Catalogue of 1318 new species of butterflies

DEHRADUN: Bhimtal-based butterfly expert on Indian species Peter Smetacek has come up with a catalogue of the butterflies of India. The catalogue features 1,318 new species of butterflies in India, which were not previously known. The research work embodies years of work by 16 experts of which barring four Indian, remaining are from various countries The catalogue also gives details of state wise distribution of the species and sub-species of butterflies.

‘The Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India’ is edited by RK Varshney and Peter Smetacek. Dr Varshney is a retired Additional Director of the Zoological survey of India. He has worked all his life on documenting from literature the butterflies of india.

“For the first time since Independence, we know the exact figure for butterfly species that occur in India which is 1318 species. These belong to six families, the Swallowtails (Papilionidae) 89 species; Skippers (Hesperiidae) 277 species; Whites and Yellows (Pieridae) 92 species; Punches and Judies (Riodiniidae) 19 species; Blues and Hairstreaks (Lycaenidae) 380 species and the Brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae) 461 species.The catalogue will be available as a free download from the site www.researchgate.net by early November,” said Smetacek.

According to Peter Smetacek of the Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal, this book will form the basis of a series of free e-books on Indian butterflies. The first in the series, Papiliionid Butterflies of the Indian Subcontinent, is already available as a free download from the site, www.researchgate.net. Along with his colleague Rajashree Bhuyan of the same institution, Smetacek hopes to complete the series in due course which will fulfill the urgent need for reliable, free information on Indian biodiversity. He said, they would also work on the remaining five families of Indian butterflies in due course.

“Butterflies were identified on the basis of literature records, museum collections and recent publications regarding new species/subspecies, range records etc" he said.

The team of contributors included expert from Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Russia, France, Czeck Republic and Nepal . Laurence G. Kirton from Malaysia is also an author of A Naturalist's Guide to the Butterflies of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Maxim Markhasiov (Russia), an expert on Palaearctic butterflies and, Olivier Pequin (France), an expert on the Whites and Yellows (Pieridae). Motoki Sait is Secretary of the Entomological Society of Japan and an expert on Myanmar butterflies; an authority on Indian butterflies and Colin P. Smith (Pokhara, Nepal), whose work on Nepalese butterflies is very well known.