Observations on butterflies of non-protected areas of Titabar, Assam, India

: This paper depicts the result of two years study from 2014 to 2016 in non-protected areas on butterflies of Titabar (26.588 N & 94.187 E), Assam, India. During the study period, a total of 158 species of butterflies distributed in six families were recorded, out of which 29 belong to the family Hesperiidae, 17 to Pieridae, 11 to Papilionidae, 38 to Lycaenidae, two to Riodinidae, and 61 to Nymphalidae. Fourteen ‘rare’ species were recorded during the survey as per Evans (1932) such as Athyma ranga, Arhopala paraganesa, Caltoris cormasa, and Appias nero . This indicates the importance of the study and the need for conservation of butterflies of non-protected area of Titabar subdivision in upper Assam.


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Upper Assam, a biodiversity rich zone of the northeastern region is well known for butterflies, having over 400 species of which 1/3 rd are endemic and 1/7 th are protected under various schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 in India (Singh 2017). Notable works have been done in Panbari Reserve Forest (RF), Kaziranga-Karbi hills (Gogoi 2013b(Gogoi , 2015, Jeypore RF, Dehing-Patkai , Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary (WS) (Singh et al. 2015), Dangori RF , and floodplains of Dibru Soikhuwa NP ) in upper Assam. Along with the protected areas (PA), other non PAs like different forests and village woodlands of Assam also provide habitat for different butterfly species. But due to anthropogenic pressures these non PAs are declining in number thus affecting tiny creatures like butterflies.
Doubleday (1865) worked on the butterflies of Jorhat District. Recently, Singh et al. (2015) and Neog (2015) listed the butterflies of Gibbon WS which is the only PA of Titabar subdivision, and Bhuyan et al. (2005) documented the butterflies of the Regional Research Laboratory Campus of Jorhat. Again Saikia et al. (2014) studied the butterfly diversity of the Sericultural Training Institute Campus of Titabar and Dutta (2013) recorded 40 species from Titabar Town area. Our study hasn't included the Gibbon WS. Emphasis has been made to document the butterfly diversity of non PAs of Titabar subdivision to show the significance of non PAs especially in upper Assam and their importance in butterfly conservation in the region. Sericultural Training Institute (26.592 N & 94.172 E), Bebejia (26.586 N & 94.173 E),Kachari Gaon (26.595 N & 94.175 E), Kasojan (26.58 N & 94.17 E),Mejenga Grant (26.597 N & 94.164 E), Bekajan (26.384 N & 94.162 E), Panjan (26.495 N & 94.21 E), Jalukonibari (26.645 N & 94.188 E), Rangajan (26.646 N & 94.223 E).

Survey methods
The survey of butterfly species was conducted in all the major seasons, i.e., pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter.
The survey involved walking through different sites and visual search and photography were conducted on different forest trails, hill streams, village woodlands, grasslands, croplands, and tea gardens between 08.00 and 14.00 hr from May 2014 to June 2016. Some species were also recorded in the early mornings and evenings. The species were Doleschallia bisaltide, and Iraota timoleon. Twentytwo species found during the study are protected under various schedules of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (Schedule I-1 species, Schedule II-17 species, Schedule IV-4 species); however, results indicate poor habitat of butterflies in non PAs of Titabar as only 11 papilionids were recorded during the survey whereas 19 species of papilionids were recorded by Singh et al. (2015) from Gibbon WS.
Notes on 'rare' (Evans 1932)     Tabby Pseudergolis wedah Kollar, 1848: Though a common species as per Evans (1932), it was encountered only once in Panjan on 24 December 2014, found puddling on stones near a hill stream. The species is found in the north-east, Uttarakhand, and Himachal in India.
Forest Pierrot Taraka hamada Druce, 1875: One individual was encountered in a tea garden surrounded by village woodland in Mejenga Grant on 05 January 2015. The species is distributed from eastern Nepal to northeastern India, southeastern Bangladesh, and Myanmar. It is not rare as per Evans (1932).
Straight Pierrot Caleta roxus Godart, 1824: One individual was encountered near a hill stream in Bekajan on 18 January 2015 in the morning. The surrounding area of the spot where the individual was encountered was heavily disturbed by illegal coal mining and saw mills. The species is not rare as per Evans (1932).
Sumatran Dart Potanthus ganda Fruhstorfer, 1911: One individual of this species was encountered in a woodland in Rangajan on 15 March 2015 sitting on a fern in the morning. The species is considered extralimital in Evans (1932). It was identified on the basis of subapical spot. The subapical spot in space 8 is slightly smaller than that of the space 7 and 6 (Corbet et al. 1992;Ek-Amnuay 2012). It is distributed in the northeastern region in India and in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sumatra and Java.

Discussion
Titabar subdivision is rich in its biodiversity due to the edge effect of both plain and hilly areas and being located at the foothills of Nagaland. Gibbon WS is already well known for its floral and faunal diversity including butterflies. Singh (2015) recorded 211 species of butterflies from the sanctuary. Our study added 20 more species of butterflies from the non PAs to the total butterfly diversity of Titabar subdivision. The village woodlands with rich bamboo plantations serve as ideal habitat for the majority of animals, including butterflies. Though during the present survey a total of 158 species were recorded in the non PAs of Titabar subdivision, the final number of butterfly species occurring in the non PAs is more likely to be between 200-250 as some places of Titabar are still unexplored.
The significance of the area from the lepidopteran viewpoint lies in the fact that it harbors one species belonging to Schedule I, 17 species to Schedule II, and four species to Schedule IV of IWPA, 1972. Fourteen rare species, according to Evans (1932) were also recorded here. Again, many species listed as common by Evans (1932) were actually found to be uncommon or rare in this survey. This is probably because of different anthropogenic pressures. The major threat to the butterfly population in this area is the conversion of village woodlands to small and micro tea gardens. Pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals used in these tea gardens may directly affect the number of butterflies by reducing their habitats. A number of illegal coal mining stations and saw mills in the Titabar-Nagaland border pose a big threat to the biodiversity, as well as the butterfly diversity of this area.
Still more work on the butterflies of this area regarding the host plants, habitat, and ecology are required. The results of our study form a baseline for future work on the diversity and conservation of butterflies in Titabar subdivision. www.threatenedtaxa.org The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservation globally by publishing peer-reviewed articles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All articles published in JoTT are registered under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise mentioned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of articles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

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