvathipuram. That was my first inspiring day enjoying the beauty of nature. I was also fascinated by the colours of butterfly after sighting 40+ species on that particular day. Then I started to watch butterfly in the nearby places of college. I didn’t have much knowledge on butterflies, so I took pictures of butterflies with my phone. I used to post those butterfly pictures in Tamil Nadu Butterflies Facebook page requesting identification of butterflies and also ask butterfly ID with some of my friends. For the first time in 2015, I observed butterfly migration at Keeriparai which inspired me more and more. The help rendered by the members of Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society and friends was my motivation towards documenting butterflies in my district of Kanyakumari. I used to frequent my butterfly documentation at two places named Keeriparai and Alamparai.
Keeriparai is an untouched beauty of the dense forests (Image 2) in the southern part of Tamil Nadu. Located near Kanyakumari this place is frequented by trekkers to enjoy the natural habitat of best of flora and fauna as well as the Keeriparai falls or Keeriparai falls. Keeriparai is about 40 km from Kanyakumari. The place looks like a part of heaven especially during monsoon rains. The place is surrounded 5 mountain ranges of Shola forest and 4 streams. These River streams (Image 1) are the best place for mud puddling and I used to admire by watching millions of butterflies mud puddling during butterfly migration. I remember my experience at this place by sighting a King cobra and dholes. During one of my butterfly trips, I even got a bite from snake which finally turned out to be non venomous. Some rare butterflies like Five-bar Swordtail, Common Tinsel and Orchid Tit were also seen here. Alamparai Hills has a private place (Government property under lease), near by a small hill with a small stream and a pond nearby. The place is full of Mango orchards, banana plantations and Bamboo grooves. Alamparai Hill area has a forest reserve with dense vegetation making it inaccessible to people during monsoon months. The area near the foot hill is rich in butterflies. One could easily spot all varieties of Orange Tip butterflies and grass yellows. Indian sunbeam and Redspot butterfly was also seen here.
Flutters from Kanyakumari
Narration : A. Pavendhan Pictures credit: Members of the Walk
Flutters from Kanyakumari
Common Tinsel
Yamfly
Spot Swordtail
Peacock Royal
Common Mime
Common Four-ring
Golden Angle
Redspot
Flutters from Kanyakumari
Bush Hopper
White Banded Awl
Apefly
Angled Pierrot
Red Pierrot
Opaque Six-Lineblue
Tamil Yeoman
Common Crow Edited by : H. Theivaprakasham Pictures credit: R Amirtha Balan
Butterfly Walks: Valparai Butterfly Walk in Valparai A team of 4 namely Nishanth CV, Kishore Kumaran, Muthu Vivek and Theivaprakasham H explored Anamalai Tiger Reserve on 01 May 2017. The day started with a cool breeze, clear and bright sky. As a motivating factor, the activity of Common Emigrants was seen increasing from 8.00AM. With the help of forest officials, the team reached a river stream at Anamalai Tiger Reserve and started its butterfly walk at 09.30AM. The team witnessed the mud puddling of Papilionidae like Common Bluebottle, Common Jay, Common Mime, Red Helen, Common Mormon and Lycaenidae like Common Lineblue, Tailless Lineblue, Dingy Lineblue and Common Hedge blue on the crocodile’s waste. Soon Common Nawab and Indian Sunbeam joined the Mud puddling crew. Emigrants were seen slowly moving towards western direction and some mass mud puddling of emigrants were seen on the way of River stream. We saw a similar looking butterfly like Common Albatross with enriched black marking and dull base colour. I alerted the team to have an eye on Lesser Albatross butterfly.
