Uploaded byAshok Sengupta
Flying jewels
This document provides information about butterflies and moths. It discusses how butterflies are beneficial to ecosystems and different from moths. Key differences include antenna shape, whether they are diurnal or nocturnal, body shape, and how they rest. The document also covers butterfly classification, life cycle, morphology, mimicry, habitats, sexual dimorphism, migration, identification keys, common species in Bangalore, and tips for creating a butterfly park.
Flying jewels
- 1. Flying Jewels Let’s Watch,Admire and Learn them Ashok Sengupta, PGT Comp Sc KV No 1 Jalahalli (West)
- 2. AshokSengupta Can you distinguishthem as Moths and Butterflies
- 3. Introduction • Butterflies, theflying jewels of nature, have always attracted mankind towards them. • These tiny insects play an important role in maintaining the balance of nature not only by providing an important means of pollination but also by acting as a link in the food chain for many animals. • More over they are a natural indicator of environmental changes. AshokSengupta
- 4. Why are Butterfliesvaluable • Intrinsic Value - They have their own right to live • Aesthetic Value – They make the nature more beautiful • Educational Value – Child can learn the cycle of life • Scientific Value – Model Organism for research • Eco-system Value – Indicators of healthy eco-system • Health Value – Butterfly watching brings happiness to us. • Economic Value – Butterfly eco-tourism brings income AshokSengupta
- 5. How they aredifferent from Moths • Butterflies and moths are very closely-related insect groups that make up the Order Lepidoptera • Butterflies have clubbed antenna whereas Moths have feathery Antenna • Butterflies are diurnal (Day fliers)whereas Moths are mostly nocturnal. • Butterflies tend to have thinner bodies as compared to Moths. • Butterflies tend to pupate in a hard chrysalis whereas Moths pupate inside a cocoon, which they spin out of silk and sometimes nearby materials like leaves. • Butterflies tend to rest with their wings closed whereas Moths rest with their wings open. AshokSengupta Butterfly Moth
- 6. Classification of Butterflies •Papilionidae – Swallowtail Butterflies • Pieridae – Yellow and White Butterflies • Nymphalidae – Brush Footed Butterflies • Lycaenidae – Blues, Copper and Hairstreak Butterflies • Riodinidae – Metalmark Butterflies • Hesperiiade – Skippers and Swift Butterflies AshokSengupta
- 7. Butterfly Stats • Earthhas over 25000 species of butterflies. • Un-Divided India had 1501 species of butterflies. • Presently we have over 1200 species of butterflies in India. • The Western Ghats of India currently hosts 342 species of Butterflies. However a few entries in the checklist are doubtful. We have not witnessed Silver forget-me-not, Common Mottle, Blue Baron and even Indian Oakblue in Western Ghats. Recent additions to the checklist includes Purple spotted Flitter and Restricted Spotted Flat . • Bangalore and its adjoining area hosts 166 species of Butterflies as per old study. However we have not witnessed about 19 species since past decade. AshokSengupta
- 8. Largest vs smallestButterfly AshokSengupta
- 9. Morphology of Butterfly •Adult butterfly have four wings covered with minute scales. • They have six legs, but in brush footed butterflies front pair of legs are reduced. • The body of a butterfly has three segments, viz. head, thorax and abdomen. This is all exo-skeleton • The butterfly eyes are compound and they have a pair of antenna. • The most important organ is the proboscis that helps the butterfly to suck nectar from flowers AshokSengupta
- 10. Life-cycle of aButterfly. AshokSengupta Egg -> Larvae -> Pupa -> Adult
- 11. Mimicry in Butterfly •Butterflies exhibit an interesting feature of mimicry where a palatable butterfly mimics the morphological traits of a non-palatable butterfly. This type of mimicry is called Batesian Mimicry. The Common Mormon exhibits this in females where one form romulus mimics the Crimson Rose and another form stichius mimics the Common Rose. • Auto-mimicry is another type of mimicry in which one body part resembles another body part. Blues exhibit auto-mimicry through their tails and eyespots on tails that resembles the head to avoid a predatory attack. AshokSengupta
- 12. Habits and habitats •Butterflies feed primarily on nectar from flowers. Some also derive nourishment from rotting fruits, tree saps, decaying flesh, dung and dissolved minerals in wet sand and mud. • Male butterflies need a lot of salts and minerals during reproduction and they get it through mud-puddling. Crows and Tigers acquire Alkaloids from plants like the Crotalaria for reproduction. • All butterflies are terrestrial mostly found in tropical regions. However they are also found at altitudes of 6000m . In Himalayas we find the Apollos at these altitudes. AshokSengupta Food Habits Habitats
- 13. Sexual Dimorphism AshokSengupta Butterflies, especiallythe Blues show this phenomenon , where males are Vibrantly coloured, where as females are paler. •Males constantly fly to show their presence, whereas the females need time for laying eggs and don’t want to get predated. •Possibly bright coloured males see each other from a distance and thus avoid conflict.
