ISSN 1809-127X (online edition) © 2010 Check List and Authors Chec List Open Access | Freely available at www.checklist.org.br Journal of species lists and distribution pecies s of Butterfly (Rhopalocera) fauna of Maharashtra Nature ists L Park, Mumbai,1 Maharashtra,2 India Ninad B. Raut * and Anand Pendharkar 1 Wildlife Institute of India. P. O. [email protected] no. 18. Chandrabani, Dehradun-248 001. Uttarakhand, India. 2 SPROUTS, 4/68 Tarun Bharat Society. Chakala, Andheri (East). Mumbai- 400 099. Maharashtra, India. * Corresponding author. E-mail: Abstract:

Mumbai, one of the largest metro cities in the world, holds rich biodiversity in few green fragmented natural or manmade habitats. One such habitat is the Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP). MNP is located in a highly polluted area of Mumbai; this was a dumping ground for nearly 26 years. In 1983, it was restored into a semi-natural forest with the initial technical inputs from World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India). Presently, this nature park supports a rich biodiversity but lacks proper documentation. Such information is essential as the park serves as an important study area for many schools, college students and for many nature lovers. Previous documentation has reported 38 butterfly species from the park. The present study carried out from June 2005 to November 2005 has documented 53 species belonging to five families from MNP.

Introduction 2 The park is spanning over 0.14 km (37 acres) area. Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) It is situated in the “H” Block of Bandra-Kurla Complex constitutes of two districts, viz. Mumbai City and2 Mumbai (Bandra-Sion Road) on the Southern bank of Mithi River. Suburban spanning over an area of 437.71 km . Besides According to MMRDA, which is the governing body of MNP, being a denselyviz populated and polluted city, Mumbai the park harbors 38 different butterfly species. It also holds rich biodiversity. There are many green pockets in hosts about 280 different species of angiosperms, 80 of Mumbai, . Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, Bombay birds and 25 of amphibians and reptiles (Monga 2005). Port Trust Garden, Aarey Colony, Maharashtra Nature The average temperature in summer varies between Park (MNP) and a part of Sanjay Gandhi National Park 30-32° C while the average winter temperature variesAegle (SGNP). Although the biodiversity is rarely mentioned betweenmarmelos 16-18°ArtabotrysC. The hexapetalous average annualBauhinia precipitation racemosa in connection with green areas such as parks, gardens B.is variegata 2160 mm.Cassia The vegetationfistula C. tora of mainlyDuranta includes plumeri Ficus etc., documentation of local biodiversity is important to benghalensis, F. racemosa F. religiosa, Lantana camara, develop proper conservation plans. Very few studies have Polyalthia longifolia, Saraca, asoka, Tamarindus indicus, been carried out in Mumbai to document the butterfly Terminalia arjuna, Vitex, nigundo , , diversity. Aitkin and Comber (1903a; b) reported 95 , , , species from Mumbai and its surroundings, Best (1951) Data Collection and . reported 105 species from Bombay and Salsette. Kurve and Pejavar (2004) documented 41 species of butterflies from Bandodkar College Campus located in the city of Thane The Maharashtra Nature Park area was surveyed whereas Kurve and Patwardhan (2005) documented 56 from June 2005 to November 2005 to assess the diversity species from the same locality. Both these areas fall in the of butterflies in the manmade forest. The requisite district of Thane which is adjacent to Mumbai. But there permissions were obtained through proper paper work are no recent studies for such small nature parks or urban from the concerned authorities of MNP to carry out the areas in Mumbai. The present study, therefore, stands study. important through which the butterfly diversity of one of Pollard walk method (Pollard 1977; Pollard and Yates Materialsthe green pockets and Methods from Mumbai has been documented. 1993) was followed for observing butterflies, i.e., walking Study Area along the fixed paths while recording and counting the species. The observation width was limited to about 5 m. Butterflies were observed during sunny days (net =al. 24) from Maharashtra Nature Park (19°03’ N, 72°51’ E and 8:00 h to 12:00 h once in a week. They were identified in 19°05’ N, 72°51’ E) (Figure 1) was one of the garbage the field using field guides by Gunathilagaraj (1998), dumps or landfills. When it reached to its capacity, Mumbai Kunte (2000) and followed classification given by Gaonkar Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) Results(1996). and Discussion decided to restore it ecologically. Thus, the restoration was started by MMRDA with the help and inputs from the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) in Fifty-three species of butterflies belonging to five 1983 and continued for nine years. It is probably the first families (Table 1 and 2) were recorded during the study. exampleCheck Listof manmade| Volume 6 | Issue forest 1 | 2010 in the city of Mumbai. Nymphalidae was the richest family, comprising 022 23 Raut and Pendharkar | Butterfly (Rhopalocera) fauna of Maharashtra Nature Park, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