The river stream edges had plenty of Acacia torta plants where we were looking for a Malabar Flash. Suddenly a Clipper appears from the canopy of the forest trying to lay eggs on an unknown climber plant. We heard Nishanth calling us loud after sighting his new lifer of Tawny Rajah butterfly. He also alerted us to have a close watch on Five-bar Sword Tail butterfly. The river becomes deep and we had to take a shortcut through the forest to reach back the river again. The forest path was full of leeches and suddenly appears Dusky Partwing butterfly. We came out of the forest after getting some leech bites on shoulders and necks. It was hot scorching sun at 11.30AM, and the migration was at full swing with mud puddling seen at river banks. We found 100’s of Common Jays and Bluebottles. To our surprise, we saw a huge butterfly in between the Crew. Yes.., it was Five-bar Swordtail mud puddling in between other Papilionidae. The flight was rapid and unstable. Nishanth was quick enough to grab a photograph of Five-bar Swordtail where I captured those moments with my eyes. Sometime later we heard Anti Poaching Watcher calling us to see the yellow butterfly with tails. Yamfly and Indian Ace were puddling on the bird dropping. We also saw Cruiser, Rustic, Tamil Yeoman and Leaf Blue puddling on the bird dropping on the leaf in the nearby tree. As the clock ticks 12.30, we took some rest in a shady rocky place and witnessed the migration of emigrants towards western direction. The butterflies were seen moving in chains of ten numbers continuously. To our surprise we also spotted Malabar Banded Swallowtail rapidly wandering and mud puddling for few seconds. As the clouds started turning dark, we started to return back to the starting place. One the way back we saw 100’s of Pieridae butterflies mud puddling on the River Banks. We also spotted the rare Lesser Albatross butterfly in between those hundreds of butterflies. After capturing photographs of this mud puddling crew, we saw the rare Fluffy Tit butterfly on the dry tree bark lying in the River Stream. The flight of Fluffy Tit was swift and very difficult to track after it flew up the tree. As the rain started pouring, we returned back to starting point by 1.30PM. The butterfly walk started at 9.30AM and ended up by 1.30PM due to heavy lashing rains. A grand total of 103 butterfly species were recorded during the walk. Summer Migration of Pieridae especially Common Emigrant, Common Albatross, and Common Gull were seen in thousands moving in chains from east direction towards west direction along the river streams. Rare butterflies like Malabar Banded Swallowtail, Five bar Swordtail, Malabar Banded Peacock, Lesser Albatross and Fluffy Tit were seen. Future walk will surely bring rarities from this unexplored butterfly rich area.
Butterfly Walks: Valparai
Butterfly Walks: Valparai
Narration : H. Theivaprakasham Pictures credit: Members of the Walk
Butterflies of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve Subhiksha. S "So what if there is no camera?” -Abhishek jokes… “You'll focus more on watching birds if you don't have your camera", Amma said. I replied “I'll go, as memories of my pre- camera, binocular held days flashed in my mind.” And Amma replies "Well, then, you better go to bed, you'll have to wake up at 4 next morning".
And that's how my participation in the STR Raptor Survey 2017 fell into place the previous night. The drive from Chennai to Sathy was said to be 8 hours but, thanks to Abhishek's envious driving skills, the Chennai team, reached an hour before schedule. After the arrival of the Coimbatore Nature Society team and the icebreaking session, Chandru Uncle briefed us about the survey and oriented us as to what to expect and what to cover. We were split into teams of two members each and Abhishek my team Leader and me were assigned to Kulithuraipatti Camp .After a scrumptious lunch, we left for our respective camps aboard the Bolero Camper.
It was a smooth ride till Sujjalkuttai, the check-post. However, from then on, the Camper valiantly trudged upon the bumpy road while all of us tried our best to cling on to our seats and not throw up our entire digestive systems. Jumping out of the super-vehicle when we reached our Camp, I was mesmerized as I gazed up at the rugged yet picturesque Blue Mountains which formed the backdrop for our two - day sojourn. After a short evening walk along the river Moyyar, the day was done. We went to bed with dreams of watching soaring vultures and catching a glimpse of at least a tiger's tail, only to wake up next morning to a heavy downpour. Refusing to give up on our hopes yet, we decided to visit the Moyyar, least expecting the spectacle awaiting us. A minute after we reached, the gentle river waters morphed to roaring rapids and the water level rose right in front of our eyes..... Flash flood! Thanks to the heavy showers, of course. As the golden rays of the morning Sun started seeping in from the thinning cloud cover, we left for Karuvanrayar Kovil and fifteen minutes into the survey, our APW beckoned us, lo! A lone King Vulture made his way to our list as the first bird of the day. With heightened spirits, we continued on the track, although the appearances of butterflies slowed me down as I stopped every time I spotted a Plain Tiger or a Pioneer. With the addition of White-rumped Vultures and Indian Vultures to our survey list, the butterfly list started growing too. The sudden burst of the pierid population was made note of, with Jezebels, Grass Yellows, Tips (with the exception of Great Orange-tip) making their presence known. En route to Karuvanrayar Kovil, we halted at Sultan Paalam for a break. The beautiful bridge across one of the smaller streams of the Moyyar, with hills surrounding it, looked something out of an old adventure movie. Along the banks of the stream were small groups of mud-puddling Grass yellows, Yellow Orange Tips and Lime butterflies, with an occasional common crow, common leopard or a blue tiger. Resuming our walk, with the calls of Crested Serpent Eagles resonating all around us, we reached Karuvanrayar Kovil after an hour 's walk. The presence of NeerMathi trees, known for their affinity to Vultures, along the stream was not missed due to their gleaming silver barks. At Karuvanrayar Kovil, again mud -puddling groups were spotted; although this time I was overjoyed to see a handful of Spot Swordtails at the site. Our transect officially ended with the sighting of a Brahminy Kite and we were back to our base camp.
