A Species discovery

[Mrudul Godbole]

Some good news of viewing of a lost Butterfly species -

Rare view of a species lost for 100 years -

When Kushal Choudhury, a lecturer at the Kokrajhar Science College, first saw the stripes on the dark-brown wings of the butterfly, he thought he was dreaming.

Choudhury, on a recent trip to the Chirang Reserve Forest in lower Assam, was looking at the highly endangered Yellow-crested Spangle butterfly (Papilio elephenor), a species which was last seen over 100 years ago.

“My documentation is the first report of this species in Assam after a hundred years and my photograph is the first live photograph in the world other than the specimen kept at the British Museum in London,” Choudhury said.

He will publish his findings in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, considered the Bible of endangered species. “The species is so rare, that it was like a divine experience,” Choudhury added.

This butterfly is endangered worldwide and is included in the Red Data Book of International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Choudhury has been working on butterflies in the Bodo area for the past decade.

The original article can be found at the following link:
Link - http://www.telegraphindia.com/109082...y_11414524.jsp

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good to hear this. It reinforces the belief that we still have lot of species to be discovered or rediscovered. Kudos to Shri Choudhury for rediscovering the species. It should be noted that he has been working in that area for over a decade and then found this. I think a person without the knowledge would have ignored it as any other species.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi