Guwahati: Known all over as a great religious destination, Kamakhya located in Nilachal Hills is equally known for the flutter of butterflies.
The Hoary Palmer, scientifically known as Unkana ambasa is a species of butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae which looks very similar to moths and has for the first time been spotted at Nilachal Hills.
It was first discovered in 1868 in Java, SE Asia and since then, the species has been recorded in other South Asian countries as well. In India, this species occurs very rarely in the tropical semi-evergreen forests and has been recorded only from Sikkim and Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal.
Moreover, the lack of sampling and the absence of molecular phylogenetic data from their respective type localities make the validity of these subspecies questionable. In India, this species occurs ‘very rarely’ as it has been recorded only from a handful of localities confined to regions in and around the eastern and northeastern states, particularly Sikkim and West Bengal.
Currently, Assam has only a single recent record of U. ambasa based on an egg laid on the top of a leaf that was photographed by Paresh Churi on April 15, 2019 in Rani which necessarily needs further confirmation following methods like rearing.
“However, prior to this observation, no record of this species existed from Assam, allowing us to confirm the occurrence of adult U. ambasa for the first time from the state based on photographic evidence from the Nilachal hills, Guwahati situated on the southern bank of River Brahmaputra in the Kamrup Metropolitan district” Sanath Chandra Bohra who was a part of the team which spotted the butterfly told EastMojo. The discovery has been published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
“While conducting a field survey by Manmath Bharali and Rita Roy for their Master’s dissertation, the two students encountered this adult female basking on the leaf of a low-lying bush on March 11, 2023, at around 13:16 hours, indicating a significant range extension of the species by more than 220 km from its previously known locality. This species adds up to the faunal inventories of Assam for the first time and increases the number of butterfly diversity of Guwahati to 250th species” Sanath Bohra who is associated with Help Earth organization and was a part of the team that spotted the butterfly told EastMojo.
The butterfly was observed perching somewhat perpendicular to partially visible sunlight for approximately 15 minutes on the leaf of a low-lying bush, probably a Boehmeria sp. occurring roughly 1.2 m above the ground, before hovering and flying away towards the bamboo thickets. The Nilachal Hill has a small area of approximately 2.6 sq km representing an overall habitat of significant disturbance due to human settlements with a few undisturbed dense patches in between, comprising of mixed moist deciduous-semi evergreen forests in association with a narrow hill stream surrounded by rocky cliffs, loose soils and small temporary pools.
“We have nearly 200 species of butterflies there including certain rare species…..it’s a great place for butterflies and birds too,” Bohra said.
Researchers associated with the study say findings like these indicate the necessity of further field investigations and research to determine the actual distribution of these lesser-known invertebrates in northeast India.
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