Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2020 | 12(3): 15387–15390
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5467.12.3.15387-15390
#5467 | Received 15 October 2019 | Final
received 28 January 2020 | Finally accepted 03 February 2020
Occurrence and association of the
Scarce Lilacfork Lethe dura gammiei
(Moore, [1892]) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) with Woolly-leaved Oak Quercus lanata Smith, 1819 (Fabaceae) forest in the Kumaon region of the Indian Himalaya
Arun P. Singh 1 & Tribhuwan
Singh 2
1,2 Entomology Branch, Forest
Protection Division, Forest Research Institute (ICFRE), P.O. New Forest,
Dehradun,
Uttarakhand 248006, India.
1 ranoteaps@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 treebhoovana@gmail.com
Editor: Sanjay Sondhi, Titli Trust, Dehradun,
India. Date of publication: 26 February
2020 (online & print)
Citation: Singh, A.P. & T. Singh (2020). Occurrence and association of the
Scarce Lilacfork Lethe dura gammiei
(Moore, [1892]) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) with Woolly-leaved Oak Quercus lanata Smith, 1819 (Fabaceae) forest in the Kumaon region of the Indian Himalaya. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(3): 15387–15390. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5467.12.3.15387-15390
Copyright: © Singh & Singh 2020. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: ICFRE, Dehradun.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The current findings are part of
a ICFRE research project entitled “Butterflies associated with different forest
types/sub-types in Uttarakhand (FRI-627/FED-44; 2017-2021)” being
carried out at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. The authors are thankful for the assistance
received from Rohit Kumar in the field.
The Scarce Lilacfork
Lethe dura (Marshall, 1882) occurs as five subspecies. The subspecies L.d.
gammiei (Moore, [1892]) has a
distribution extending from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh including Bhutan and northeastern India with males being “not rare” while
females being “very rare”; the nominate subspecies L.d.
dura (Marshall, 1882) occurs in northwestern
Yunnan, China (Huang 2003), Myanmar from Shan states up to Dawnas
and is “very rare”; while the third subspecies L.d.
mansonia (Fruhstorfer,
1911) occurs in Myanmar but only in Dawnas as “very
rare” (van Gasse 2017) and in northern Vietnam; the
fourth subspecies moupiniensis (Poujade, 1884) is known from western China; and the fifth
subspecies neoclides Fruhstorfer,
1909 occurs in Taiwan
(http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/nymphalidae/satyrinae/lethe/).
Besides, there are records during May from Karen Hills and Tenasserim
region of Myanmar (Marshall & de Nicéville 1882;
Talbot 1947). In the Himalaya, the
subspecies L.d. gammiei
is found in Sikkim (Teesta Valley at ~1,500m and from Gangtok
to Dikchu), Bhutan (Trashiyanstse;
1,500–3,000 m), Arunachal Pradesh, hilly forests of northeastern India (Khasi
Hills), from 1,800–2,200 m with a flight period from April to November (Evans
1932; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Sbordoni et al. 2015; Kehimkar 2016; van Gasse 2017)
(Fig. 1). A specimen of L.d. gammiei from
Sikkim (1 male) was collected by O.C. Ollenbach on
04.vii.1920 which is kept at the National Forest Insect Collection (NFIC),
Forest Research Institute, Dehradun (Fig. 2 a&b). There are records of L.d.
gammiei from Kalimpong
in West Bengal, western Sikkim, and Cherrapunjee in
Meghalaya (https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/).
The larval food plant of the species is not yet known. D’Abrera (1985)
(Figs. 3a,b), however, reports its occurrence from northwestern India, Sikkim,
and Bhutan, but there are no site specific records of L.d.
gammiei from either Garhwal
or Kumaon regions of Uttarakhand in western Himalaya
(Mackinnon & de Nicéville 1899; Hannyngton 1910; Singh & Sondhi
2016; Sondhi & Kunte
2018) or in Nepal where its congener, the Lilacfork L.
sura Doubleday, 1850 is known to occur (Smith
1989, 2006). The species is currently
protected and is listed in Schedule I, Part IV, of the Indian Wildlife
Protection Act, 1972 (Anonymous 2006).
During the course of surveys in
Uttarakhand, two males of L.d. gammiei were observed at Dharamghar
forest area (Figs. 4a,b, 5; 29.8680N & 80.0070E;
1,989m; sub-type 12/C1a Ban Oak Quercus leucotrichophora
Forest; 22oC; 76% RH at 09.25h on 16.ix.2019) in Pithoragarh
District of Kumaon in Uttarakhand. The forest is dominated by Woolly-leaved Oak Quercus
lanata Smith, 1819 (Riyanj)
in pure patches (tree density ~1500 trees/ha; GBH varying from 30–131 cm; mean
GBH of oak trees 67cm) and also with other associates like Q. leucotrichophora, Rhododendron arboreum,
Myrica esculenta, and Aesculus indica. Three more individuals of L.d. gammiei were recorded near Shama
Village (29.9710N & 80.0460E; 2,039m; sub-type:12/C1a
Ban Oak Forest (Fig. 5); 26oC; 68% RH at 13.30h on 18.ix.2019) in Bageshwar District, Uttarakhand. The forest being dense and dominated by Quercus
lanata intermixed with other associates like Q.
leucotrichophora, Alnus
neplanesis, Rhododendron arboreum,
Viburnum sp. Strobilanthus sp., and Colquhounia sp.
Our observations suggest that in
northeastern Kumaon, this species seems to be
associated with Quercus lanata Smith (syn. Q.
lanuginosa D.Don) which
has overlapping distribution extending from Kumaon in
Uttarakhand eastwards to Arunachal Pradesh, through Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and
extends into Myanmar; it grows gregariously in patches often associated with
Ban Oak Q. leucotrichophora between
1,400–2,400 m in western Himalaya. Q.
lanata has glabrous leaves when mature (Brandis
1911; Osmaston 1927; Polunin & Stainton 1989).
The distribution of Q. lanata in the Kumaon region falls under the forest type 12/C1, lower
western Himalayan temperate forests as per Champion & Seth’s (1968)
classification.
The current findings are the
first site specific records of L.d. gammiei from the Kumaon
region of the Himalaya and its unique association with Woolly-leaved Oak Q. lanata. These
are also the first published records of the species from northwestern Himalaya
confirming its occurrence in Uttarakhand.
For
figures & images - - click here
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