ISSN 0972- 1800

VOLUME 21, NO. 4 QUARTERLY OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 2019

Date of Publication: 28th December, 2019

BIONOTES A Quarterly Newsletter for Research Notes and News On Any Aspect Related with Life Forms

BIONOTES articles are abstracted/indexed/available in the Indian Science Abstracts, INSDOC; Zoological Record; Thomson Reuters (U.S.A); CAB International (U.K.); The

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Founder Editor Published by Dr. R.K. Varshney, A Biologists Dr. R.K. Varshney, Confrerie, Raj Bhawan, Manik Chowk, Ex- Additional Director, Aligarh (up to volume 20 (2018)) R.N.I. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata Registration No. 71669/99.

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From Volume 21 Published by the Entomological Society of India (ESI), New Delhi (Nodal Officer: V.V. Ramamurthy, ESI, New Delhi) And Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal Executive Editor: Peter Smetacek Assistant Editor: Shristee Panthee Butterfly Research Trust, Bhimtal

Cover Photo by Peter Smetacek of a Salassa mizorama Moth Vol.21 (4), December, 2019 BIONOTES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXTENSION OF THE KNOWN DISTRIBUTION OF THE COMMON GEM BUTTERFLY PORITIA HEWITSONI (: ) TO BASTAR, CHHATTISGARH by Anupam Sisodia & Ravi Naidu 105 FIRST RECORD OF LAUGHING DOVE (SPILOPELIA SENEGALENSIS LINNAEUS, 1766) (COLUMBIFORMES) IN SIKKIM, EASTERN HIMALAYA by Prem K. Chhetri, Thinlay Namgyal Lepcha, Bijoy Chhetri & Kusal Gurung 106 CONFIRMATION OF PALE GREEN AWLET BURARA GOMATA (LEPIDOPTERA: HESPERIIDAE) FROM EASTERN NEPAL by Sanjaya Raj Tamang, John Lhomi Nuppa, Pratik Pandeya, Shristee Panthee & Bandana Subedi 109 ADDITIONS TO THE AVIFAUNA OF ATHGARH FOREST DIVISION, CUTTACK, ODISHA, EASTERN INDIA by Arajush Payra, Suraj Kumar Dash, Himanshu Shekhar Palei & Arun Kumar Mishra 112 (LEPIDOPTERA: PAPILIONOIDEA) OF CHHATTISGARH, INDIA by Anupam Sisodia 116 FIRST REPORT OF PHACOPTERON LENTIGINOSUM BUCKTON, 1896 (INSECTA: PSYLLOIDEA: PHACOPTERONIDAE) FROM ODISHA, INDIA by Ashirwad Tripathy 142 RECORD OF MYCALESIS ADAMSONI (WATSON, 1897) (LEPIDOPTERA: NYMPHALIDAE) FROM POKHARA AND GODAVARI, NEPAL Shristee Panthee, Mahendra Singh Limbu, Bandana Subedi, Sanjaya Raj Tamang & Amrit Poudel 145 BUTTERFLIES FEEDING ON HUMAN BLOOD: FIRST OBSERVATION FROM INDIAN REGION by Arajush Payra, Gaurab Nandi Das, Monsoon Jyoti Gogoi & Bitupan Boruah 146 FIRST REPORT OF THE GENUS CALLEREBIA BUTLER, 1867 (LEPIDOPTERA: NYMPHALIDAE: SATYRINAE) FROM MIZORAM, INDIA by Lallawmsanga & Lalsiampuii Tocchawng 150 NOTES ON TAXA OF THE SALASSA LEMAII GROUP (LEPIDOPTERA: SATURNIIDAE) WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES FROM MIZORAM, INDIA by Stefan Naumann & Esther Lalhmingliani 152 SATURNIA ROSALATA NAUMANN & NASSIG (LEPIDOPTERA: SATURNIIDAE) IN UTTARAKHAND: AN ADDITION TO THE INDIAN FAUNA by Shristee Panthee & Peter Smetacek 159 TWO NEW SPECIES OF LOEPA MOORE (LEPIDOPTERA: SATURNIIDAE) FROM THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT by Stefan Naumann & Peter Smetacek 161 BRAHMEA HEARSEYI WHITE, 1862 (LEPIDOPTERA: BRAHMAEIDAE) IN ODISHA, INDIA Sandeep Mishra & Peter Smetacek 171

