Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2016 | 8(12): 9473–9478

 

 

 

Recent records of the Pale Jezebel Delias sanaca sanaca (Moore, 1857) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) from Mussoorie hills, western Himalaya, India

Arun P. Singh

 

Forest Entomology Division, Forest Research Institute, P.O. New Forest, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248006, India

singhap@icfre.org, ranoteaps@gmail.com

 

 

 

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/jott.2834.8.12.9473-9478 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:22F8C2CF-F8CD-4430-91BD-A45E1BA55991

 

Editor: Ian Kitching, Natural History Museum, London, UK. Date of publication: 26 October 2016 (online & print)

 

Manuscript details: Ms # 2834 | Received 31 May 2016 | Final received 03 October 2016 | Finally accepted 08 October 2016

 

Citation: Singh, A.P. (2016). Recent records of the Pale Jezebel Delias sanaca sanaca (Moore, 1857) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) from Mussoorie hills, western Himalaya, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(12): 9473–9478; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/jott.2834.8.12.9473-9478

 

Copyright: © Singh 2016. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 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.

 

Conflict of Interest: The author declares no competing interests.

 

 

 

Abstract:   The  western Himalayan sub-species, ‘sanaca’ of the Pale Jezebel, Delias sanaca sanaca, which is  intermediate between the pale form flavalba, dark fromconfusa, was recently recorded, in  the oak forests adjoining Mussoorie hills of Garhwal  after a gap of  about eight decades. Observations are presented on the  past records, specimens, morphological features and sexual dimorphism, ecology, seasonality  of the intermediate or normal form of this sub-species sanaca, that is generally overlooked.

Keywords: Dehradun, Delias sanaca, Dendrophthoe sp., lopping, moist temperate forest, Quercus dialata, Quercus leucotrichophora, Tehri  Garhwal.

 

 

 

The Pale Jezebel, Delias sanaca (Moore, 1857), is known to occur throughout the Himalayan region with its distribution extending to Myanmar. It occurs as four subspecies in the Indian subcontinent. Delias sanaca sanaca Moore, 1857 occurs from Kashmir (Banihal Pass) through Himachal Pradesh (Kangra and Shimla) to Uttarakhand (Garhwal and Kumaon). D.s. oreas Talbot, 1928, is distributed from W. Nepal to Sikkim and Darjeeling. D.s. bhutya Talbot, 1937, is found across Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, and D.s. perspicua Fruhstorfer, 1910, is found in adjoining northern Myanmar (Gasse 2013).

The forms of the Pale Jezebel, D.s. sanaca

The western Himalayan subspecies of the Pale Jezebel, D.s. sanaca, shows morphological variation and exists in three forms: flavelba Marshall, which is pale (Images 1 & 2); confusa Talbot, which is dark (http://www.delias-butterflies.com/groups/species-groups/group-xiv-belladonna-group/delias-sanaca/subspecies-sanaca/; and a third form that is intermediate between the above two, the ‘normal form’ or ‘sanaca’ (Image 3) (Talbot, 1947).

Past records and specimens

The first account of the presence of D.s.sanaca from the western Himalaya comes from Moore (1882), who reported it as Pieris sanaca Moore based on the collections made by J.H. Hocking from the hill station of Dharamsala in Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh. Later, Moore (1903–1905) reported several observations on the species. The collection of Colonel A.M. Lang was noted to include the ‘pale form’ flavelba. Lang regarded this to be ‘very rare’, obtained near Dharin only in a richly-wooded glen, far in the interior of the western Himalaya where he observed it under horse chestnut trees, Aesculus indica, fluttering over the margins of a stream in June. Lang also observed the ‘dark form’ of this species in Mussoorie during May 1868, which he considered to be ‘local’ and an ‘early summer insect’,and recorded the ‘pale form’ in Kunawar (now Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh). Moore (1903–1905) also mentioned P.W. Mackinnon collecting this species in openings of Moru Oak (Quercus dilatata) forest below Nag Tibba, north of Mussoorie town at 5,000ft (1,520m). Mackinnon also observed this species in the latter half of May and the beginning of June at Tehri Garhwal north of Mussoorie town at 8,500ft (2,590m). Moore (1903–1905) also made an observation on a female specimen collected at Mussoorie by Capt. T. Hutton, which was later deposited in the British Museum (now the Natural History Museum, London), and that one specimen of the ‘pale form’ was present in ‘Hewitson’s cabinet’. There are also reports of specimens of D.s. sanaca being ‘plentiful’ during the month of May during 1888, 1894 & 1895 in Mussoorie where they were collected by Mackinnon (Mackinnon & de Nicéville, 1899). Talbot (1947) reported a dead female specimen of D. s. sanaca being collected from the ground in Mussoorie in May 1916 at 5,500ft (1,676m), and that the species was commonly seen from April to June at about 5,000ft (1,520m) in Mussoorie. Talbot (1947) regarded both forms flavalba and confusa as rare. O.C. Ollenbach collected specimens of D.s. sanaca (form flavelba) from Mussoorie (male, 05.06.1916, Image 1) and also from Shimla (female, 08.09.1910, Image 2), which are now housed in the National Forest Insect Collection (NFIC), Forest Research Institute, Dehradun (author’s personal observation). D.s. sanaca was later recorded during June 1929 at Mussoorie (Ollenbach 1930) and also less frequently in June from the ‘Kufri hills’ around Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, just before the rainy season (De Rhe-Philipe, 1931). It was last reported by Wynter-Blyth (1940) as being collected at ‘Bishop Cotton School’, Shimla at 6,500ft (1,950m). There have been no site specific records of D.s. sanaca from Garhwal, or the western Himalaya in general since 1930 (Uniyal 1998; Thakur et al. 2002; Singh 2008; Thakur 2011; Smetacek 2012; Bhardwaj et al. 2012; Qureshi 2014; Singh & Sondhi 2016). The species is currently protected under Schedule I, Part IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Morphology and sexual dimorphism in D. s. sanaca

