New nymphalid butterfly records from Jammu & Kashmir , India

For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies and Guidelines visit http://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Article Submission Guidelines visit http://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientific Misconduct visit http://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints contact <info@threatenedtaxa.org> Note New nymphalid butterfly records from Jammu & Kashmir, India

India is home to 461 species of butterflies belonging to the largest family Nymphalidae (Varshney & Smetacek 2015;Kehimkar 2016).A number of reports on the range extension of butterfly species are consistently pouring in from the states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab of the northwestern Himalaya, but the information on the distribution and range extension of butterflies in the northern Himalayan state of Jammu & Kashmir is scanty and equivocal.The Jammu region of Jammu & Kashmir offers a wide range of habitats from the alluvial plains of the Ravi and Chenab in the south to the moderately elevated Shiwaliks, Pir-Panjal, and Great Himalaya northwards, bordering Kashmir in the north and Ladakh in the northeast.While a good account of butterfly fauna is available for Kashmir (Home 1938;Mani & Singh 1962;Das et al. 1964;Das & Verma 1965;Qureshi et al. 2014) andLadakh (Meinertzhagan 1927;Tshikolovets 2005;Sidhu et al. 2012;Sondhi et al. 2017), only a few records are available from the Jammu region (Sharma & Sharma 2017a,b, 2018).During the surveys conducted in the Jammu Shiwaliks, Sharma & Sharma (2017a) reported three new nymphalid butterfly species for the state and these included Polyura agraria, Athyma perius and Lethe europa.
Targeting a wide area, the butterfly surveys were conducted in different landscapes across sub-tropical and temperate climatic regimes, viz., Kalidhar and Dalhori forests, Rajouri District (west), Mansar-Surinsar-
Remarks: Three individuals were spotted nectaring on the water pepper plant Polygonum hydropiper L. along the banks of lake Mansar (32.693 0 N & 75.149 0 E, c. 665m), Samba District, on 22 October 2017.Five individuals were noted mud-puddling on the moist sandy bed of a seasonal stream near Manwal (32.801 0 E & 75.140 0 E, c. 575m) in Udhampur District on 28 October 2017 (Image 1).Three individuals were again sighted on the same day in an adjacent stream.The species, though widely distributed across the Himalaya with its known western distribution up to Himachal Pradesh (Kirti et al. 2016;Anonymous 2018a), was recorded for the first time from the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
Remarks  Remarks: On the bright sunny afternoon of 23 October 2017, a female individual (Image 3a) was seen hovering over a gregarious Mentha longifolia L. growth near marshy slopes of Pranoo (32.113 0 N & 75.575 0 E, c. 1,020m), Bhaderwah.A male individual was spotted perched on a rocky boulder near Nalthi (32.937 0 N & 75.712 0 E, c. 2025m), Bhaderwah, on 18 May 2018 (Image 3b).The species has a widespread distribution across the Himalayas, with its western extent reported up to Bandli Wildlife Sanctuary, Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh (Anonymous 2018b).This is the first sighting of the species from this part of the northwestern Himalayas and thus is a new record for the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
Remarks: An individual was seen basking over a sandstone along a small rivulet near Dalhori (32.
Remarks  Sheikh first recorded the species on 22 January 2016 (Choker et al., 2018) from Environmental Park, Jammu (32.729 0 N, 75.904 0 E, c. 475m).The species has so far been reported up to Datyar in Solan District of Himachal Pradesh (Choker et al. 2018) and thus is an addition to the butterfly fauna of Jammu & Kashmir State.
: On the sunny evening of 04 June 2018, an individual of Himalayan Yellow Coster was spotted basking over a leaf of Debregeasia hypoleuca Gaudich (Image 2a) along a perennial stream near Batote (33.110 0 N & 75.340 0 E, c. 1,390m) on the Jammu-Kishtwar State Highway.On scanning the area further up along the stream, we noticed sluggish swarms of Himalayan Yellow Coster butterflies hovering and intermittently sitting over Debregeasia hypoleuca Gaudich and Girardinia palmata Blume shrubs .Two days later, on 06 June 2018, a few pairs were observed mating (Image 2b) while a few others were spotted laying eggs On 19 June 2018, we visited the spot again and observed the ventral surface of D. hypoleuca Gaudich leaves loaded with eggs along with a few freshly emerged caterpillars (Image

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Map of the study area showing locations of butterfly records 299 0 N & 74.453 0 E, c. 1125m), Rajouri, on 21 July 2017.A group of five individuals was again sighted in a dumpy vegetated location near Kalidhar (33.050 0 N & 74.646 0 E, c. 810m), Jammu District, on 20 October 2017 (Image 4).On the same day two individuals were again spotted basking over the leaves of Ficus auriculata Lour, two others sitting on dung, and one observed in continuous low flight.Taslima Sheikh also recorded the species from Chenani (33.041 0 N & 75.279 0 E, c. 1,185m), Udhampur District, on 14 August 2017.Karmakar & Sarkar (2018) have reported the westernmost extent of the species up to Mcleodganj in Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh, and this could be a possible missed record or a range Image 2c.Himalayan Yellow Coster Acraea issoria issoria (eggs and caterpillars) Image 2 a. Himalayan Yellow Coster Acraea issoria issoria (male) © Neeraj Sharma Image 2b.Himalayan Yellow Coster Acraea issoria issoria (mating pair) extension of the species and thus is a new addition to the butterfly fauna of Jammu & Kashmir State.