Photographer accidentally discovered a new butterfly species in Sikkim
His passion for clicking pictures of butterflies led Sonam Wangchuk Lepcha from Sikkim to discover a new species of butterfly. Sonam, from Dzongu in Sikkim, Photographing Butterflies Since 2016 he has been sending photos to the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru to identify the insects and upload them on the website ‘Butterflies of India’. In 2020, he sent a photo of a yellow butterfly with brown borders, which was later found to be an unknown species. According to a report in The Hindu, NCBS’s Krushnamegh Kunte said: “While reviewing Sonam’s image, I realized that it was a species previously unknown in India and that, in fact, it could have been a new species. ”
The new species, now named chocolate-bordered flutter, has the scientific name Zographetus dzonguensis. It is named after Dzongu, the place in which it was discovered in North Sikkim. Krushnamegh Kunte told EastMojo, “The Chinese species are similar in general coloration and appearance to the chocolate-bordered flutter, but have a slightly different spotting pattern. The chocolate-brown spots on the hindwing are smaller than those of the Sikkim species, and also have white spots on the forewing.” are more sharply defined. Some of the internal structure of the males also differ between the three species.”
Sonam says that his pastime was not taken up by his relatives and friends to please, and they used to tease him by calling him ‘Butterfly Man’. However, they say that now she is proud of the surname.
A study on the new species was published in the journal Zootaxa. The paper says that the species appears to be very local and
Seasonal, broad-leafed forests of North Sikkim occurring below 1000 m asl in mixed evergreen and semi-evergreen
District Dzongu. The team expects the butterfly to be more widely distributed in other parts of Sikkim and nearby Nepal, northern West Bengal, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh and southeastern Tibet, at similar altitudes.
Photographer accidentally discovered a new butterfly species in Sikkim
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Also Read:- Sikkim government proposes to create two more districts : Report 8 Dec 2021
