Validation report on some studies on Butterflies and their diversity – around Chennai
Nature study Butterflies of Tambaram : a checklist Authors : Dr Gift Siromoney This is the oldest and most comprehensive list for Chennai . All relevant details about the sightings are mentioned . This is one of the most valuable lists for Chennai city as it deals with old records from 1970 to the 1980s . Majority of the sightings are from Madras Christian College . He records few rare species like the South Indian cruiser , southern birdwing , Grey pansy , suffused snow flat , Indian red flash , Tamil bush Brown . He also mentions the presence of the five bar swallowtail and common Nawab . The five bar swordtail was reported in July-August season in 1983 . It would be unfair to include this in the present Chennai checklist without any recent confirmation . No extra notes were made on the Common Nawab . The Anomalous Nawab is more common in the area , hence both could have present at that time . Overall this list is a very important and interesting document which gives us a window into the butterfly diversity at Chennai in 1970-1980 time frame . It is one of the best lists from the city .
Seasonal dynamics of butterfly population in DEA Campus , Kalpakkam , Tamil Nadu , India Authors : - K Jahir Hussian , T Ramesh , KK Satpathy and M Selvanayagam This list was published in 2011 as at the 3 rd Asian Lepidoptera Conservation Symposium . They were able to record 56 species of butterflies , using permanent line transect method of field surveying . The purpose of the study was “ to determine trends in butterfly species constellations and identify their temporal variations , diversity and abundance ”. This is the only study that has used Pearson ’ s correlation analysis to find a correlation between butterflies and abiotic factors . Overall this list was very satisfactory . Some important records include Bright babul blue , Indian cupid , Great orange tip and Common Silverline . Though the list doesn ’ t provide the status of the species , it gives the number of individuals seen throughout the seasons , so the reader can come to a conclusion .
Butterfly studies of Thomas Sathyamoorty Thomas Sathyamooorty , the former curator of the Madras museum , brought out a book on the collection of butterflies kept at the Madras museum . The book has well written text describing the butterflies on display and also has a catalogue from where they were collected . The interesting records from his book include Tamil Bushbrown , Great Orange tip , Indian cupid , Brown Awl and Great orange tip . He had mentioned a record of Dark wanderer from ‘ Madras ’ , which is highly unlikely . The word ‘ Madras ’ is too ambiguous . Does it refer to the ‘ Madras presidency or the city of Madras ? The Madras presidency at one time included most of south India , The date of collection is also missing from the book . Hence , I choose not to include this record for the Chennai checklist .
Diversity of butterflies in Tiruvallur district , Tamilnadu , India Authours : - Prabakaran S , Chezhian Y , Evangelin G , John Willam S The above authors have attempted to study the butterfly diversity at Tiruvallur district . This report was published in 2014 . Some of the errors are very glaring . I doubt the identification of many species . Some of the species are Malabar Raven , Yellow breasted Flat , Common Awl , Dingy scrub hopper , Black prince , Blue king crow , Tamil lacewing , Sullied sailor , Common onyx , Nilgiri grass yellow , Madras ace and Nilgiri clouded yellow are definitively misidentifications as some of these are yet to be properly documented even in the state . Many more are mentioned in the report . Many other records like Kanara swift , painted sawtooth , Indigo flash , Chinese dart , Club beak , Tamil yeoman need photo documentation to prove and uphold their validity . A total of 30 records are disputed from this list . As much as I would like to treat these records as sporadic sightings , they are too suspicious to validate .
Diversity of butterflies in different seasons in north-eastern Tamilnadu , India Authors – Veeramuthu Anbalagan , Savarimuthu Ignachimuthu , Shanmugam Chandarn and Jonad Gunasekaran Errors in this report are very glaring . Few species are not even spotted in Asia like the Brown Pansy , Booklice swift and fiery swift . There are many mistakes in this list , similar to the one before . This list seems to be made based on the list of the previous article . 71 of the 101 species are common and validated . The remaining are controversial and have no supportive data or notes .
Conclusion The city of Chennai has been studied in the past by various groups and individuals . The current study shows more species growth than any of the predecessors , but also sees the disappearance of certain species . The above mentioned lists are all I could collect from the various sources I have . Hopefully my energetic team in Chennai will throw us some surprises .
Editorial Note : The views expressed here are the personal opinion of Mr . Vikas Madhav Natarajan