Journal of Threatened Taxa

PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles OPEN ACCESS online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton.

Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Short Communication

Early stages of Nilgiri Grass Yellow Eurema nilgiriensis (Yata, 1990) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), with a note on its range extension in the Kerala part of the Western Ghats, India

Balakrishnan Valappil & V.K. Chandrasekharan

26 June 2020 | Vol. 12 | No. 9 | Pages: 16161–16165 DOI: 10.11609/jot.5365.12.9.16161-16165

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Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2020 | 12(9): 16161–16165 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.5365.12.9.16161-16165

#5365 | Received 28 August 2019 | Final received 02 June 2020 | Finally accepted 08 June 2020

S h o Early stages of Nilgiri Grass Yellow Eurema nilgiriensis (Yata, 1990) r t (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), with a note on its range extension C o in the Kerala part of the Western Ghats, India m m Balakrishnan Valappil 1 & V.K. Chandrasekharan 2 u n i 1 Nest, Santhinagar, Kizhuparamba P.O., Malappuram District, Kerala 673639, India. c 2 Kaniv (Kalathil House), Nhanampoyil, Edakkulam P.O., Kozhikode District, Kerala 673306, India. a 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected] t i o n Abstract: Complete documentaton of the early stages of Eurema related to other species of grass yellows such as nilgiriensis (Yata) on the larval host plant Ventlago bombaiensis E. andersoni (Moore, 1886), E. ormistoni (Walkins, (Rhamnaceae) is presented in this paper. In additon to this, notes on the range extensions of this species in southern Western Ghats in 1925), E. celebensis (Wallace, 1867), and E. beatrix Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, and Palakkad districts in (Toxopeus, 1939), these fve taxa forming a group Kerala is also provided. Field records from the northern Kerala part of the Western Ghats and the complete biology are reported for the frst called the ‘andersoni complex’ (Yata, 1989, 1990, 1991, tme since its descripton in 1990. Photographic records from seven 1992). Of these, E. andersoni and E. nilgiriensis are locatons since 2011 were confrmed by comparing with the original seen in the southern Western Ghats including Kerala, descriptons and in consultaton with the author of the species. Eggs collected from feld were reared at home, and every stage observed Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu (Larsen 1987; Gaonkar is also reported, as well as the discovery of the host plant Ventlago 1996; Kehimkar 2016; Kunte 2018). According to Yata bombaiensis. It is concluded that the species is widespread in forested (1990), E. nilgiriensis shows very distnct morphological areas at elevatons from 70m to 1,000m. characteristcs (wing patern), and the very distnct male Keywords: Eurema andersoni, host plant, Ventlago bombaiensis. genitalia distnguishes it from E. andersoni. Basic morphological identfcaton keys that separate E. nilgiriensis from E. andersoni are given below (Yata The Nilgiri Grass Yellow Eurema nilgiriensis (Yata, 1990). 1990), is a small yellow buterfy belonging to the 1. Male (upperside of the forewing): Ground colour ‘sari’ subgroup of the genus Eurema Hϋbner (1819) yellow. Black distal border broad with its inner edge (Lepidoptera, Pieridae). The species was described more or less irregularly incurved from costa to vein 4, from Nilgiri Hills by Osamu Yata in 1990 from personal much obtuse angled at vein 4, more deeply excavated collectons in Japan (Yata 1990). This species is closely in space 2 than in space 3; while the distal border is

Editor: George Mathew, (Ex) Head, Forest Health Division, Kerala Forest Research Insttute, Peechi, India. Date of publicaton: 26 June 2020 (online & print)

Citaton: Valappil, B. & V.K. Chandrasekharan (2020). Early stages of Nilgiri Grass Yellow Eurema nilgiriensis (Yata, 1990) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), with a note on its range extension in the Kerala part of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(9): 16161–16165. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.5365.12.9.16161-16165

Copyright: © Valappil & Chandrasekharan 2020. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton.

Funding: There was no external funding. All visits and work were self-funded.

Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests.

Acknowledgements: We sincerely thank Dr. Mohamed Jafer Palot of Zoological Survey of India, Pune, who guided and helped us for the completon of the paper. We thank Osamu Yata, Kyushu University, Japan, for his help in confrming the images of Eurema nilgiriensis taken from Kakkayam and for sharing his original paper describing E. nilgiriensis. We are grateful to V.C. Balakrishnan for identfying the larval host plant. We thank Purnendu Roy, Isaac Kehimkar and Krushnamegh Kunte for the guidance and support in identfying the buterfy species. We thank Sasi Gayathri for sharing the images, Vishnu Vijayan (Biologist, Parambikkulam Tiger Reserve), members of Ferns Natural History Society, Wayanad, members of Malabar Natural History Society, Kozhikode, and the staf of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Karimpuzha Wildlife Sanctuary & Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary for their feld support. We extend our grattude to Satheesh Pullat who helped in compiling the plates and text and the reviewers who provided useful comments on previous versions of the manuscript.

16161 J TT Early stages of Nilgiri Grass Yellow Valappil & Chandrasekharan

more deeply excavated in space 3 than in space 2, in E. using a Canon 5D Mark III DSLR with a 100mm macro andersoni (see Image 24–27). lens and a Kenko 1x1.4 teleconverter. 2. Female (upperside of the forewing): Ground colour pale lemon yellow. Black distal border fairly Results and Observations broad with its inner edge oblique and uniform from Early stages costa to vein 4, strongly angled midway, almost right- Female laid eggs on the tender shoots of the host angled at vein 4, more deeply excavated in space 2 plant. The eggs were white and spindle-shaped, having than in space 3; while the distal border is equally a narrow base as in other Eurema species. We collected excavated in both spaces 2 and 3 in E. andersoni. two eggs. The eggs along with the hostplant leaves were kept in closed containers, wiping the condensed Materials and Methods moisture at least twice daily. The same method of While on a usual buterfy watching trip in the keeping the caterpillars and the host plant in closed forested tracts of the Kerala part of the Western Ghats, containers were followed throughout the rearing process we encountered a female Nilgiri Grass Yellow laying to keep the leaves fresh. The containers were cleaned of eggs on a climber in a private plantaton near a stream used up leaves, caterpillar droppings and the moisture at Kakkad (11.494°N & 75.962°E, 50m) near Engapuzha, condensed inside the jar. The transparent container was Kozhikode District, Kerala, on 24 December 2017 at kept on window sill to expose the caterpillars to sunlight. 11.25h. The eggs were collected and reared in closed The eggs hatched afer four days. The small, slender plastc containers at room temperature (25–30°C) with caterpillar (Image 2a, 2b) was creamy white in colour. fresh leaves of the larval food plant. Eggs, various larval Later the colour turned yellow, with the caterpillar restng stages, pupa and the eclosed adult were photographed

Image 6–7. Early stages of Eurema nilgiriensis: 6—Fifh instar larva

16162 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2020 | 12(9): 16161–16165 J TT Early stages of Nilgiri Grass Yellow Valappil & Chandrasekharan

Image 14–15. Imago Eurema nilgiriensis: 14—Upperside | 15— Image 16–21. Earliest feld records of Eurema nilgiriensis: 16— Underside. 14 © Balakrishnan Valappil, 15 © Chandrasekharan V.K. Parambikulam TR | 17—Malabar WS |18—Aaralam WS | 19— Wayanad | 20—Wayanad | 21—Nelliyampathy Hills | 22—Malabar WS | 23—Karimpuzha WS. 16 © Balakrishnan Valappil, 17 © Sasi Gayathri, 18–23 © Chandrasekharan V.K. near the yellowish veins of the tender leaves in perfect camoufage. In the second instar, the caterpillar became greenish-yellow and had a thin lateral longitudinal line a contnuous sufused white patch above, which faded near the legs. In the third instar, the caterpillar turned towards the dorsum. The head was pale green having more greenish and the lateral line became distnct. In the thin dark hairs. There were conical tubercles all over its fourth instar, the caterpillar started eatng semi-mature body with each tubercle bearing a long hair. The longer leaves and rested on the upper side of the leaf along the hairs had drops of a transparent liquid at their tps. The midrib facing the tp. The fnal-instar caterpillar was leaf fnal-instar caterpillar measured 21mm in length. green and the white longitudinal line near the legs had Pupaton took place on the host plant twig kept in a

Table 1. Earliest photographic records of Eurema nilgiriensis in northern Kerala.

Elevaton Date of record Locaton Area Recorded by Figure (in m) 1 05.xi.2011 Peruvannamuzhi 70 Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kozhikode District Sasi Gayathri 17

2 26.xi.2011 Meenmuty falls 150 Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary, Kannur District VKC 18

3 12.x.2013 Kunhome. 741 Wayanad District VKC 19, 20

4 10.x.2016 Kariyanshola 650 Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Palakkad District BV 16

5 30.ix.2017 Kakkayam 755 Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kozhikode District VKC 22

6 13.x.2017 Nelliyampathy 1000 Nelliyampathy Hills, Palakkad District VKC 21 Karimbuzha Wildlife Sanctuary, Nilambur, 7 08.xii.2018 Panappuzha 70 VKC 23 Malappuram District

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2020 | 12(9): 16161–16165 16163 J TT Early stages of Nilgiri Grass Yellow Valappil & Chandrasekharan

Image 24–27. Comparison of Eurema nilgiriensis and Eurema andersoni, 24–25. Eurema nilgiriensis: 24—Underside, phtograph | 25—Upperside, graphic representaton | 26–27—Eurema andersoni: 26—Underside, photograph| 27— Upperside, graphic representaton. © Balakrishnan Valappil.

jar. Before pupaton, the caterpillar shrank and turned translucent green, with the white patch being reduced to a longitudinal line that discontnued at the 4th segment (Image 7,8). The freshly formed pupa was shiny green Image 28–29. Larval food plant of Eurema nilgiriensis: Ventlago and translucent (Image 9,10); it later turned opaque and bombaiensis, Family Rhamnaceae. © Chandrasekharan V.K. solid. It had pale black spots on both sides of the mid- dorsum and pale black blotches on the wing case. The pupal head had a conical pointed projecton, of which descripton, it was found that the morphological features the upper half was white in colour. The pupa measured of the specimen photographed matched with those of E. 16 mm in length. The egg-to-pupa duraton was 28 days. nilgiriensis (Yata 1990). Subsequently, afer a detailed The adult buterfy emerged eight days afer pupaton. review, some previous images that were considered to The total period from egg to adult buterfy was 36 days. be E. andersoni from Western Ghats, Kerala, were found to be E. nilgiriensis, while some recent records are also Larval food plant confrmed as being Eurema nilgiriensis. We atach a Ventlago bombaiensis, Synonym Smythea table for ready reference summarising the confrmed bombaiensis, Family Rhamnaceae; Common name: records based on the external morphology (Table 1). Bombay smythea, Malayalam name: Vembada Valli, These sight records show that the species is very Image 28,29. actve during post-monsoon months, throughout the forested tracts of surveyed localites in Kannur, Kozhikode, Range extension Wayanad, Malappuram, and Palakkad districts of Kerala Since the descripton of this species, no images of from elevatons 60–1000 m in the Western Ghats. These the live buterfy were published untl November 2016. records add to the recently published range extensions This was not due to the rarity of the species, but rather of this species from Kodagu District, Karnataka and all images of the species taken from the Western Ghats Agasthyamalais, Kerala (Sujitha et al. 2019). From the were erroneously identfed as One-spot Grass Yellow (E. above feld records and the records already published andersoni), without detailed scrutny. During an annual (Sujitha et al. 2019), we presume that this species is buterfy survey conducted at Parambikulam Tiger actve from September to May in the Western Ghats, Reserve, Palakkad District, Kerala, in October 2016, BV October–November being the primary season. Males photographed the upperside and underside of a Eurema are ofen found engaged in mud-puddling along banks species from Kariyanshola. With reference to the original of streams and damp soil in well-wooded forests. Both

16164 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2020 | 12(9): 16161–16165 J TT Early stages of Nilgiri Grass Yellow Valappil & Chandrasekharan

Image 30. Field records of Eurema nilgiriensis along with the type locality.

