The City Beautiful is a home to more than 100 species of butterflies including some rare ones. Around 10 rare species of butterflies have been spotted for the first time in the past few months in the City Beautiful.
Categorised rare in the City, the winged beauties namely the Commander Butterfly, Common Map, Anomalous Nawab, Grass Demon, Common Onyx, Indian Feritillary, Silverstreak Blue, Orange Oakleaf Butterfly, Common Palmfly, Baronet and Common Mime have found their way to the lush green landscapes of the city. These eye-catching butterfly species have been spotted by the UT Forest-cum-Wildlife Department photographer and lepidopterologist Kulbhushan Kanwar in Chandigarh.
While strolling through the beautiful gardens of Chandigarh, lepidopterologist Kulbhushan Kanwar have spotted and clicked more than 100 species of butterflies in Chandigarh during his research since 2007. While taking to The Pioneer, Kanwar said that 10 new species have been spotted in Chandigarh in the past few months. Common Map Butterfly was spotted at PU Botanical Garden, Anomalous Nawab at Nepli Forest, Grass Demon in Sector 49, Common Onyx butterfly in Faidan village and Butterfly Park, Indian Feritillary in Sectors 33 and 49 here.
The Silverstreak Blue was sighted in Sector 48, Orange Oakleaf in Sector 48, Common Palmfly at Butterfly Park, Baronet and Common Mime were sighted at various places in Chandigarh, he added. “All these rare species are found in different parts of the country and have found their way to the city in recent times. The butterflies love the city due to low pollution level here,” said he, giving details about Commander Butterfly, which was spotted last month, said that this species, scientifically known as Moduza procris (Cramer) having wingspan of 60 mm to 75 mm, is mainly found in Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal to West Bengal, North-East and Andaman. It is also distributed in Bangladesh, Sri lanka and Myanmar. This butterfly prefers evergreen, semi-evergreen forest, moist deciduous forest having heavy to moderate rainfall.
There are many butterfly species namely Common Mormon, lime, Common Rose, Mottled Emigrant, Common leopard, Green-Veined White and Common Jay which are commonly spotted in Chandigarh.
Also, as many as 45 butterfly species are sighted at the Butterfly Park, Chandigarh. The UT Forest and Wildlife Department has planted more than 50 species of host plants and various nectar plants for development of the Butterfly Park which is very congenial for butterflies’ habitat.
The park spreads over an area of seven acres with a meticulous landscaping. A state-of-the-art glass house to keep various species of winged beauties has also been constructed at the Butterfly Park and natural environment has been created in the glass house by setting up artificial waterfall, rocks and pathways.
Also, various plants which attract butterflies for breeding, is being grown in the glass house. The host plants includes citrus, capparis, alvizia levveck and bael, that are the favourite dwelling units of lime, tiger, pioneer copper, common mormon butterflies among others.