2
Garden of Butterflies
The maximum number of species that is sighted in a single visit is 65 in the month of December while the minimum sighting
was in the month of February with just 23 species. The average sightings stood at 42 species. The months of October-
December is the most productive with an average sighting of 57 species. May is the other month where reasonable sighting
was reported.
However, there are certain number of species, which were present throughout the year and except an odd month or so. This
indicated that there exists conducive habitat for these species to thrive in this Garden and they indulge in multi-brood. These
species include the following: Common Rose, Crimson Rose, Common Mormon, Lime Butterfly, Common Grass Yellow, Com-
mon Emigrant, Mottled Emigrant, Common Gull, Psyche, Pioneer, Blue Tiger, Plain Tiger, Common Crow, White Four-ring, Taw-
ny Coster, Chocolate Pansy, Lemon Pansy, Common Lineblue, Forget-me-not and Tiny Grass Blue
Conclusion and Suggestions
For the naturalists and butterfly loving community, the Botanical Gardens is a definite regular stop and one can not only watch
these amazing life forms but also indulge in some breath taking pictures. We sincerely hope the TNAU understands the im-
portance of butterflies occurring here and take all steps to ensure their host plants are not removed and enough nectaring
plants are regularly planted. It may be useful to bring out a Pictorial Guide to this Botanical Gardens which can be nefit com-
mon visitors and can influence them to understand the nature in depth. We also request the camera fees are reduced to
affordable levels at least to the naturalists. We do understand collecting specimens are integral part of curriculum but at time,
the no of specimens collected by students are heart breaking. Even the most successful and very common species like Plain
Tiger takes time to recover from this imbalanced collection.
Acknowledgement
The one-year study was primarily done by A Pavendhan and he is thankful to Mr. Darshan M Trivedi, Mr. CV Nishanth, Mr.
Theivaprakasham H, Mr. Ramanasaran H, Ms. Geethanjali R and Ms. Vinithashri G accompanying him at various point in time.
Whenever the walk is undertaken as a team, the checklists correspond to the team as a total was prepared. Special thanks are
due to Ms. Vinithashri G who has shared her personal account of 74 species. Darshan M Trivedi had contributed with two rare
sightings here– the Chocolate Albatross and Painted Lady. Our thanks are also due to the staff of Botanical gardens who under-
stood our love of butterflies and for the encouragement.
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 2 VEINS 2
20