sexes can be found feeding on small fowers and fying Sujitha, P.C., G. Prasad, R. Nitn, D.N. Basu, K. Kunte & K. Sadasivan along sunlit forest paths and along banks of streams, (2019). Current distributon of Nilgiri Grass Yellow Eurema nilgiriensis Yata (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), with an updated taxonomic with females searching for the larval host plants, which key to Eurema of Western Ghats, India. Entomon 44(1): 23–32. are likely to be found on the edges of forest streams. htps://doi.org/10.33307/entomon.v44i1.423 Yata, O. (1989). A revision of the Old World Species of the genus Eurema, Hübner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part I. Phylogeny and References biogeography of the subgenus Terias and descripton of the subgenus Eurema. Bulletn of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural Gaonkar, H. (1996). Buterfies of the Western Ghats, India including History (9): 1–103, 24 plates. Sri Lanka, A Biodiversity Assessment of a Threatened Mountain Yata, O. (1990). A new Eurema Species from South India. ESAKIA System. Report to the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Insttute Special issue No.1. April 20, 1990. of Science, Bangalore, 51pp. Yata, O. (1991). A revision of the Old World species of the Genus Kehimkar, I. (2016). Buterfies of India. Bombay Natural History Eurema Hübner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part II. Descripton of the Society, Mumbai, 176pp. smilax, the hapale, the ada and the sari (part) group. Bulletn of the Kunte, K., S. Sondhi & P. Roy (eds) (2018). Buterfies of India, v. 2.37. Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History (11): 1–51, 21 plates. Indian Foundaton for Buterfies. htp://www.ifoundbuterfies. Yata, O. (1992). A revision of the Old World species of the genus org/. Accessed 25 September 2018. Eurema Hübner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part III. Descripton of the Larsen, T.B. (1987). The buterfies of the Nilgiri mountains of Southern sari group (part). Bulletn of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural India (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera). Journal of the Bombay Natural History (11): 1–77, 30 plates. History Society 84(1): 26–54. Yata, O. & H. Gaonkar (1999). A new subspecies of Eurema andersonii (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) from south India. Entomological Science 2(2): 281–285.

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Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2020 | 12(9): 16161–16165 16165 PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. OPEN ACCESS All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton.

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June 2020 | Vol. 12 | No. 9 | Pages: 15967–16194 Date of Publicaton: 26 June 2020 (Online & Print) www.threatenedtaxa.org DOI: 10.11609/jot.2020.12.9.15967-16194

Communicatons DNA barcode reveals the occurrence of Palearctc Olepa schleini Wit et al., 2005 (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctinae) from peninsular India with morphological variatons Dusky Langurs Trachypithecus obscurus (Reid, 1837) (Primates: Cercopithecidae) in and a new subspecies Singapore: potental origin and conficts with natve primate species – Aparna Sureshchandra Kalawate, Shital Pawara, A. Shabnam & K.P. Dinesh, Pp. 16143– – Andie Ang, Sabrina Jabbar & Max Khoo, Pp. 15967–15974 16152

A new report on mixed species associaton between Nilgiri Langurs Semnopithecus johnii Present status of the genus Sphrageidus Maes, 1984 (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: and Tufed Grey Langurs S. priam (Primates: Cercopithecidae) in the Nilgiri Biosphere Lymantriinae) from India Reserve, Western Ghats, India – Amritpal Singh Kaleka, Devinder Singh & Gagan Preet Kour Bali, Pp. 16153–16160 – K.S. Chetan Nag, Pp. 15975–15984 Early stages of Nilgiri Grass Yellow Eurema nilgiriensis (Yata, 1990) (Lepidoptera: A review of the bacular morphology of some Indian bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) Pieridae), with a note on its range extension in the Kerala part of the Western Ghats, – Bhargavi Srinivasulu, Harpreet Kaur, Tariq Ahmed Shah, Gundena Devender, Asad Gopi, India Sreehari Raman & Chelmala Srinivasulu, Pp. 15985–16005 – Balakrishnan Valappil & V.K. Chandrasekharan, Pp. 16161–16165