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Vol. 21 (4), December, 2019 BIONOTES BUTTERFLIES FEEDING ON HUMAN BLOOD: FIRST OBSERVATION FROM INDIAN REGION ARAJUSH PAYRA1,*, GAURAB NANDI DAS2, MONSOON JYOTI GOGOI3 & BITUPAN BORUAH4 1Ramnagar, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India, Pin-721441 [email protected] 2Bokakhat Town, Golaghat, Assam, India, Pin- 785612 3Scientist-B, Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, Mumbai 400001, Maharashtra, India 4Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India-248001

Reviewer: Peter Smetacek Key Words: Assam, North-east India, feeding behaviour, Lycaenidae, Hesperiidae, attractants, odour. Abstract: The first case of Indian butterflies Germany during July 2007, where two feeding on human blood is reported from Nymphalidae butterflies Erebia ligea Assam. (Linnaeus, 1758) and Erebia pronoe (Esper, Introduction 1780) were observed to feed on fresh blood Adult butterflies obtain nutrition and mineral from a woollen sock (Blood feeding butterflies supplements from nectar and pollen of 5362.JPG., 2018). From the Indian sub- flowers, overripe fruits, tree sap, human region, no butterflies have been reported to perspiration, excreta (faeces, scat, dung, feed upon blood. Especially, members of droppings and urine), decaying flesh of dead Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae have never been , and puddle on mud (Wynter-Blyth, observed to feed upon blood. Here we report 1957; Boggs & Jackson, 1991; Plotkin & for the first time blood feeding by two Goddard, 2013; Kehimkar, 2016; Bodri, Lycaenidae butterflies zalmora 2018). A Nymphalid butterfly, Dryas iulia (Butler, [1870]) and alecto (C. (Fabricius, 1775) has also been reported to Felder, 1860); and one Hesperiidae butterfly feed upon tears (lacryphagy) of caimans (de la angulata (C. & R. Felder, 1862) Rosa, 2014). In the tropical region many from North-eastern region of India. nocturnal moths (largely males) belonging to The Panbari Reserve Forest (26°36'N & Pyralidae, Erebidae, Geometridae, 93°30'E) is protected under the Kaziranga Thyatiridae, Notodontidae, and Sphingidae, National Park and the Reserve forest comes were reported to feed on wounds and under the Golaghat and Karbi Anglong lachrymal fluid from the eyes of large districts of Assam. The average elevation of mammals, including humans (Krenn, 2010). this Reserve forest is ranges from 80- 360m. In Lepidoptera, only adult male Calyptra The undisturbed semi-evergreen forest and moths (ten out of seventeen described species) forest streams of this reserve provide suitable are well-known for blood-feeding or habitat for butterflies. This reserve forest is hematophagy. These moths pierce the skin, home to 116 of Lycaenidae (Gogoi, 2015) and with the help of proboscis and then suck the 137 species of Hesperiidae (Gogoi, 2013). blood from the host mainly from large Observation mammals, including humans (Snyder, 2016). During a butterfly survey in Panbari Reserve Previously, butterflies feeding on human Forest on 7.x.2014 at about 12:30 pm we blood was only reported from Bavaria, observed two individuals of Lycaenidae 146 Vol. 21 (4), December, 2019 BIONOTES butterfly N. zalmora and J. alecto were come wounds or simply the blood to feed upon is to feed on fresh blood, which had flowed onto still unknown to us. Studies show that the the first author’s shoe (Fig 1 & 2). Due to leech blood odour component trans-4,5-epoxy-(E)- bites on legs, the shoes were soaked in blood 2-decenal (TED) produces behavioural and for this reason, the shoes were taken off responses in large predators, which acts as an and places by a forest trail while we rested. attractant (Pettersson et al. 2018). It is not Butterflies that were attracted to the blooded known whether the odour of blood serves as shoes were observed to feed on the blood for an attractant for butterflies. The butterflies about five minutes, and then we moved on observed feeding on blood in the present note along the forest trails in search of butterflies. were previously known only to feed on nectar After that, at about 1:00 pm we observed and damp soil patches, not on decaying flesh another Hesperiidae butterfly O. angulata or other sources of minerals (Wynter- come to feed on the blood of the second Blyth, 1957). If they were attracted to fresh author's leg. At first, it had been fluttering blood, then they can obviously digest it, too. around the second author’s body, then it Therefore, feeding on blood by these finally settled on the bleeding wound on his butterflies may prove as a significant leg) (Fig 3). observation to carry out further investigation Discussion on the natural