First confirmed sighting of reclusive butterfly at Kawal reserve in Telangana

Officials said the butterfly exhibited features characteristic of a Rathinda amor, such as a coppery-brown upperside and distinct, tailed hindwings.

A shot of the rare monkey puzzle butterfly at Kawal Tiger Reserve Photo | Special Arrangement

ADILABAD: In a first for the region, a monkey puzzle butterfly (Rathinda amor) was sighted in the Kawal Tiger Reserve on Friday morning.

A team of forest officials and staff, led by Mancherial District Forest Officer (DFO) Shiv Aasheesh Singh, observed the butterfly in the newly built butterfly garden in the Chennur Urban Park, Kistampet, during the departmental field survey.

Officials said the butterfly exhibited features characteristic of a Rathinda amor, such as a coppery-brown upperside and distinct, tailed hindwings. The diagnostic “monkey face” pattern on the underside of the hindwings was visible, they added.

Previously, this species has been known from parts of the Western and Eastern Ghats, Odisha, and northeastern India, with only recent records emerging from Pench and Kanha tiger reserves in the central parts of India.