‘Extinct’ butterfly rediscovered in India after a 100 year absence

07/09/2009 13:12:19 Rediscovery of rare butterflies - (Yellow crested spangle (Papilio elephenor Doubleday, 1845) and Moore's Cupid (Shijimia moorei Leech, 1889 ) from Ripu-Chirang Reserved Forests, India.

September 2009. The rediscovery has been made by Mr Kushal Choudhury, a young naturalist and Professor at Kokrajhar, Assam who is working on swallowtail butterflies for his PhD thesis.

The Yellow crested spangle (Papilio elephenor) has been recorded for the first time for a hundred years in Ripu-Chirang Reserved Forest (RCRF) in western Assam. These Reserved forests are a transitional zone between Manas Tiger Reserve in the east and Buxa Tiger Reserve in the west.

The butterfly was first spotted by Mr. Kushal Choudhury in May 2009. He believed that it was a mutated Spangle butterfly (Papilio protenor) that is similar in size and colour, the yellow markings on the abdomen and the bright yellow head were the most striking and peculiar features of this butterfly. Mr Kushal Choudhury then circulated the photo on ButterflyIndia@yahoogroups.com; an e-group for butterfly watchers around the world. It was finally identified and confirmed as the Yellow crested Spangle by Dr Krushnamegh Kunte, Post doctoral Research fellow, FAS centre for systems Biology, Harvard University.

Another butterfly, Moore's cupid (Shijimia moorei Leech, 1889 old name Everes moorei), is a tiny butterfly and its flight is very fast compared to its size. It is also an extremely rare butterfly. It is mainly distributed in Japan and Southern China. Several decades ago it was reported in the Khasi hills of Meghalaya to the south of Assam, but it has not been reported from anywhere else in India. Both the photographs taken by the author thus becomes one of the first ‘wild' pictures of these two butterflies in recent times.

Yellow Crested Spangle butterfly

Yellow Crested Spangle belongs to the Genus Papilio under the family Papilionidae. Papilio elephenor is a highly endangered, federally protected species listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The butterfly is endemic to the eastern Himalayas and North Eastern India. Bingham (1907), Evans (1932) and Winter-Blyth (1957) described the presence of this butterfly in Assam and Nagaland and Khasi Hills about a hundred years ago, but there had been no further report of sighting and documentation till now.  

The rediscovery of this endangered butterfly brings in good news for butterfly lovers and conservationists alike. There has been a long gap in detailed survey records from northeast India and past literature indicated rough distribution with almost no information on the butterfly behaviour and natural history.

Ripu-Chirang Reserved Forests
Ms Sonali Ghosh, a forest officer working in this region said that the presence of such a rare butterfly in RCRF further strengthens the need to conserve and bring the forests under a Protected Area Network. Ripu-Chirang Reserved Forests were declared as national forests way back in 1875. Today the Ripu-Chirang forests are part of an elephant reserve; a tiger reserve and a biosphere reserve with prime focus on rare and endangered species such as the Royal Bengal tiger, Asiatic Elephant, Clouded leopard and the enigmatic Golden Langur.

As the database on the biological values of the forests strengthens, it becomes even more crucial and convincing to bring the forests under a protected regime. Declaring a Wildlife Sanctuary especially for butterflies under the Indian Wildlife (Protection), Act, 1972 will be the right step in this direction. It will also open up hitherto unexplored avenues such as nature tourism that will primarily focus on butterfly watching thus providing an alternative source of livelihood to the forest fringe villagers.