COIMBATORE: The total number of butterfly species in Coimbatore district increased to 280 following the spotting of Common Tinsel recently. The species was spotted in Boluvampatti during a survey conducted by the Coimbatore Nature Society (CNS) The Nature and Butterfly Society (TNBS), and WWF-India from December 24 to 26. It was sighted in Nilgiris and Salem earlier.
The tiny, 28-32mm butterfly is from the genus Catapaecilma (major) and belongs to the family Lycaenidae, commonly called Blues. It has shiny silver strips and bands in the underwing with cryptic pattern of grey-brown, orange-red, and black. The three pairs of tails and hairy legs add to the magic of a brilliant dark-violet blue upper wing which they open mostly during morning sun-basking exercise.
A Pavendhan, member of TNBS who headed survey, told TNIE, “A single butterfly was sighted in a shade in Boluvampatti. Though the butterfly could be there, we were not able to spot it so far. The butterfly being tiny and a canopy operator is difficult to spot, except during the mornings, when they come down to the ground for basking. Most of our direct observations are interestingly near tea estates where they bask sitting on top of tea leaves, but the current sighting is in natural forest,” he pointed out.
K Sravan Kumar, T Nagaraj, K Sakthivel and K Harikrishnan of The Nature and Butterfly Society (TNBS) recorded presence of the butterfly which was found in abundance in certain locations of the Nilgiris during pre-Independence days.
The butterfly is distributed from Sri Lanka to South East Asia. In Tamil Nadu, they were sighted in the Western Ghats including The Nilgiris and Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) few years ago. In February 2020, it was recorded from Yercaud Hills for the first time in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu during a survey by Salem forest division.