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Garden of Butterflies
Papilionidae
Out of 19 species that are found in Tamil Nadu, 12 of the swallowtail species
have been recorded from the Gardens. The most common among them are
Crimson Roses, Common Roses, Common Mormon followed by Lime Butterfly.
At specific periods of year, Common Banded Peacock and Blue Mormon make
their appearance here. Red Helen is another not so common species recorded a
few times.
The False Ashoka tree which is the host plant to the Jays & Bluebottles and
Swordtail are good in number inside the garden and one would always see
them fluttering and hurrying past the nectaring plants and resting on their host.
They include Southern Bluebottle, Common Jay and Tailed Jay. Spot Swordtail
had also been recorded a few times from here, otherwise a rare species here.
The usual forest dweller, Southern Birdwing, have also made its appearance
here a few times.
Pieridae
22 out of 32 target species have been recorded from the family of Yellows and
Whites. Most species of plains are found here and the ones o miss out are the
forest dwellers and higher elevation species.
On the Grass Yelllows, the One-spot, Common (2-spot) and Three-spot along
with Small grass Yellows are found here. Emigrants at time are plenty , both
Common and Mottled and they breed here. On certain months, they are ex-
tremely hard to find by. The Tips and Salmon Arabs are thoroughly represented
here and in season, one would find White and Yellow Orange-tips dominating
while Great Orange-tips are reasonably found throughout the year. Except Less-
er, all other Albatross are found here including rare and elusive Chocolate. The
Pioneers and Gulls are abundantly noticed during their peak breeding season.
Psyche is always fluttering around too. The wanderer is represented by Com-
mon while Jezebel too is sighted regularly if not in great numbers.
Nymphalidae
From this big family, 36 out of 96 target species have been recorded. Most spe-
cies found are dwellers are plains and they inhabit the forest too.
The Tigers and Crows are one constant reminder whenever one steps into the
Gardens and the Plain Tiger is omnipresent. During migratory season and just
before and after, one would find the Tirumala species and Euploea species are
represented well by numbers and this when the floweri