In the monsoon butterfly survey, Nature & Wildlife Conservation & Awareness Society (NWCAS) spotted 10 new species of butterflies in Indore. An indicator of improving biodiversity, perhaps the result of lockdown and lower pollution levels during that period.
For any ecosystem the butterflies are very good indicator to judge how sound the biodiversity & ecology of the area. “Butterfly as an insect comes at the base of the any ecology pyramid and as the butterfly life cycle depends upon the presence of its host plant for its reproduction & nectar plant for feeding,” Ravi Sharma, NCWAS president, said.
He explained that the numbers of species of butterfly in any region means that as many of its host plant & nectar plants are present in that area.
Accordingly the rest of birds, mammals, reptile, amphibians etc. in the food chain of the system also present in the surveyed area. “That’s how the butterfly presence give the area/region specific indicator of absence/presence, good/bad ecology & biodiversity of that region/area,” Sharma said.
Three-month survey covering city, forest, outskirts & wetlands
Monsoon is the best season for the butterflies to mate & breed as due to rain large numbers of plants, climbers etc. grow which are the host plant for their eggs-caterpillars life cycle to complete and hence their population to increase.
“With the consideration, we carried out the extensive 3 months monsoon butterfly survey of Indore region (from June 15, 2020 to September 20, 2020 ) which covers the city, outskirts area, jungles, waterfalls, wetlands to documents what all species are there in the vicinity,” Sharma said.
Survey findings: first time Peacock Royal (Tajuria cippus) spotted
“Based on the survey our team has encountered with 67 numbers of butterfly species which were 10 more addition from the last year 57 species,” Sharma said. He added that among new species Peacock Royal (Tajuria cippus) was first time spotted in Indore.
“Other than that we came across lesser three rings, little tiger pierrot, painted lady butterfly etc. which are new addition to the our survey list as compare to last year survey,” Sharma said.
Commonly found butterflies in Indore
Species commonly encountered in the city (gardens, local green patches) are- Tailed jay, common jay, common jezebel, common crow, danid eggfly, lime butterfly, shared Sharma.
He added in in the forest area & near water falls almost all 6 pansies were reported (namely peacock, grey, yellow, chocolate, lemon & blue pansy).
“In under growth grasses, we found thousands of (countless) small & common grass yellows which were mating & reproducing themselves,” Sharma said. He added that near wetlands & moist undergrowth area we found lots of evening brown and in the grasses the tiny blue butterflies (zebra blue, gram blue, cupid etc.)
2,536 butterflies recorded
“In all, we counted 2536 butterflies during the survey (excluding grass yellows which were abundant), which is much higher than last year,” Sharma said. He added that butterfly population is blooming, probably because of lockdown.
“Pollution levels came down and since most did not trim or slash down bushes of trees, it supported butterfly breeding by providing safe space,” Sharma said. He added that other factories including weather are also responsible for the growth in population.