A preliminary study of the hawkmoth diversity (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) of Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Kanyakumari District is situated at the southernmost tip of peninsular India in Tamil Nadu State and is bounded by the Western Ghats and the coasts of three seas. There are no detailed historical records of the moths of this region, which, before India’s independence, was part of Travancore State. This paper presents a brief account of the 27 species of hawkmoths of Kanyakumari District, recorded during surveys conducted from 2011-2015, and is the first formal record of the hawkmoths of this region. A list of the species from the collection of the Natural History Museum, UK, collected in the erstwhile Travancore State that are likely to be found in the Kanyakumari region is also included.
Article Details
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
References
Bell, T.R.D. & F.B. Scott (1937). Sphingidae. Fauna of British India 5: 1–537.
BirdLife International (2018). Important Bird Areas factsheet: IBA-IN279-Suchindram Therur, Vembanoor. http://www.birdlife.org Accessed on 5th November 2018.
Butler, A.G. (1875). Descriptions of thirty-three new or little-known species of Sphingidae in the collection of the British Museum. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1875: 3–16.
Cotes, E.C. & C. Swinhoe (1887). A Catalogue of Moths of India. Pt. 1. - Sphinges. The Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 40pp.
Krishnan, M.G. (ed.) (1995). Gazetteers of India. Tamil Nadu State, Kanyakumari District, Madras, 2pp.
Gurule, S.A. (2013).Taxonomic study of moths Lepidoptera Heterocera from North Maharashtra India. PhD Thesis. Department of Zoology, Savitribai Phule, Pune University, vi + 252 pp. + 36 pl.
Gurule, S.A. & S.M. Nikam (2013). The moths (Lepidoptera: Heterocera) of northern Maharashtra: a preliminary checklist. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(12): 4693–4713. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2555.4693-713
Hampson, G.F. (1893). The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma, Moths - Vol 1. Taylor and Francis, London, 527 pp.
Haxaire, J. & T. Melichar (2013). Cinq nouveaux Sphingidae asiatiques (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). The European Entomologist 4(3): 156–164.
Holloway, J.D. (1987). The Moths of Borneo (Part 3); Lasiocampidae, Eupterotidae, Bombycidae, Brahmaeidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae. Southdene Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 163 figs+20pls+199pp.
Inoue, H., R.D. Kennett & I.J. Kitching (1997). Moths of Thailand, vol. 2 Sphingidae. Chok Chai Press, Bangkok, 149 pp., 44 col. pls.
Kitching, I.J. (2018). Sphingidae Taxonomic Inventory. http://sphingidae.myspecies.info/ Accessed on 5 November 2018.
Melichar, T. (ed.) (2012). Official Report on the Sampling of the Sphingidae Family in the State of Karnataka. Sphingidae Museum, PÅ™Ãbram, Czech Republic. 275 pp.
Melichar, T., M. ŘezáÄ, H.B. Manjunatha & I.C. Horecký (2014). A new species of the genus Acosmeryx Boisduval, 1875 (Lepidoptera, Sphingidae) from the southern part of India. The European Entomologist 6(3): 181–187.
Menon, K.P. & Padmanabha (1929). History of Kerala, Vol II, Ernakulam, Cochin Government Press, pp. 284- 285.
Moore, F., T. Horsfield & F. Moore (1858). A catalogue of the lepidopterous insects in the Museum of the Hon. East-India Company. Wm H. Allen & Co. Pp. 1-14, 17-278 + iv (appendix) + 11 (index).
Pittaway, A.R. & I.J. Kitching (2014). Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic. http://tpittaway.tripod.com/china/china.htm Accessed on 5 November 2018.
Rehamathulla, S.A. (1970). Working-Plan, the Kanyakumari Forest Division from 1968-1977, Madurai, 2pp.
Rothschild, L.W. & K. Jordan (1903). A revision of the lepidopterous family Sphingidae. Novitates Zoologicae 9 (supplement): 1–972.
Shubhalaxmi, V. & N. Chaturvedi (1999). Abundance and distribution of moths of the families Saturniidae and Sphingidae in Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 96(3): 379–386.
UNESCO Declaration of Western Ghats as a World Heritage site. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1342: Accessed on 5 November 2018.