No abstract

Thirty percent of butterfly species that occur in India are found in the Garhwal region of the western Himalaya, which comprise six districts of Uttarakhand State with five major vegetation types lying between the catchments of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers.  The annotated checklist compiled here for this region comprises 407 species and takes into account all the species recorded since 1899, when the first list of 323 species was prepared by Mackinnon & de Nicéville on the ‘butterflies of Mussoorie and its adjacent areas’.  Over a 20 year period (1986–1990; 2000–June 2015) the present authors maintained detailed notes and were able personally to record 349 species.  This information is presented in a checklist, together with details of the month, year and site of each record, relative abundance, Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (IWPA) status, as well as references of earlier records made by other authors in Garhwal for those species that the authors were not able to record themselves.  Forty-nine species recorded in the region have been placed under various schedules of IWPA; only one species, the Golden Emperor Dilipa morgiana Westwood, is listed in Schedule I Part IV, the others being mainly included under Schedule II Part II.  The paper also discusses new range extensions and significant records (past and present), identifies major biotic factors that threaten butterfly diversity in Garhwal, and suggests the scope for butterfly ecotourism in the state as an option for long term conservation.

S h o r t C omm u n fi c a t fi o n A r e p o r t o n s om e b u t t e r f fl fi e s ( L e p fi d o p t e r a ) f r om L a d a k h fi n J amm u & K a s hm fi r a n d L a h a u fl fi n H fim a c h a fl P r a d e s h , I n d fi a S a n j a y S o n d h fi , B a fl a k r fi s h n a n V a fl a p p fi fl , Y a s h S o n d h fi & A n c h a fl S o n d h fi 2 6 M a r c h 2 0 1 7 | V o fl . 9 | N o . 3 | P p . 9 9 7 1 -9 9 8 7 1 0 . 1 1 6 0 9 / j o t . 3 0 2 4 . 9 . 3 . 9 9 7 1 -9 9 8 7 T h r e a t e n e d T a x a T h e J o u r n a fl o f T h r e a t e n e d T a x a fi s d e d fi c a t e d t o b u fi fl d fi n g e v fi d e n c e f o r c o n s e r v a fi o n g fl o b a fl fl y b y p u b fl fi s h fi n g p e e r -r e v fi ew e d a r fi c fl e s o n fl fi n e e v e r y m o n t h a t a r e a s o n a b fl y r a p fi d r a t e a t www . t h r e a t e n e d t a x a . o r g. A fl fl a r fi c fl e s p u b fl fi s h e d fi n J o T T a r e r e g fi s t e r e d u n d e r C r e a fi v e C omm o n s A t r fi b u fi o n 4 . 0 I n t e r n a fi o n a fl L fi c e n s e u n fl e s s o t h e rw fi s e m e n fi o n e d . J o T T a fl fl ow s u n r e s t r fi c t e d u s e o f a r fi c fl e s fi n a n y m e d fi um , r e p r o d u c fi o n , a n d d fi s t r fi b u fi o n b y p r o v fi d fi n g a d e q u a t e c r e d fi t t o t h e a u t h o r s a n d t h e s o u r c e o f p u b fl fi c a fi o n .O P E N A C C E S S P a r t n e r www . t h r e a t e n e d t a x a . o r g I S S N 0 9 7 4 -7 9 0 7 ( O n fl fi n e ) | I S S N 0 9 7 4 -7 8 9 3 ( P r fi n t ) B u fi fl d fi n g e v fi d e n c e f o r c o n s e r v a fi o n g fl o b a fl fl y J o u r n a fl o f T h r e a t e n e d T a x a P u b fl fi s h e r / H o s t F o r F o c u s , S c o p e , A fim s , P o fl fi c fi e s a n d G u fi d e fl fi n e s v fi s fi t h t p : / / t h r e a t e n e d t a x a . o r g / A b o u t _ J o T T . a s p F o r A r fi c fl e S u bm fi s s fi o n G u fi d e fl fi n e s v fi s fi t h t p : / / t h r e a t e n e d t a x a . o r g / S u bm fi s s fi o n _ G u fi d e fl fi n e s . a s p F o r P o fl fi c fi e s a g a fi n s t S c fi e n fi fi c M fi s c o n d u c t v fi s fi t h t p : / / t h r e a t e n e d t a x a . o r g / J o T T _ P o fl fi c y _ a g a fi n s t _ S c fi e n fi fi c _M fi s c o n d u c t . a s p F o r r e p r fi n t s c o n t a c t < fi n f o@ t h r e a t e n e d t a x a . o r g > Funding: None. Competing interests:The authors declare no competing interests. Acknowledgements:We would like to thank Juma from Leh who helped in organizing the entire logistics of our visit to the Ladakh region; and Chris Chadwell from the UK, who assisted in identifying and confirming some of the flower species identities. The butterflies of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir and Lahaul and Spiti District, Himachal Pradesh are not well studied. The Ladakh region, part of the inner Himalaya, is remote and not easily accessible explaining the paucity of information on Lepidoptera. Moreover, being a cold desert, butterfly activity is largely restricted to the May to September p...

Two-hundred-and-forty-eight species of moths were recorded during surveys conducted over 40 nights in Dehradun and Mussoorie in Dehradun District and Devalsari in Tehri Garhwal District in Uttarakhand.

The butterflies of the Kameng Protected Area Complex in western Arunachal Pradesh, India, covering the protected areas of Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Pakke Tiger Reserve and Sessa Orchid Wildlife Sanctuary were surveyed over a 5-year period (2009–2014).  A total of 421 butterfly species were recorded during the survey, including two species new to India (Gonepteryx amintha thibetana and Bhutanitis ludlowi) and several species rediscoveries and range extensions in the Eastern Himalaya, most notably Arhopala belphoebe, Sovia separata magna, Aulocera saraswati vishnu, Calinaga aborica, Callerebia annada annada, and Callerebria scanda opima.  Here we provide an annotated checklist of butterflies of the Kameng Protected Area Complex, including historical records, distributions, abundance, habitats and other notes on these 421 species. An additional 42 species recorded in older literature or by other authors in recent times are also listed, taking the total number of species recorded in the landscape to 463.