history of such butterflies, as In Lepidoptera, blood feeding by the Calyptra well as feeding preferences among the moths was hypothesised as a salt acquisition Papilionoidea. strategy, to increase their mating success References (Zaspel et al. 2011). Here, in case of our Blood feeding butterflies 5362.JPG. 2018. present observation we can assume that, to Wikimedia Commons, the free media acquire salt and sugar, these butterflies came repository. Retrieved 21:17, October 31, 2019 to feed on blood. As the blood contains from sodium and sugar, which are known to be https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php important for butterflies. Other than sodium ?title=File:Blood_feeding_butterflies_5362.J and sugar, blood also contains essential PG&oldid=312000195. minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, Bodri, M. S. 2018. Puddling Behavior of iron, zinc, copper, etc. But no experiment has Temperate Butterflies: Preference for Urine of been carried out, to find out mineral Specific Mammals?. The Journal of the preference of butterflies other than sodium and Lepidopterists' Society 72(2): 116-121. sugar of blood. According to Otis et al. (2006), the butterflies Boggs, C.L. & L.A. Jackson. 1991. Mud at a puddling site attract other butterflies for puddling by butterflies is not a simple matter. puddling at that site. But how the first butterfly Ecological Entomology 16: 123–127 is attracted to the puddling site remains a de la Rosa, C. L. 2014. Additional mystery. Recently, Inoue et al. (2019) observations of lachryphagous butterflies and hypothesized that odours emitted from the bees. Frontiers in Ecology and the decaying materials such as ammonia, Environment 12(4): 210-210. hydrogen sulphide and organic acids may Gogoi, M.J. 2013. Notes on some serve as attractants for butterflies to puddling butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from sites. Many butterflies use floral scents or Panbari Forest and its adjoining areas, fermentation odour to locate flowers and Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong, upper Assam, overripe fruits (Ômura & Honda, 2009; India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(13): Sourakov et al. 2012). But how they locate an 4759–4768. animal or a human being with bleeding 147 Vol. 21 (4), December, 2019 BIONOTES Gogoi, M.J. 2015. Observations on lycaenid a Blood Odor Component in a Mesopredator, butterflies from Panbari Reserve Forest and the Meerkat (Suricata suricatta). Frontiers in adjoining areas, Kaziranga, Assam, Behavioral Neuroscience 12: 152. northeastern India. Journal of Threatened Plotkin, D. & J. Goddard. 2013. Blood, sweat, Taxa 7(15): 8259–8271. and tears: a review of the hematophagous, Inoue, T. A., F. Yukuhiro, T. Hata, S. I. sudophagous, and lachryphagous Lepidoptera. Yamagami & F. Yokohari. 2019. Ammonia as Journal of Vector Ecology 38 (2): 289-294. a puddling site-marshaling substance for Snyder, J. L. 2016. Investigations on the Japanese Papilio butterflies. Chemoecology vampire moth genus Calyptra Ochsenheimer, 29(4): 1-12. incorporating , life history, and Kehimkar, I. 2016. Butterflies of India. bioinformatics (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, pp Calpinae). Open Access Thesis. 897. xii+ 528. Sourakov, A., A. Duehi & A. Sourakov. 2012. Krenn, H. W. 2010. Feeding mechanisms of Foraging behavior of the blue Morpho and adult Lepidoptera: structure, function, and other tropical butterflies: the chemical and evolution of the mouthparts. Annual Review of electrophysiological basis of olfactory Entomology 55: 307-327. preferences and the role of color. Psyche ( Ômura, H. & K. Honda. 2009. Behavioral and 2012): 1–10. electroantennographic responsiveness of adult Wynter-Blyth, M.A. 1957. Butterflies of the butterflies of six Nymphalid species to food- Indian Region. The Bombay Natural History derived volatiles. Chemoecology 19:227–234. Society, Bombay, India, 523pp. Otis, G.W., B. Locke, N.G. McKenzie, D. Zaspel, J. M., S. J. Weller & M. A. Branham. Cheung, E. MacLeod, P. Careless & A. 2011. A comparative survey of proboscis Kwoon. 2006. Local enhancement in mud- morphology and associated structures in fruit- puddling swallowtail butterflies (Battus piercing, tear-feeding and blood-sucking philenor and Papilio glaucus). Journal of moths in the subfamily Calpinae (Lepidoptera: Behavior 19: 685–698. Noctuidae). Zoomorphology 130: 203- 225. Pettersson, H., M. Amundin & M. Laska. 2018. Attractant or Repellent? Behavioral Responses to Mammalian Blood Odor and to

Fig.1: Fig.2: Jamides alecto

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Fig.3: 1870

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