Extension of the known distribution of the genus Herdonia Walker (Lepidoptera: Thyrididae) to the Yeoor Hills,
Maharashtra, India
Dinesh
Vigneshwar Valke
17/34
Vijaynagari Annex, Ghodbunder Road, Thane, Maharashtra 400601, India
Email: dinesh.valke@gmail.com
Date of
publication (online): 26 September 2011
Date of
publication (print): 26 September 2011
ISSN
0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Peter
Smetacek
Manuscript details:
Ms # o2913
Received 13 August 2011
Finally accepted 30 August 2011
Citation: Valke, D.V.
(2011). Extension of the known distribution of the genus Herdonia Walker (Lepidoptera:
Thyrididae) to the Yeoor Hills, Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(9): 2108.
Copyright: © Dinesh
Vigneshwar Valke 2011. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any
medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate
credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements: I thank Ryan
Brookes, Mahad, Maharashtra, India for identifying the
specimen from the photo, and Peter Smetacek, Bhimtal, Uttarakhand, India for
guiding me in documenting this sighting.
The Thyridid genus HerdoniaWalker occurs from Papua New Guinea (Watson & Whalley 1986) northwards to
China (Hampson 1892) and westwards to the Kumaon Himalaya in the Indian state
of Uttarakhand (Smetacek 2008). In
India, three species belonging to the genus are known to inhabit a narrow belt
along the Himalaya and in northeastern India.
On 19 June 2011, a
single specimen of this moth was photographed in Yeoor Hills, Maharashtra
(19.2431970N & 72.9354630E, elevation 100m) along a
trail in a semievergreen forest in a part of the Sanjay Gandhi National
Park. It was resting on the upper
side of a leaf of a low growing plant during the daytime in the manner characteristic
of the genus (Image 1). The moth
settles with the wings outspread and the forelegs and midlegs extended, so that
it rests at an angle of roughly 600 to the substrate, with the anal
angle of the hind wing and the anal angle of the forewing resting against the
substrate while the costae of the forewings are held at an angle of roughly 600between the verso surfaces.
Many of the members
of this family are local species, suggesting that they require particular
conditions in order to colonise an area. In the Himalaya, members of this genus
are usually found in forested areas with heavy rainfall. They are on the wing very briefly
during the year and are never found in large numbers.
The present record
represents a major extension of the known range of the genus, from the
Himalayan foothills to the northern Western Ghats. The specimen photographed is placed near Herdonia thaiensis Inoue, although it is not possible to place it with
certainty at the species level until at least one specimen is examined.
Since obtaining a
specimen will entail special permissions from various protected areas
authorities, which, as an individual it will be difficult for the author to
obtain and by which time the flying season will certainly be over, the present
report is intended to draw the attention of future workers to the presence of
this elusive genus in the region.
REFERENCES
Hampson, G.F. (1892). Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma -
Moths Vol.1. Dr.
W. Junk, The Hague, 23+527pp.
Smetacek, P. (2008). Moths recorded from different elevations in Nainital
District, Kumaon Himalaya, India. Bionotes 10(1): 5–15.
Watson, A. & P.E.S. Whalley (1983). The Dictionary of Butterflies and Moths in Colour. Peerage Books, London, 14+296pp.