Talbot (1947) gave a detailed morphological description of the Pale Jezebel and this, together with the illustration (Image 3) in Moore (1903–1905), are still relevant for identification of the ‘normal form’ ‘sanaca’ of this taxon and for the distinction between the sexes, which is not given in recent field guides. In subspecies D.s. sanaca, as identified by Talbot (1947), the upperside of the male has well-developed white markings and the forewing submarginal spots are large and triangular. The submedian stripe is also broad and very distinct in this subspecies. The upperside ground colour of the female is paler brown than in the male. The hindwing of the male has a broad white cell-stripe, pointed proximally and distally, sometimes dusky in the basal half. The submarginal spots in cells 2–6 [currently refered to as cells CuA2, CuA1, M3, M2 & M1 (Scott 1986)] are large and, excepting anteriormost one, somewhat rounded; the inner part is pale yellow over the distal half or less, the proximal half is white, only slightly darkened at the base. The hindwing also has yellow discal spots prominently edged with white; the patch in cell 1c below vein 2 (or currently refered to cell CuA2 below vein CuA2, i.e space between vein 1A+2A and vein CuA2 (Scott 1986) entirely white; the yellow anal spot never entirely separated from the inner yellow area; fold in cell 1c not, or weakly, scaled black distally. The hindwing in the female has more extended white markings than in the male. The inner area distally is yellow white; only distinctly yellow, and then paler than in the male, along the fold in 1c (cell CuA2). The fringe is black in both sexes. Wing expanse of male: 69-94mm; female: 84-96mm.

Ecology

The larval food plants of D. sanaca are believed to be Dendrophthoe spp. and other mistletoes of the family Loranthaceae (Kehimkar 2008). Hence, the species may prefer Moru Oak forest due to the presence of these mistletoes, which are epiphytic on this oak in the ‘moist temperate forest zone’ (Seth 1968) of the western Himalaya. Horse chestnut trees also grow with the Moru Oak and produce panicles of white and yellow flowers during April–May in Mussoorie and provide nectar for this species.

Present records

The author during the course of his surveys in Garhwal recorded D.s. sanaca (normal form sanaca) on three occasions. An account of these observations is presented below.

(i) A male (Image. 4) was photographed at 13:04h on 3 June 2007 at ~2,200m between Buranskhanda and Dhanaulty in Tehri Garhwal district, 20km east of Mussoorie town (Site 1; Image 5). The individual was mud puddling on the ground beside a hand pump along the road in a ‘mixed moist temperate forest’ of Moru Oak, Deodar and Blue Pine (Pinus wallichiana).

(ii) On 22 May 2016, about 9km east of the point of first record, three individuals were recorded together in flight and then mud puddling on wet sand. The habitat (Site 2; Image 6) was a mixed patch of Moru Oak-Deodar forest at ~2000m. The butterflies (Images 7 & 8) were recorded during afternoon (12:30h-14:00h) along a ‘nullah’ with running water on a steep hillside. This locality is 3km north of Suwakholi, on the road to Rotu-ki-beli. Suwakholi is 15km east of Mussoorie Town.

(iii) On 28 May 2016, 20+ individuals were recorded at Site 2, mostly females, but with at least two males, all of the ‘normal form sanaca’ (Images 9 & 10). A few individuals remained perched on oak trees (Images 11) and a few were flying with several Great Black Vein, Aporia agathion caphusa Moore. They were also seen basking in the canopy of Ban Oak (Quercus leucotrichophora), Machilus odoratissima, M. duthiei and flowering horse chestnut trees. Courtship displays were observed with pairs chasing each other around the canopy in cloudy weather at 14:00hr. The species came to the wet ground only during bright sunshine; otherwise the species preferred to fly in shaded ravines along the hillside. Flight times were recorded from 11:00–16:00 hr. This site was visited again on 25 June 2016 to record this species, but they were not observed.

Conclusion

The present findings confirm the occurrence of D.s. sanaca in the western Himalaya in India after a gap of about eight decades. D.s. sanaca occurs more commonly as the normal form ‘sanaca’ rather than as the ‘pale’ or ‘dark’ forms, which are rare. It was observed that in the forested habitats from where D.s. sanaca has been recorded, the oak trees are currently suffering moderate to heavy lopping by local villagers for fodder, which consequently results in removal of the putative food plant of this species, which is epiphytic on these oaks. The study suggests the need for conservation and protection of forested habitats of the Pale Jezebel, D.s. sanaca, in Garhwal, as well as the need to gather more data on this butterfly from the western Himalayan region in general to correctly assess its conservation status.

References

 

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