Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2023 | 15(3): 22905–22907

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6490.15.3.22905-22907

#6490 | Received 29 July 2020 | Final received 19 January 2023 | Finally accepted 27 February 2023

First record of Brilliant Flash Rapala melida nicevillei (Swinhoe, 1911) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) to Meghalaya, India

Suman Bhowmik ¹, Atanu Bose ², Jayant Ghanshyam Bhoir ³, Atanu Bora ⁴, Suraj Das ⁵, Shyamal Kumar Laha ⁶ & Ngangom Aomoa ⁷

¹ Lepidoptera Conservation and Research Division, Wild Tripura Foundation, Agartala, Tripura 799007, India.

² Salbari, North Bongaigaon, Bongaigaon, Assam 783380, India.

³ 5/A/13 NMM Society, Kalwa, Thane (W), Maharashtra 400605, India.

⁴ Department of Zoology, Moran College, Moranhat, Assam 785670, India.

⁵ 104 Spandan Building Asdepada, Dombivli East, Maharashtra 421201, India.

⁶ Panchratna CHS, Damodar Park, Ghatkopar (West), Maharashtra 400086, India.

⁷ Department of Physics, Assam Don Bosco University, Assam 782402, India.

¹ sumanbhowmikwildlife@gmail.com, ² atanusays@gmail.com, ³ jayantbhoir2011@gmail.com, ⁴ atanubora2019@gmail.com (corresponding author), ⁵ dascreations786@gmail.com, ⁶ laha_safety@yahoo.co.in, ⁷ aomoa13@gmail.com

Editor: Jatishwor Singh Irungbam, Sphingidae Museum, Pribram, Czech Republic. Date of publication: 26 March 2023 (online & print)

Citation: Bhowmik, S., A. Bose, J.G. Bhoir, A. Bora, S. Das, S.K. Laha & N. Aomoa (2023). First record of Brilliant Flash Rapala melida nicevillei (Swinhoe, 1911) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) to Meghalaya, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(3): 22905–22907. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6490.15.3.22905-22907

Copyright: © Bhowmik et al. 2023. 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: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Rapala Moore, [1881] is a genus in the sub-family Theclinae and family Lycaenidae of the insect order Lepidoptera. The genus accounts for about 19 species in India (Varshney & Smetacek 2015) with distribution from west to east Himalaya including northeastern India, peninsular & central India, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. They are found throughout southern and southeastern Asia, with a few species extending to Australia and into the eastern Palaearctic region, worldwide.

---Rapala melida was first described by de Nicéville, 1895 as Rapala rhoecus with description of two subspecies and their distribution – Rapala rhoecus nicevillei (Northeastern India and Rangoon in Myanmar) and Rapala rhoecus rhoecus (Shan states in Myanmar). Fruhstorfer (1912) described Rapala rhoecus as Rapala melida. In 1932, Evans redescribed this species as Rapala sphinx where subspecies nicevillei described by de Nicevillei was replaced by the synonym sphinx (Rapala sphinx sphinx). In 1962, this species was redescribed by Cantile as Rapala elcia. At present nicevillei is considered as a subspecies of Rapala melida following Swinhoei, 1912 (Van Gasse 2013).

We planned an opportunistic survey on 21 March 2017 to document the butterflies of Khasi Hills District near Dawki (25.1900⁰N, 92.0073⁰E; elevation about 130 m). As usual we were searching butterflies near hills streams, forest edges, grasslands, and supporting vegetations. After surveying about four hours in Dawki, we spotted a Rapala on a sunny patch of the nearby vegetation at about 14.22 h. we took a few photographs of the species including the underside of the butterfly. While searching literature for identification of the species, it exactly matched the original description of Rapala melida (Evans 1932; Rapala sphinx). The species can be easily distinguished from Rapala varuna in having: (a) underside bands on both wings very dark brown, and (b) bands on underside forewing not white-edged. The underside bands of Rapala varuna are not dark brown and bands on forewing are white-edged.

The precise localities from which Rapala melida nicevillei was previously collected is Sylhet, Bangladesh. This species is recorded for the first time in Meghalaya, eastern Himalaya, and is not found in the major historic and taxonomic works done by various authors in the state (Butler 1879; Swinhoe 1893, 1896; Parsons & Cantlie 1948; Cantlie 1952; Radhakrishnan et al. 1989; Alfred 1999; Hatter et al. 2004; Sondhi et al. 2013). We present here the first photograph of the live butterfly of the Indian subspecies.

At present, the exact habitat of Rapala melida is not known in India. But our field observation suggests that the species might be a forest dweller and can be found perching on shrubs and bushes (Image 2). The males like other Rapala species can be seen flashing their bright upperside to mark their presence.

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