BENGALURU: Researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) on Thursday released a research paper on the recent findings of a new butterfly species in Karnataka’s Bramhagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, Kodagu.
The butterfly species -- Conjoined Silverline (Cigaritis conjuncta) -- was for the first time found enroute to Iruppu falls in Bramhagiri in 2008, accidentally. Later again in March 2021, it was found by a team of researchers. The samples were collected and studied in detail, said Dr Krushnamegh Kunte, co-author of the paper. A new species of silverline butterfly, Cigaritis Donzel, 1847 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India.
He along with Ashok Sengupta, Ujwala Pawari, and Viraj Nawgel had studied the species. He added that there are around 300 native species of butterflies in Karnataka, some are accidental findings and some others have historical evidence.
The new butterfly is the size of a one rupee coin but is invaluable to conservationists because of the endemic to mid-elevation evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, the paper said. The paper added that the species is described based on five male and four female specimens from Honey Valley, Kodagu district, Karnataka, which is part of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in India.
Cigaritis conjuncta is distinguished from other congeners in India and Sri Lanka, based on the combination of diagnostic characteristics in the male-dorsal forewing outer half, coastal margin, and nearly upper half of the cell black without orange markings, the remaining wing shining deep blue.
Also, the dorsal hindwing tornus is pale orange, and red with two black spots, the ventral forewing bands at the end of the discal cell are conjoined, and the ventral hindwing subbasal and discal bands composed of spots that are not separated but conjoined to form broad bands that have irregular outlines, leaving only a narrow background colour in between.