Status of the Critcally Endangered Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis (Gmelin, 1789) in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal Notes – Hem Sagar Baral, Tek Raj Bhat, Sailendra Raj Giri, Ashok Kumar Ram, Shyam Kumar Shah, Laxman Prasad Poudyal, Dhiraj Chaudhary, Gitanjali Bhatacharya & Rajan Amin, Breeding site records of three sympatric vultures in a mountainous clif in Kahara- Pp. 16006–16012 Thathri, Jammu & Kashmir, India – Muzafar A. Kichloo, Sudesh Kumar & Neeraj Sharma, Pp. 16166–16169 Observatons on breeding behaviour of a pair of endangered Egyptan Vultures Neophron percnopterus (Linnaeus, 1758) over three breeding seasons in the plains of Punjab, India First distributon record of Elongated Tortoise Indotestudo elongata (Blyth, 1853) – Charn Kumar, Amritpal Singh Kaleka & Sandeep Kaur Thind, Pp. 16013–16020 (Reptlia: Testudines: Testudinidae) from Bihar, India – Arif, Sourabh Verma, Ayesha Mohammad Maslehuddin, Utam, Ambarish Kumar Mall, Additons to the cicada (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadidae) fauna of India: frst report and Gaurav Ojha & Hemkant Roy, Pp. 16170–16172 range extension of four species with notes on their natural history from Meghalaya –Vivek Sarkar, Cuckoo Mahapatra, Pratyush P. Mohapatra & Manoj V. Nair, Pp. 16021–16042 The niche of shrimp stocks (Xiphopenaeus kroyeri Heller, 1862) from southeastern Brazil: a stable isotope approach The perceptons of high school students on the habitat of the crab Ucides cordatus – Keltony de Aquino Ferreira, Leandro Rabello Monteiro & Ana Paula Madeira Di (Linnaeus, 1763) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Ucididae) in northern Rio de Janeiro State, Benedito, Pp. 16173–16176 southeastern Brazil – Laiza Fernanda Quintanilha Ribeiro, Laura Helena de Oliveira Côrtes & Ana Paula Madeira First record of the White Tufed Royal Pratapa deva lila Moore, [1884] (Lepidoptera: Di Benedito, Pp. 16043–16047 Lycaenidae: Theclinae) from Himachal Pradesh, extending its known range westwards – Sanjay Sondhi, Pp. 16177–16179 Woody species diversity from proposed ecologically sensitve area of northern Western Ghats: implicatons for biodiversity management Range extension of the Lilac Silverline Apharits lilacinus to southern Rajasthan and a – M. Tadwalkar, A. Joglekar, M. Mhaskar & A. Patwardhan, Pp. 16048–16063 review of the literature –K.S. Gopi Sundar, Swat Kitur, Vijay Kumar Koli & Utkarsh Prajapat, Pp. 16180–16182 Resolving taxonomic problems in the genus Ceropegia L. (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae) with vegetatve micromorphology A record of gynandromorphism in the libellulid dragonfy Crocothemis servilia (Insecta: – Savita Sanjaykumar Rahangdale & Sanjaykumar Ramlal Rahangdale, Pp. 16064–16076 Odonata) from India – R.V. Renjith & A. Vivek Chandran, Pp. 16183–16186 A checklist of angiosperm fora of low elevaton lateritc hills of northern Kerala, India – K.A. Sreejith, V.B. Sreekumar, P. Prashob, S. Nita, M.P. Prejith & M.S. Sanil, Pp. 16077– Carcass consumpton by Nasuttermes callimorphus (Blatodea: Isoptera) in highland 16098 forests from Brazil – Igor Eloi, Mário Herculano de Oliveira & Maria Avany Bezerra-Gusmão, Pp. 16187– Phytodiversity of chasmophytc habitats at Olichuchatam Waterfalls, Kerala, India 16189 – Arun Christy & Binu Thomas, Pp. 16099–16109 New records of nasutform termite (Nasuttermitnae: Termitdae: Isoptera) from Contributon to the macromycetes of West Bengal, India: 51–56 Meghalaya, India – Diptosh Das, Entaj Tarafder, Meghma Bera, Anirban Roy & Krishnendu Acharya, – Khirod Sankar Das & Sudipta Choudhury, Pp. 16190–16192 Pp. 16110–16122

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