Kallar of Mettupalayam forest range in Coimbatore is a hotspot of butterflies with 200 species, almost two thirds of the target number of butterfly species for the State of Tamil Nadu, 324, says a report by Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society (TNBS).
“Sighting of 200 species in the natural environment within the protected forest is showing Kallar as a true butterfly hotspot and the Department will make efforts to protect the butterfly habitat of Kallar,” said District Forest Officer D. Venkatesh, who released the report at the inauguration of the first integrated Birds and Butterflies Survey of Coimbatore Forest Division here on Friday.
The report titled ‘Kallar- Butterfly hotspot with 200 species sighting’ was a result of study conducted over a period of five years from July 2014 to August 2019 by TNBS members.
Minimum of one visit a month was made and the observations were recorded and analysed in a structured format. Scarce-shot Silverline, a species belonging to Lycaenidae family, was recorded in August 2019 and it turned out to be the 200th species recorded from the place.
Situated approximately 360 m above mean sea level, Kallar falls under the migration route of butterflies.
The Milkweed Danainae butterflies namely Dark Blue Tiger, Blue Tiger, Common Crow and Double-branded Crow regularly migrate through Kallar on either direction before the onset of South West and North East Monsoon.
Common Albatross, which makes mass movements through Aralam in Kerala, then takes a direction towards the Nilgiri Biosphere and at times, reaches Kallar in good numbers. During summer months, Common Emigrants in thousands make migratory movement.
The report recommended systematic long-term surveys to ensure the continuous assessment of butterflies as butterfly presence indicated a healthy eco-system, said A. Pavendhan of TNBS, who, along with Balakrishnan. R, Gopalakrishnan. S, Nishanth C.V. Ramanasaran. H, Theivaprakasham. H, Viswanathan. S and Sravan Kumar K., mainly involved in the study.
