Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 May 2024 | 16(5): 25273–25275
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8848.16.5.25273-25275
#8848 | Received 22 November 2023 | Final received 13 February 2024 |
Finally accepted 05 April 2024
New record of Giant Redeye Gangara thyrsis thyrsis (Fabricius, 1775)
(Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from Garhwal
region of western Himalaya, India
Ankita Singh Sajwan
1 & Arun
Pratap Singh 2
1,2 Forest Entomology Discipline,
Forest Research Institute (FRI-ICFRE), P.O. New Forest, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
248006, India.
1 sajwan.ankitasingh@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 ranoteaps@gmail.com
Editor: George Mathew, Alappuzha, Kerala, India.
Date of publication: 26 May 2024 (online & print)
Citation: Sajwan, A.S. & A.P. Singh (2024). New record of
Giant Redeye Gangara thyrsis
thyrsis (Fabricius,
1775) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from Garhwal region of western Himalaya, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(5): 25273–25275. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8848.16.5.25273-25275
Copyright: © Sajwan & Singh 2024. 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: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
The Giant Redeye, Gangara thyrsis thyrsis is the largest skipper with a wingspan of 70–76
mm, known for its quick darting flight, and occurring in the Indian peninsular
region (Evans 1932). G. thyrsis prefers
lowland forests and plantations having a flight period from January to December
(Kehimkar 2016). It is an elusive butterfly owing to its
crepuscular habit. G. thyrsis occurs as four
subspecies – clothilda (Herrich-Schaffer,
1869) is endemic to Ceylon (Sri Lanka); thyrsis
(Fabricius, 1775) has distribution extending in
peninsular India from Maharashtra to Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and in northeastern
India from West Bengal to Sikkim & Arunachal. In northwestern India it has
been reported only from Delhi & Kangra in
Himachal Pradesh and also from Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Evans 1949); pandina (Evans, 1949) inhabits Java in Indonesia;
and philippensis (Fruhstorfer,
1911) is found in Philippines (Evans 1932; Kehimkar
2014, 2016; Vashney & Smetacek
2015). G. thyrsis has also recently been
reported from Chitwan National Park in central Nepal where it is ‘very rare’
and during April & August preferring ‘riverine’ and ‘sal
forests’ habitats (Smith 1997). A single visual record of G. thyrsis during August 2015 is known from Pawalgarh Conservation Reserve, Nanital
District and another one from Champawat District in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand (Sondhi
& Kunte 2018). However, there is no other record
of its occurrence within the Garhwal region of
Uttarakhand and recent surveys have failed to record this species in the state
(Singh & Sondhi 2016; Singh 2021).
Present observations
On 24 October 2023, G.t. thyrsis (Fabricius, 1775) was
recorded in the New Forest Campus of Forest Research Institute (30.3368° N
& 77.9994° E; 663 m; 1035 h; Temp. 23.5° C; RH 43%), Dehradun, India. Only
one individual was recorded, feeding on refuse along the roadside in a forested
area. As it could not be properly identified on the wing, the specimen was
collected, pinned, and preserved in the laboratory for further identification
(Image 1a,b). This specimen was later identified as
G.t. thyrsis on comparison with a museum
specimen of G.t. thyrsis from Khasi Hills,
Assam, India kept in the National Forest Insect Collection (NFIC) at the Forest
Research Institute, Dehradun (Image 2a,b).
G. thyrsis is identified by some of its
distinctive features like relatively large body size, large wine-red eyes,
large quadrate semi-transparent yellow spots and three smaller apical spots on
forewings and the underside of both wings dusted with grey scales forming
distinct bands (Evans 1932; Kehimkar 2016). It is
different from Palm Redeye, Erionota thrax (Linnaeus, 1767) which also occurs in its
distribution range and is more common but lacks three apical spots on the
forewings besides the absence of dusting of grey scales undersides of both
wings (Kehimkar 2016) (Images 1 & 2).
Furthermore, another individual
of G.t. thyrsis had been previously observed
feeding on refuse in the Vasant Vihar residential
area (30.3285° N & 78.0006° E; 660 m; 07.vii.2023) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand
at dusk.
The larval host plants of G.t.
thyrsis belong to the family Arecaceae
(Robinson et al. 2010), i.e., Calamus sp., Calamus pseudofeanus, C. thwaitesii,
C. rotang, Caryota
urens, Chamaerops
humilis, Cocos nucifera (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte
2000, 2006; Robinson et al. 2010), Coryphaum
braculifera, Licuala grandis,
Licuala chinensis, Phoenix acaulis, P. loureiroi
(Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000, 2006; Nitin et al.
2018) (Arecaceae); Zingiber
officinale (Zingiberaceae)
(Kalesh & Prakash 2007); and Cyperus
alternifolius (Cyperaceae)
in Bengaluru (Saji et al. 2018). Robinson et al.
(2010) have also reported Saccharum officinarum (Poaceae) as its
unconfirmed larval host. In the New Forest Campus (botanical garden &
plantations), a variety of larval host plants can be found. Notably, species
such as Calamus spp.,
Phoenix acaulis, Caryota
urens, Phoenix rupicola, Sabal domingensis are present, providing a favourable environment for the potential breeding of G. thyrsis.
This is the first known authentic
record of G.t. thyrsis from the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India.
For figure
& image - - click her for full PDF
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