New records of Athyma whitei Tytler,
1940 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae)
from northeastern India: a recently reported species from India
Monsoon Jyoti Gogoi
Bokakhat East Dagaon, District Golaghat, Assam
785612, India
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3629.6287-9 | ZooBank:urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2C6A54A5-D11C-41B7-9B81-D9D91D9C1FE0
Editor: Saito Motoki, The Butterfly Society of
Japan, Tokyo, Japan. Date
of publication: 26 August 2014 (online & print)
Manuscript details: Ms #
o3629 | Received 20 May 2013 | Final received 08 August 2014 | Finally accepted
10 August 2014
Citation: Gogoi,
M.J. (2014).
New records of Athyma whitei Tytler, 1940 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae:Limenitidinae) from northeastern India: a recently
reported species from India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(9): 6287–6289; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3629.6287-9
Copyright:© Gogoi 2014. Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTTallows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and
distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of
publication.
Funding:The work was a part of Aaranyak seed grant for nature
conservation.
Competing Interest:The author declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The
author thanks Aranyak Seed grant programme for nature
conservation. The author also thanks the local community for logistic support.
The Nymphalid butterfly Tytler’sSergeant Athyma whiteiwas first described from a single male specimen caught from Fort White, Chin
Hills, western Myanmar (Tytler1940). Since then, it has been
known from Myanmar, northern Thailand, southern Vietnam, Hainan and China (Inayoshi 2012). The species is sighted from Fujian and Guangxi, China in recent
literature (Lang 2012). The taxon
was not reported from India until 2012. The sighting from Phura, Mara Autonomous
District Council, southern Mizoram in northeastern
India is the first record of the species within the political boundary of India
(http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/144-athyma/athyma-whitei).
This paper reports
four more sighting of the species from India on the basis of one male
photographed on 13 March 2013 from Lakhicerra Stream
of North Cachar, southern Assam (24058’20.20’’N & 92046’015’’E) at an elevation of
around 29m and subsequent record of the species in 11 December 2013 at an
elevation of 46m just half kilometer away from the first sighting (Images
1–5). Two individuals were
recorded during February and March respectively in nearby Sonapurarea of E. Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya (R. Goswami pers. comm. 2013).
The species was
seen mud-puddling on the wet rocks of the stream
during all the occasions. During
the first record, the species was seen with open wing, closing for a minute or
so and again with an open wing. The
species was seen undertaking weak flights while mud-puddling. The same phenomenon recorded again, but the species was also seen
settling on tree leaves and then disappearing in the bushes.
Tytler (1940) originally
treated A. whitei as a subspecies of A. zeroca from Chin Hills, differing considerably from A.zeroca of Naga Hills and Manipur. A. zeroca has a prominent pale band which is broader
and edged broadly with greyish-blue colour, while the
underside forewing has two very narrow apical spots, and there are three dark
vertical lines connecting this area with the lower edge of the cell. However, in the specimens of A. zeroca encountered by the author, the apical spots are
very narrow like A. whitei or sullied. The Thailand specimens appear to have
broad apical spots (http://yutaka.it-n.jp/lim1/720640050.html). The white discalband of A. zeroca is also very variable in
northeastern India, sometimes very narrow but sometimes a little broader, but
not very broad as that of A. whitei. The
female of the species is not yet described.
However, it is
still unclear whether A. whitei is a good
species or a hybrid. Recently, it
has been treated as a distinct species (Kunte &
Saito 2013). A. whitei has three dark vertical
lines in the lower edge of cell in the underside of forewing but these lines
are absent in A. zeroca. A. selenophora also has three dark lines in both upper and lower edge of cell and are visible
from upperside also but not so in case of A. whitei. Therefore,
it is not a subspecies of A. zeroca. However, Inayoshi (2012) suggests that it could be a hybrid
between selenophora and zeroca or even a distinct species (Inayoshi 2012)
(Images 6–9). The species
also undergoes seasonal variation (Shizuya et al.
2011). In northeastern India, the occurance of A. whitei was
not suprising in southern Mizoram as the record is
only 137km away from Fort White, Myanmar, where the taxon was originally
described. However, the new records
from N.C. Hills are approximately 223km away from the type locality and hence
quiet significant and this record gives an insight into the distribution range
and habitat of this rare taxon in northeastern India. And since the species occur in N.C.
Hills, it could be found in E. Jaintia Hills since
these are adjacent areas.
References
Inayoshi, Y. (2012). A Check List of
Butterflies in Indo-China (chiefly from Thailand, Laos and Vietnam). http://yutaka.it-n.jp/lim1/720640050.html.
(Accessed 08 May 2013)
Kunte, K. & M.
Saito (2013). Athyma whitei Tytler, 1940 - Blue-bordered Sergeant. In: Kunte, K., S. Kalesh & U. Kodandaramaiah (eds.). Butterflies of
India, v. 1.06. Indian Foundation for Butterflies.http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/144-athyma/athyma-whitei. (Accessed 08 May
2013).
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