Assamrsquos lsquoDark Sapphirersquo butterfly flutters its wings in Ursquokhand

  • | Wednesday | 19th September, 2018

At present, more than 550 species of butterfly exist in Uttarakhand, according to the state forest department. Nainital: A species of butterfly, commonly known as ‘Dark Sapphire’ and hitherto found only in Sikkim and Assam, has been spotted in Nainital for the first time. We need more butterfly enthusiasts, especially students to explore its fauna and flora. Uttarakhand is a potentially good habitat for butterflies. The species, whose biological name is Heliophorus indicus, was spotted by a team of the state forest department and a group named ‘Walk in the Woods’ which works for wildlife conservation.This is the first record of this butterfly in western Himalayas, said the state forest officials.Shankar Kumar, statistical officer, Kumaon division, forest department told TOI, “It is a big success.

Nainital: A species of butterfly, commonly known as ‘Dark Sapphire’ and hitherto found only in Sikkim and Assam, has been spotted in Nainital for the first time. The species, whose biological name is Heliophorus indicus, was spotted by a team of the state forest department and a group named ‘Walk in the Woods’ which works for wildlife conservation.This is the first record of this butterfly in western Himalayas, said the state forest officials.Shankar Kumar, statistical officer, Kumaon division, forest department told TOI, “It is a big success. Uttarakhand is a potentially good habitat for butterflies. We need more butterfly enthusiasts, especially students to explore its fauna and flora. We are making some concrete efforts in this direction.”The butterfly was spotted and clicked by Kumar at Nalena village of Nainital district on September 17 this year while leading a team of butterfly enthusiasts along with Paramjit Singh, former principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF).“This species must have been here but the reason it has been spotted so late is due to lack of proper field surveys. In near future, such type of field surveys would be organised thoroughly in collaboration with the state forest department,” said Singh, former PCCF of the hill state.Kapil Joshi, chief conservator of forests, Kumaon division congratulated the team members and said that the department would cooperate in any such future endeavours.The team spotted a total of 65 butterfly species in the area. At present, more than 550 species of butterfly exist in Uttarakhand, according to the state forest department.

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