- 14. Migration AshokSengupta • Many butterflyspecies are known to perform seasonal migration. Well known migration in India is of the Danaine butterflies that includes Common Crow, Double Branded Crow, Blue Tiger and Dark Blue Tiger. These Danaine butterflies perform pre-monsoon migration from western- ghats to eastern-ghats and return migration from eastern- ghats to western-ghats every year. • The famous Albatross migration in the Western-ghats is also a spectacle in the month of January every year. • Other butterflies known to migrate include Common emigrant, Painted Lady, Pea-blue, Plain Puffin, Spot Swordtail, Five-bar Swordtail, Painted Sawtooth. Wrightia tinctoria
- 15. Identification keys for Butterflies •Most of the butterflies can be identified by their specific size, colour and marking on the wings. • There are however some species that needs further scientific analysis in laboratory to get their ID properly. Genus Tarucus (pierrots) , Potanthus (Darts) are some examples of complex species. AshokSengupta
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- 17. The Tiny Bluesfluttering un- noticed AshokSengupta
- 18. Some Un-common beautiesaround Bangalore AshokSengupta
- 19. The World ofSkippers AshokSengupta
- 20. New Additions toBangalore Checklist AshokSengupta
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- 22. The Challenge tore-discover these in Bangalore Scientific Name Common Name Tagiades litigiosa litigiosa Sylhet Water Snow Flat Azanus uranus Dull Babul Blue Nacaduba kurava canaraica Karwar Transparent Six-Lineblue Horaga onyx onyx Variable Common Onyx Spindasis elima Scarce Shot Silverline Spindasis lohita lazularia Tamil Long-banded Silverline Virachola perse Tamil Large Guava Blue Charaxes athamas athamas Oriental Common Nawab Charaxes psaphon imna Indian Plain Tawny Rajah Libythea myrrha carma Dakhan Club Beak Lethe drypetis Dakhan Treebrown (Tamil Treebrown) Orsotriaena medus mandata Sahyadri Medus Brown Ypthima baldus madrasa Sahyadri Common Five-ring Colotis fausta fulvia Dakhan Large Salmon Arab Pareronia ceylanica ceylanica Sri Lankan Dark Wanderer Pieris canidia canis Sahyadri Cabbage White AshokSengupta
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- 25. Butterfly Park –Some Tips • Have an open area near your house and plant some locally available nectar plants initially. 1. Lantana (Lantana camera) 2. Jamaica vervain (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, S. mutabilis) 3. Clerodendrum viscosum 4. Combretum paniculatum 5. Ixora Sp. 6. Butterfly Bush (Buddleja sp) 7. Premna sp 8. Soapnut (Sapindus) 9. Cadaba fruticosa 10. Plumbago zeylanica 11. Ageratum conyzoides 12. Zinnia sp 13. Marigold sp (Tagetes erecta) 14. Saraca asoca 15. Tridax procumbens 16. Urena lobata 17. Crotalaria retusa 18. Melastoma malabatricum 19. Careya arborea 20. Asclepias curassavica AshokSengupta • Follow it up with some LHPs 1. Polyalthia longifolia 2. Michelia champaca 3. Aristolochia indica 4. Aegle marmelos 5. Cassia fistula 6. Cassia tora 7. Calotropis gigantea 8. Potted Palms 9. Castor 10. Copperpod tree 11. Pongamia 12. Capparis 13. Mango 14. Kalanchoe 15. Zizyphus 16. Lime 17. Murraya koenigii 18. Nerium Oleander
- 26. Join Butterfly ClubBangalore AshokSengupta We are a small but dedicated and like minded team of Butterfly enthusiasts located at Bangalore. We perform regular butterfly walks in and around Bangalore and document the population dynamics of Butterflies around Bangalore. We get expert help from Dr Krushnamegh Kunte, Principal Scientist NCBS, Dr Kalesh Sadasivan from Kerala, Mr Karthikeyan Srinivasan, Chief Naturalist, Jungle Lodges and many other experts around the country.
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