Butterflies of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve That evening, when starting for our evening walk, we came across a group of volunteers from WWF who work on tiger population studies. When asked if we would like to join them for a ride to Thengumarahada and back, we jumped at this unexpected opportunity and said we'd love to. But that experience could it-self be the subject of another report! with the exception of spotting a 12 feet Indian Rock Python. The next day, we had to cover Moolapatti. The raptor numbers were meager, though the habitat seemed like a haven for raptors. The butterfly activity was high, dominated by the pansies, tips, crows and limes and the occasional grass blues and grass jewels. We returned back to our camp after the morning session with the Thengumarahada campers, bid farewell to our APW and left for Sathy, all the while recounting our experiences to each other. Back on the bumpy track, somebody shouted "Painted Sand grouse!!!!" and it was decidedly more beautiful than the Chestnut- Bellied Sand grouse. Contented with that single lifer of the trip, we said Bye bye to the bumpy roads and the Bolero Camper (of which I had become really fond of) to get inside our vehicle for the long road to Chennai. The below is the representative list of Kulithuraipatti area and our energies were more focused on spotting raptors high up. It was one of those rare stints when I had ventured for a survey without my camera and hence butterflies which I identified to be Baronet and one Beak, unidentified skippers could not be captured on frame for confirmation and validation. I've therefore not added them to the list.
Butterflies of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve
From the Facebook Pages...
Castors by H Theivaprakasham
Common Acacia Blue by Gopal Krishnan
Plains Blue Royal by Sharan Venkatesh
Striped Albatross by CV Nishanth
Common Hedge Blue by Vishwa Nathan
Lesser Gull by Pavendhan Appavu
Lemon Pansy by ஆண்டிபட்டி பாண்டி
Cruiser by Arun Vasimalai
From the Facebook Pages...
Many-tailed Oakblue by Geethanjali Raghunathan
Cornelian by Jeswin Kingsly
Spot Swordtail by Vicky Chinna
Common Lascar by Amirtha Balan
Common Shot Silverline by Sahithya Selvaraj
Small Salmon Arab by Hema Mohandas
Striped Pierrot by Felix Nirmal Dev
Common Gull by Lakshmi Kumar
From the Facebook Pages...
Common Jay by Senguttuvan Subburathina
Lime Butterfly by Amol Mande
Great Orange-tip by Bala Krishnan
Common Leopard by Arumugam Chandrasekaran
Common Evening Brown by Harish G Mallaya
Plains Cupid by Rama Neelamegam
Pioneer by Soundar Ells
Black Rajah by Darshan M Trivedi
From the Facebook Pages...
Common Banded Peacock by Lekshmi RavindranNair
Nilgiri Fritillary by Naveen
Common Crow by Thalavai Pandi
Orangetail Awl by Jee Jeevith
Indian Skipper by Sundara Manikkam
Common Albatross by Bhanu Mathi
Zebra Blue by Rajalakshmi Kalimuthu
Common Silverline by Sundaram Thyanes
From the Facebook Pages...
Leafblue by Ramanasaran Hari
Blue Pansy by Bharat Kumar
Small Orange-tip by Civin Solomon
Bushbrowns by Muthu Krishnan
Yellow Pansy by Radhakrishnan Sadasivam
Parnara sps by Ravi Muthuswamy
Common Pierrot by Shakthi Mageshvaran Rajendran
Peacock Pansy by ChandraShekhar Ganesh
From the Facebook Pages...
Club Beak by Firos AK
Double-banded Judy by Salman
Common Leopard by Vinithashri Gautam
Common Wanderer by Anand Sundaram
Common Gull by Karthik Subramaniam
Southern Bluebottle by Kavin Manoharan
Tailless Lineblue by Pradeep Kumar
Indian Cupid by Raveendran Natarajan
From the Facebook Pages...
White Banded Awl by Santhosh Kshathriya
Five-bar Swordtail by Siva Kumar
Red Pierrot by Kumaresan Chandrabose
Tiny Grass Blue by Prakash Loganathan
Lime Butterfly by Kalpana Jayaraman
Rustic by Devaram Thiru
Lemon Pansy by Merlin Selvan
Lime Butterfly by Ramesh Thiyagarajan