New Lycaenid 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 Lycaenid butterfly records from Jammu & Kashmir, India

The Jammu region of the Himalayan state of Jammu & Kashmir has been the least explored for butterflies and there is a substantial lack of information on their habitat range and distribution except for few scattered reports (Sharma & Sharma 2017).The Jammu region offers a wide range of habitats contained in different geographical and climatic regimes ranging from the southern alluvial plains of Ravi and Chenab to the moderately elevated Shivaliks, Pir-Panjal and Great Himalaya further northwards bordering Kashmir in the north and Ladakh in the north-east.The recent reports on new records and range extension suggests that the region is least explored and underrepresented in terms of butterfly fauna in comparison to the neighbouring states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
Remarks: A female individual (Image 1) was spotted sitting on a rock during an overcast afternoon on 13 June 2016 at Marwah (2,800m), Kishtwar.The species has not been recorded anywhere from the region afterwards.Eastern Blue Sapphire shows an established distribution across the Himalaya, particularly the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand states and thus could be a possible range extension of the species.
Remarks: One individual was spotted near a spring beside a small market at Bhambla (680m), Rajouri District.The individual kept flying over the Ipomea pes-tigridis L., a climber before settling down for nectar feeding over the flower heads of Tridax procumbens L. (Image 4).The authors again recorded this species from G.G.M. Science College (320m) and Environmental Park (340m), Jammu as well.The species has its recorded distribution till Himachal Pradesh and thus could be a range extension further northwards to the state of Jammu & Kashmir Brown Onyx Horaga albimacula viola (Moore, 1882) Known distribution until this study: India (Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh), Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Kehimkar 2014(Kehimkar , 2016;;Varshney & Smetacek 2015;Smetacek 2016;Anonymous 2018d;Sondhi & Kunte 2018).
Remarks: One individual was spotted in the botanical gardens (320m) of Government Gandhi Memorial Science College, Jammu on a sunny morning on 13 November 2017.The individual, a fast flier, suddenly dropped from the nearby plantation to settle over the leaf of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G.Don (Image 5) for a few seconds before flying away to be never seen again.The species has so far been recorded until Himachal Pradesh and thus a new record for the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
Remarks: A female individual was spotted basking on Mallotus philippensis (Lam.)Muell.Arg.near Kalidhar (750m), Rajouri on 22 October 2017.A male was again spotted swiftly flying and finally settling on a Ficus benghalensis L. leaf on 28 December 2017.Another male (Image 6) was spotted in the Environmental Park (340m), Jammu on 20 January 2018.The earlier reports on distribution of the species restrict it to Himachal Pradesh and its sightings around Jammu thus confirms the range extension and thereby an addition to the butterfly fauna of Jammu & Kashmir.
Gasse 2013; Kehimkar 2014, 2016; Varshney & Smetacek 2015; Smetacek 2016; Sondhi & Kunte 2018; Anonymous 2018b).Remarks: An individual was spotted flying swiftly in open scrub interspersed with Chir Pine trees near Chwkichoura (950m), district Jammu on 20 October 2017 (Image 2).The individual kept flying around the Chir Pines intermittently and sitting on the leaves of Carissa opaca L. shrub.It was photographed in the field and identified as bright sunbeam butterfly.During our visit on 22 October 2017, we again encountered an individual, this time a few kilometers away near Kalidhar (820m) sitting with closed wings over a sedimentary rock, for salts probably.The species has so far been reported from the adjoining state of Himachal Pradesh and thus could be a possible range extension and a new record for Jammu & Kashmir State.Known distribution until this study: India (Chitral, Himachal Pradesh) (van Gasse 2013; Varshney & Smetacek 2015; Smetacek 2016; Sondhi & Kunte 2018; Anonymous 2018c).Remarks: One individual was spotted sitting on Pteris biaurita L. in a patch of pure Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jacks.near Bhaderwah on 24 June 2016 at an elevation of 1,750m.Another individual (Image 3) was spotted basking over a leaf of Rumex nepalensis Sprengel on a sunny afternoon on 09 July 2017 near village Massu (2,750m) Paddar, Kishtwar District.Not common, it is the first confirmed report of its distribution in Jammu & Kashmir State.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Study area showing locations of new butterfly records