Thursday 18 February 2016

Wing tales

One winter morning, when T.V.Pranav, a college student took a stroll in his grandmother’s backyard, he saw a little wonder that made him sit still for six hours. “I saw a caterpillar transforming into a larva and then into a butterfly,” he recalls in awe of witnessing a life come alive. “That was the moment I fell in love with butterflies. Later, by referring to guides, I found out that it was a species called Common Mormon and it lays eggs on curry leaves.”

Two of his friends, Sharan Venkatesh and N. Santosh are also as crazy about the winged wonders. So much so, that the trio started waking up early in the morning to follow the colourful insects. “Typically, the day starts pretty early for the butterflies with skippers being seen as early as 6 a.m. and the activity lasts until 2 p.m. in the evening,” says Sharan. “My interest in documenting butterflies started from the time I received a copy of Starters Guide for Butterflies – a book in Tamil. It has photographs and description of about 90 common species in Tamil Nadu.”

Presence of butterflies always indicates a healthy biological ecosystem, says Pavendhan Appu, of Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society, under the support of which a six-month state-wide butterfly study was conducted recently. Kallaar in Coimbatore, Sirumalai in Madurai, Sivagiri, Mamsapuram, Devadhanam, Settur in Virudhunagar district and Sastha Koil, Ayyanar koil, Kaandi paarai forest area in Rajapalayam are some of the areas which have been identified as butterfly hotspots. “In total, around 320 species have been recorded in Tamil Nadu. If 75 to 100 species are found in a place, then it can be called a hotspot. Butterfly population is dependent on host plants. The female butterflies have censors in their legs and will lay eggs on the host plants only. Every species of butterfly feed on a specific plant,” says Pavendhan. “The species Plain Tiger lays eggs on poisonous plants. It’s a survival strategy against the birds. Edible butterflies are eaten by other predators such as spiders, birds, grey mantis and frogs. The caterpillars and eggs are fed by ants.”

Whereas, the Blue butterfly varieties can survive only if there are ants around. The caterpillars of these butterflies have glands and secrete sweet substances that attract ants and they in turn protect the caterpillars. “Only, naturally undisturbed habitats will have a healthy butterfly population. River streams are the most ideal places along which they come for nectar collecting and breeding.”

Among the hotspots, Rajapalayam is said to be a haven for butterflies. “On any day, you will easily find over 40 species at the Ayyanar koil and Shenbagathoppu areas,” says Sharan Venkatesh, who has done an extensive study in the town. Lying in the foothills of Western Ghats and blessed with a salubrious weather, the town is home to over half of butterfly species found in the state. “We were able to record around 180 species from all the five families of butterflies in eight months. We expect to find another 30 to 40. As a continuation, photo-documentation of butterfly life cycle is being undertaken and a handful of species are covered as of now.”

The study at Rajapalayam by the three friends and others has yielded a couple of first-time photo records. These include Nilgiri Tit, Painted Sawtooth, Silver Royal, Black vein Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, White tipped line blue, Orange tail awl, Spotted Angle, Alida angle, Plains blue Royal, Evershed’s Ace, Striated Five ring, Black Prince, Plain Palm-dart, Hampson’s hedge blue and Wax Dart.

Among these were also the largest and smallest butterflies -- Southern Bird wing and Oriental Grass Jewel. The former is mostly found in mountains and can be spotted commonly during breeding season from November to January. It measures 10 to 20 centimetres in size. The latter is an Ash colour butterfly with four black dots, ranging one to two centimetres in size.

Resource: http://www.thehindu.com

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