Sighting of rare butterfly species thrills enthusiasts

Butterfly watchers, or lepidopterists, have reported sighting extremely to relatively rare species of butterfly from the avifauna hotspot of Bahour wetland.

Among the more exciting migrants was the sighting of the Byblia ilithyia , a butterfly which is extremely rare along the Tamil Nadu coastline.

Also known as the ‘Joker’, or the ‘Spotted Joker’, the butterfly gets its name from the smiling pattern formed of its posture.

“We believe this to be a significant sighting as it could provide insight into migratory behaviour of the butterfly kingdom,” says Lekshmi. R, president, Society for Ecology, Environment & Community Outreach (SEECO), which had organised the butterfly survey at Bahour recently.

Bahour Lake is one of the bird hotspots of Puducherry and has been internationally recognised as one of the Important Bird Areas (IBA).

“While the Joker is common in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, there are not many records from the Tamil Nadu region. The butterfly is possibly a rare winter migrant on the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coast”, said Ms. Lekshmi, who is one of the founders of SEECO and a butterfly researcher.

However, further field observations would perhaps be required to establish winter migratory patterns of not just the Spotted Joker but other colourful butterfly species.

Ms. Lekshmi said The butterfly survey was conducted as part of the NGO’s wetland awareness campaign. The recently-formed NGO, which pursues a motto of creating environmentally conscious and sustainable communities, also runs community outreach on waste management; biodiversity surveys, conservation projects and nature education programs at various community levels like schools, higher education institutions, school dropouts and residential units in Puducherry bioregion, she added.

The butterfly survey also led to other relatively rare sightings of species such as the Common Albatross, Striped Albatross, Tailed Jay, Plain Orange Tip, Little Orange Tip, Great Orange Tip, Small Salmon Arab, Double-branded Crow, Western Centaur Oakblue, African Marbled Skipper and the Large-branded Swift, the lepidopterist said.

These species are relatively comparatively rare or uncommon in any other part of Puducherry.

According to SEECO, Bahour Lake is a natural butterfly garden due to the abundance of a few rare plants fed by butterfly caterpillars (host plants), nectar plants and alkaloid plants. Some Danaid butterflies (related to the famous Monarch Butterfly) like Tigers and Crows are so attracted to the alkaloid plants that they suck the leaf and stem juice en masse causing the plant to wilt and die.

For butterfly enthusiasts, the phenomenon can be a veritable feast for the eyes, especially during migration passage of these butterflies, as several butterflies crowd together and binge on a single plant.