Chalavara Panchayat Butterfly Observation Report 2017 (Preliminary Survey of Butterflies in an Agro-ecosystem)

Introduction: I have been regularly observing/documenting butterflies of my village for the past four years. This is the report for the year 2017.

Name of Observer: Muhamed Sherif
Period of observation: January 2017 to December 2017.
Location: Chalavara Panchayat, Palakkad District, Kerala (10o82’ N & 76o29’ E);
Total Area: 27.9 sq.km.
Precipitation: Average rainfall for the area received in 2017.

Habitat: Geographically, the village consists of numerous small hills interspersed with paddy fields. Hills and Paddy fields constitute 30% each of the total geographic area. Chalavara is primarily an agricultural village. Even though the area under cultivation has significantly been reduced, rice is still the major crop of our village. There are considerable extends of rubber and coconut plantations also. Except for the paddy fields and some hills, most of the land is divided into numerous homesteads, varying from a few cents to several acres, characteristic of the State of Kerala. Many of the hillocks which are left uncultivated have overgrown with plants and can be best described as degraded/open forests.

Flora: Chalavara holds an impressive diversity of plant life. Some of the important indigenous tree species found in the area are Pterocarpus marsupium, Dalbergia latifolia, Alstonia scholaris, Caryota urens, Borassus flabellifer, Bambusa bambos, Xylia xylocarpa, Zanthoxylum rhetsa, Terminalia paniculata, Syzygium cumini, Casia fistula, Bombax ceiba, Tectona grandis, Macaranga peltata, Bridelia retusa, Morinda tinctoria, Butea monosperma, Strychnos nux-vomica, Mallotus philippensis, various species of ficus, etc.

The ground flora consists of several shrubs and other seasonal herbs including Chromolaena odorata, Wrightia tinctoria, Holarrhena antidysenterica, Ziziphus oenoplia, Mussaenda frondosa, Lantana camara, Calycopteris floribunda, Gloriosa superba, Cyclea peltata, Wattakaka volubilis, Arundinaria sps, Sida rhomboidea, Sida cordifolia, Hyptis suaveolens, Flacourtia indica, various species of Desmodium, Tephrosia purpurea, Mimosa pudica, Tridax procumbens, Biophytum sensitivum, Tragia involucrata, Leea indica, Chasalia curviflora, Rauvolfia serpentina, Ichnocarpus frutescens, etc.

Nectar plants (excluding garden plants):  Some of the wild plants frequented by butterflies for nectaring are Lantana camara, Chromolaena odorata, Hyptis suaveolens, Tridax procumbens, Biophytum sensitivum, etc.

Observations:

116 species of butterflies were observed from Chalavara in 2017 belonging to 84 genera and 6 families.  Nymphalidae is the most represented family with 37 species followed by Lycaenidae of which 34 species were observed.

Out of these 116 species, 83 species were commonly occurring in the area (42 very common and 41 common).  11 species were observed occasionally, 16 species were rarely seen and 6 species were seen only once or twice.

Family-wise distribution:

• Papilionidae – 13
• Pieridae – 10
• Nymphalidae – 37
• Lycaenidae – 34
• Hesperiidae – 21
• Rionidae – 1
• Total – 116

Four new species were spotted in 2017.  The most interesting and exciting experience of 2017 was spotting Tamil Lacewing in my own backyard.  Both the forms of Common Mime were observed for the first time from the area.  A single specimen of Common Imperial and a small population of Restricted Demon were also noted for the first time in 2017 from the locality.

Less numbers of Southern Birdwing and Blue Mormon.  It is interesting to note that in 2017 the numbers of Southern Birdwing and Blue Mormon were considerably decreased.  Both of them were commonly seen in the previous years, Blue Mormon often seeing round-the-year previously.  A population of Yellow Pansy was spotted after a gap of 3 years.

Peak activity was observed during the month of September.  Least activity was obviously during March-April.

In 2017, twenty five species were observed throughout the year.  They are Common Small Flat, Dark Palm Dart, Chestnut Bob, Tailed Jay, Common Mormon, Common Lime, Common Rose, Crimson Rose, Common Grass Yellow, Common Emigrant, Mottled Emigrant, Common Jezebel, Yamfly, Common Pierrot, Quaker, Dark Blue Tiger, Blue Tiger, Common Crow, Common Evening Brown, Common Four ring, Common Baron, Angled Castor, Common Castor, Chocolate Pansy and Lemon Pansy.

Species previously observed from the area but not seen in 2017: Golden Angle, Indian Skipper, Pioneer, Redspot, Double Branded Crow and Painted Lady.

List of Butterflies spotted in 2017 from Chalavara:

VC (Very Common) – Species observed during 80% to 100% of the field visits; C (Common) – 60% to 80%; O (Occasional) – 40% to 60%; R (Rare) – 20% to 40%; VR (Very Rare) – below 20%  (Aneesh KS et al 2013).  Observations were made for at least once a week.

Common names and scientific names are after Paul Van Gasse, 2013.  Malayalam names are after Koodu Magazine, 2014.

More butterfly images from Chalavara can be seen here https://www.flickr.com/photos/wingsnpetals/albums/72157647578377871

Reference:

1. Aneesh, K.S., C.K. Adarsh & P.O. Nameer, 2013. Butterflies of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) campus, Thrissur, Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(9).
2. Kehimkar. I, 2008. The Book of Indian Butterflies.  Bombay Natural History Society.
3. Palot, M.J., V.C. Balakrishnan & S. Kalesh, 2012. An updated checklist of butterflies of Kerala, with their Malayalam names. Malabar Trogon.
4. Paul Van Gasse, 2013. Butterflies of India – Annotated Checklist.
5. കൂട് മാസിക , മെയ് 2014