Diversity of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoideaand Hesperoidea) of DachigamNational Park, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Aijaz Ahmad Qureshi ¹, R.C. Bhagat ² & Deen Mohd Bhat ³

^1,2 P.G. Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India

³ Department of Zoology, Government Degree College, Ganderbal, Jammu & Kashmir 191201, India

Present address: ¹ Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora, Jammu & Kashmir, India; ² P.O.BOX No.1250,

G.P.O, Residency Road, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir 190001, India

¹ draijazphd@gmail.com (corresponding author), ² bhagatrc@yahoo.com, ³ din_ento@yahoo.co.in

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2886.5389-92 | ZooBank:urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:845739D5-3266-4F0E-8229-CB68203AC06F

Editor: Peter Smetacek, Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal, India. Date of publication: 26 January 2014 (online & print)

Manuscript details: Ms # o2886 | Received 24 July 2011 | Final received 25 December 2013 | Finally accepted 03 January 2014

Citation: Qureshi, A.A., R.C. Bhagat & D.M. Bhat (2014). Diversity of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea and Hesperoidea) of Dachigam National Park, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(1): 5389–5392; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2886.5389-92

Copyright: © Qureshiet al. 2014. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 UnportedLicense. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.

Funding: None.

Competing Interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

Acknowledgements: The authors are highly thankful to Chief Wildlife Warden-Kashmir, Regional Wildlife Warden-Kashmir and staff at Dachigam National Park for allowing us to conduct this study.

For images, tables -- click here

Being the main destination for wildlife linked tourism in the Kashmir Valley, Dachigam National Park has attained world-wide fame for its rich faunal and floral wealth. The National Park is situated 18km northeast of Srinagar. It covers an area of 141km²and is roughly 22.5km long, 8km wide and an altitude range of 1,700–>4,000 m. The National Park is divided into lower and upper Dachigamareas and is enclosed between a fold of the Zanskarrange, which forms the northwest branch of the central Himalaya (Fig. 1). At its base lies the HarwanReservoir and New Theed Village, while the surrounding mountain range is topped by Mahadev Peak.Dachigam is famous for the Kashmir Stag or “Hangul” (Cervus elaphus hanglu). The National Park also acts as a protected home for other floral and faunal elements, viz., Himalayan Brown Bear, Himalayan Black Bear, Musk Deer, Leopard, Hyena, birds (150 species), vascular plants (661 species) etc. (Dar et al. 2002).

No survey or study has so far been undertaken on the butterflies of Dachigam National Park. Earlier workers who have contributed to the knowledge of butterfly fauna of Kashmir Valley like Bingham—(1905, 1907), Evans (1932), Thomas-Glover (1936), Home (1938), Das et al. (1964), Das & Verma(1965), Talbot (1939, 1947), Wynter-Blyth (1957) and Jamdar (1992)—have not mentioned any reports of butterflies from Dachigam area. Among them, Home(1938) reported seven species of butterflies from Nishatbagh, a famous tourist spot close to the national park. Also, most of the surveys/studies conducted in the park till date, have been confined to large animals like Hangul, Leopard, Wild Boar and plants (Holloway 1970; Kurt 1978; Inayatullah 1982; Mansoor 1989; Bhat et al. 2009; Charoo et al. 2009; Qureshi et al. 2009; Shah et al. 2009a,b, 2011). Keeping in view the significance of the national park, the authors made a preliminary survey of its butterfly fauna.

Materials and Methods: The butterflies were surveyed during the period April–June and September– October 2004, May–July and October 2005, June–August 2006 and May–July 2007. Adult butterflies were collected by net and identified in the field and in a few cases were collected. For identification, the works of Evans (1932), Wynter-Blyth (1957), Haribal (1992), Feltwell(2001), Kunte (2006) and Pajniet al. (2006) were followed. For common names of butterflies Wynter-Blyth (1957) and Varshney (1983) were followed.

Observations: In the present field study, 27 species of butterflies distributed in 24 genera and five families were reported (Table 1). The families include Hesperiidae, Papilionidae (one genus, one species each), Lycaenidae (three genera, three species), Pieridae (five genera, seven species) and Nymphalidae (14 genera, 15 species). Nymphalidaewas found to be the most dominant followed by Pieridae,Lycaenidae, Hesperiidae andPapilionidae. It was found that the butterflies of all the families except Hesperiidae were mostly active from April to August. However, the family Hesperiidaewas active from June to October. Although a total of at least 35 species were seen in the park only 27 were identified, and the rest (which might roughly include three lycaenids, five nymphalids, one papilionid and three pierids) could not be identified. Libythea lepitaoccurred in the hundreds during the month of April and May 2006. However, such numbers were not observed in other months or years.

Most butterfly species were seen visiting flowers of Tagetes patula (Asteraceae). Two nymphalidsnamely Junonia orithya(Linnaeus) (Blue Pansy) and Neptis sappho Pallas (Pallas’ Sailor) are new records and are reported for the first time from Kashmir Valley. The distribution and abundance of most families except Hesperiidae was during the months of May, June and July. Hesperiidaewas abundant during September. Aglais cashmirensis, Vanessa cardui, Colias fieldi, Pieris brassicae and Pontia daplidice were the commonest butterflies throughout the study period.

Aglais cashmirensis, Argynnis childreni, Hypolimnas misippus, Junonia orithya, Kaniska canace, Libythea lepita, Neptis sappho, Aricia agestis, Lampides boeticus, Lycaena phlaeas, Papilio machaon, Pelopidas mathias, Aporia soracta, Colias fieldi, Gonepteryx rhamni, Pieris brassicae, P. canidia and Pontia daplidice were found mud puddlingon warm days. Species like Argynnis hyperbius, Argynnis childreni, Callerebia nirmala, Danaus chrysippus, Hypolimnas misippus, Kaniska canace, Neptis sappho, Pararge eversmanni cashmirensis, Vanessa indica, Papilio machaon, Aporia soracta, Gonepteryx rhamni and Colias erate were not frequently observed as compared to other reported species. Since the present preliminary study was mostly confined to the lower areas of the National Park, it was not possible to fully explore the butterfly wealth of the park.

Conclusion: The present study is the first effort in exploring the butterfly wealth of Dachigam National Park. The permission and entry process for conducting research needs to be reviewed and simplified. While processing extension/renewal of the permission, a lot of time gets wasted which ultimately affects the outcome of such surveys.

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