Hapoli, Oct 8: 93 species of butterflies were recorded in the 8th edition of Ziro Butterfly Meet (ZBM) organised on the occasion of the 67th National Wildlife Week celebrations. The Meet, jointly organised by the Hapoli Forest Division and Ngunu Ziro - a local conservation group - concluded at Pange here today. The 8th ZBM was primarily focused on exploring Tale Valley in addition to Pange area of Tale Wildlife Sanctuary for butterflies and moths. A total of 18 species of butterflies were recorded from Tale valley.
Among the important species recorded in the Meet were Brown Forester (Lethe serbonis), which is legally protected in India under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Another important species of skipper butterfly recorded was Manipur Ace (Sovia malta), earlier known to occur only from Manipur and Mishmi Hills. One of the significant findings of the meet was the sighting of Great Hockeystick Sailor butterfly (Neptis aspasia) which was photographed for the second time in Tale Valley after being rediscovered after 68 years from Arunachal Pradesh by Chandrasekharan et. al. (2021) in September 2021. However, the most interesting finding of the Meet was the sighting of the female form of Eastern Courtier butterfly (Sephisa chandra) at Pange which has been photographed in the process of egg laying. This is probably the first photograph of the female of Eastern Courtier from Arunachal Pradesh. This species is legally protected in India under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Other important butterflies seen during the meet were Giant Hopper, White Owl, Yellow Owl, Bhutan Glory, female of Brown Gorgon, Blue Caliph  and three species of Wood Browns.
The total number of sightings of butterflies rose up this year to 93 from 59 recorded in the last edition of ZBM which is an increase of about 58 percent from the last edition. Speaking on the occasion of the closing ceremony at Pange, Abhinav Kumar, DFO Hapoli Forest Division said that the Meet was a grand success in terms of both numbers and uniqueness of the species spotted. Further, Pura Tama, President of Ngunu Ziro, mentioned that efforts will be kept up in the future too for the conservation of butterflies of Tale Wildlife Sanctuary.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
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