Journal
of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2020 | 12(9): 16180–16182
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5800.12.9.16180-16182
#5800 | Received 23 February 2020 | Final received 29
April 2020 | Finally accepted 27 May 2020
Range extension of the Lilac
Silverline Apharitis lilacinus
to southern Rajasthan and a review of the literature
K.S. Gopi Sundar
1, Swati Kittur 2, Vijay Kumar Koli 3 & Utkarsh Prajapati 4
1,2 Nature Conservation Foundation,
1311, “Amritha”, 12th Main, Vijayanagar 1st Stage,
Mysuru, Karnataka 570017, India.
3,4 Wildlife Research Laboratory,
Department of Zoology, Mohanlal Sukhadia University,
Udaipur, Rajasthan 313001, India.
1 gopi@ncf-india.org (corresponding
author), 2 swatikittur@ncf-india.org, 3 vijaykoli87@yahoo.in,
4 utkarsh41995@gmail.com
Editor: B.A. Daniel, Zoo Outreach
Organization, Coimbatore, India. Date of publication:
26 June 2020 (online & print)
Citation: Sundar, K.S.G., S. Kittur, V.K. Koli & U. Prajapati (2020). Range
extension of the Lilac Silverline Apharitis
lilacinus to southern Rajasthan and a review of
the literature. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 12(9): 16180–16182. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5800.12.9.16180-16182
Copyright: © Sundar et al. 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: No funding
was received for this work.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We thank R. Bhanumati, A.K. Firos, and S. Karthikeyan for several discussions, useful
background information, and unpublished personal observations. This observation was made while on field work
towards understanding Sloth Bear ecology in southern Rajasthan. We thank the Chief Wildlife Warden of
Rajasthan for permits to work in Kumbalgarh Wildlife
Sanctuary and staff for their assistance during the field work.
The Lilac Silverline Apharitis lilacinus
(taxonomy following Varshney & Smetacek 2015) is
an exceedingly rare species of butterfly of the family Lycaenidae
(also referred to as “the blues” or “gossamer-winged butterflies”) that was
first described in 1884 from a specimen with unknown origin (Moore 1884). Little is known of its ecology, distribution,
and conservation status in India. In
this note, we describe a recent observation of the species that constitutes a
range extension. We also provide a
thorough review of literature relating to this species with the intent to
collate dispersed information to develop a better understanding of the
ecological requirements of the Lilac Silverline.
On 18 February 2020, during a
visit to the southern part of Kumbhalgarh Wildlife
Sanctuary in southern Rajasthan, we spotted a lycaenid butterfly sunning itself
perched on a rock in an area that was severely degraded by cattle grazing, with
few scattered trees of Butea monosperma, Lannea coromandelica,
Acacia species, and Mallottus philippensis amid sparse Lantana camara
(Image 1a,b). The butterfly sighting was
<50m from a dried stream bed. We
uploaded images of the butterfly to the online repository iNaturalist.org as an
unidentified Lycaenidae
(www.inaturalist.org/observations/38831801).
Multiple reviewers identified the species as the Lilac Silverline, and
we too confirmed the identification with butterfly experts and with photographs
available on the world wide web. The
specimen we photographed was a dry season form with a part of one wing missing
possibly due to a predation attempt (Image 1a).
This is the first record of this butterfly species from the Aravalli
Hills and is also the first record from Rajasthan State (Sharma 2014; Jangid et al. 2016).
Careful observations for this species throughout the year will help to
confirm if it is resident in the area or a seasonal visitor.
Historic literature points to the
Lilac Silverline always being rare in locations it has been recorded in. Early collections of butterflies include a
few specimens of the Lilac Silverline 40km from Rawalpindi, Pakistan in
November 1885 (described incorrectly as a new species called Azanus uranus;
Butler 1886), and from Mhow in Madhya Pradesh
(described as a new species called Aphnaeus
aestivus; Swinhoe
1886). Very small numbers of the species
have also been collected from Kasauli (Himachal
Pradesh), Malda (West Bengal), Bengaluru (Karnataka)
and north Lakhimpur (Uttar Pradesh) of both the wet and dry forms (Riley
1925). Observations have been made of
the species’ habits at Chandigarh (Punjab), Hardwar (Uttaranchal), and at Palmaner in Chittoor District (Andhra Pradesh; Wynter-Blyth
1957). These early records point to the
species being widespread but always sparse.
More recent observations of the
Lilac Silverline have been few but significant.
The species was rediscovered in Bengaluru after a century by A.R. Nitin
on 23 December 2012 (de Nazareth 2013), and is now regularly photographed
throughout the year, at Hessarghatta Lake with eggs
and caterpillars indicating that the location has a resident breeding
population of the species (Sheshadri et al. 2013;
Sengupta et al. 2020). Another
photographic record was obtained for the first time in northeastern
India in May 2018 in Daying Ering
Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh (Kaman 2018). The Lilac Silverline was also photographed on
25 September 2019 from the Agastya Campus in Chittoor District, less than 60km
from Hesaraghatta Lake in Bengaluru, constituting a
rediscovery of the species in Andhra Pradesh (R. Bhanumati
pers. comm. 2020). The Agastya Campus
has been restored to a scrub-savanna mixture from fallow fields, and only one
sighting of the Lilac Silverline has been made there despite multiple years of
observations for butterflies (R. Bhanumati pers.
comm. 2020).
Both historic and current
observations match the distribution provided by Varshney & Smetacek (2015) for the Lilac Silverline: “Gujarat to
Karnataka; Himachal Pradesh to Assam”.
Our record from Rajasthan adds to the distribution range, and to
existing conclusions that the species is widespread in the Indian subcontinent
(Wynter-Blyth 1957; Varshney & Smetacek 2015;
Sengupta et al. 2020). One-time
observations have been made across India in January, February, May, and
September, and the species is resident in Bengaluru. Available information is therefore inadequate
to comment on the seasonality of the species in other locations.
A few observations are available
of the habitats required by the Lilac Silverline. Wynter-Blyth (1957) notes that the species is
scarce but widespread in open plains, scrubby hills, and in gram fields. Hesaraghatta, where
recent observations of the species have been made, is an urban wetland heavily
disturbed by human activity (Sheshadri et al. 2013),
and the recent sighting in Chittoor is from an institutional campus (R. Bhanumati pers. comm. 2020). Our observation of the Lilac Silverline was
from a heavily degraded part of the Kumbhalgarh
Wildlife Sanctuary (see Image 1). The
observations collectively suggest that the Lilac Silverline frequents a range
of habitats, perhaps most commonly using areas that experience human activity,
including low levels of urbanization, cropping, and cattle grazing. The sightings at Hesaraghatta
and our observation at Kumbhalgarh were made close to
natural water sources suggesting that this species is often found near surface
water.
It is fortunate that the Lilac
Silverline is so widespread and appears to be compatible with several forms of
human disturbance given the high protection status of the species (Schedule II
of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972; Sengupta et al. 2020). In some locations like Bengaluru, the rarity
of this butterfly species has attracted photographers in large numbers whose
traversing of the habitat in vehicles indiscriminately appear to be destroying
its host plant species in the only site where the species is confirmed to have
a breeding population (Seshadri et al. 2013).
Such uncontrolled activities require to be curtailed to enable long-term
persistence of the few known populations of this species. Additional surveys in locations such as Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, especially including
locations that have human presence and are not solely protected areas, are
likely to help provide additional information on the habits and conservation
status of the Lilac Silverline.
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