Butterfly survey spots 10 new species in Salim Ali sanctuary

October 08, 2013 11:13 am | Updated October 18, 2016 02:57 pm IST - KOCHI

Spot Duke butterfly, which has curved short black lines with a crimson or red spot between them.

Spot Duke butterfly, which has curved short black lines with a crimson or red spot between them.

Presence of 10 new butterfly species has been reported from Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary in Thattekad.

The new species were recorded during a survey held last week. With this, the number of butterfly species recorded from the sanctuary has reached 140, according to Dr. Unnikrishnan Puilikal who led the assessment.

Species like Malabar Flash, Travancore Evening Brown, Blue Oak leaf and Red Spot Duke were spotted during the survey supported by the Kerala Forest Department.

The forest department has also introduced a batch of 20 students of nearby schools to butterfly-watching during the survey. They were imparted training on the basics of butterfly-watching.

Handbooks on birdwatching were also distributed to 350 school students in the region. Students who have picked up interest in the birds and butterflies will be given training. Experts in birdwatching would lead the programme, forest officials said.

Wildlife warden K. Saji, Assistant Wildlife warden M.P. Sanjayan, and butterfly watchers T.P. Arun and Sreeni Palakkal were among those who took part in the survey.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.