nitida Neolamarkiana cadamba, Mitragyna parviflora, Mussaenda frondosa Eleusine registered species (43 %) followed by Pieridae (13 species, sps., Oplismenus(Moraceae); composits Nerium oleander 25 %), Lycaenidae (10 species; 19 %), Papilionidae (5 Pongamia pinnata (Rubiaceae); Plumbago species; 9 %) and Hesperiidae (two species; 4 %) (Figure zeylanica (Poaceae);Bryophyllum pinnatum 2). (Apocynaceae); Curcuma (Fabaceae); The diversity and abundance of species is highly (Plumbaginaceae); correlated with the availability of food plants in the (Crassulaceae); spp. (Zingiberaceae). surroundings (Kunte 2000) and therefore, more studies Despite the fact that butterflies travel in searching for will help the management and conservation of the park’s food, it will be interesting to study whether butterflies diversity. Occurrence of maximum number of species in the locally migrateet al. from the natural forest of SGNP to this family Nymphalidae could be the result of high availability manmade forest or vice versa. A very recent study of food plants in the study area. Fourteen different larval (Gokarnkar 2008) in the same region has recorded food plants belonging to seven angiospermic families are 56 species of butterflies and therefore there is merely fed by Nymphalids butterflies, where as Papilionids feed any chance to say that present study was affected by ‘July on eight food plant species belonging to two families. 2005’Table 1. deluge. Butterfly families and their number of species recorded in Maha- Pierids feed on six food plant species, belonging to four rashtra Nature Park, Mumbai. families, where as LycaenidsAnnona feed on squamosa,two plants Artabotrysbelonging Family Number of species hexapetalus,to two families Polyalthia and Hesperiids longifolia feed on single food plant.Aegle marmelos,Larval food Citrus plants limon, include Murraya panniculata, M. koenighii, Feronia limonia Cassia(Annonaceae); fistula, Cassia tora, Papilionidae 5 Loranthus ; Pieridae 13 Pithecellobium dulce(Rutaceae); Capparis spinosa, Lycaenidae 10 (Caesalpiniaceae);Cleome viscosa spp.Ricinus (Loranthaceae) communis Calotropis(Mimosaceae); gigantea Nymphalidae 23 Ficus racemosa, F.bengalensis,(Capparidaceae); F.religiosa, F. montana, F. Hesperiidae Total 532 (Euphorbiaceae), (Asclepiadaceae),

Figure 1.

Map of Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP) [The box on map of India only represents the districts of Mumbai in a small part of which Maha- rashtra Nature Park is located].

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Table 2.

Butterfly checklist of Maharashtra Nature Park, Mumbai Family Common Name Scientific Name Papilionidae Graphium doson Graphium agamemnon Jay, Common Papilio demoleus (C & R Felder, 1864) Jay, Tailed Papilio polymnestor (Linnaeus, 1758) Lime Butterfly Papilio polytes (Linnaeus, 1758) Pieridae Mormon, Blue (Cramer, 1775) Mormon, Common Appias albina (Linnaeus, 1758) Catopsilia pomona Albatross, Common Catopsilia pyranthe(Boisduval, 1836) Emigrant, Common Eurema hecabe (Fabricius, 1775) Emigrant, Mottled Eurema brigitta (Linnaeus, 1758) Grass Yellow, Common Cepora nerissa (Linnaeus, 1758) Grass Yellow, Small Delias eucharis (Cramer, 1780) Gull, Common Hebomoea glaucippe(Fabricius, 1775) Jezebel, Common Ixias pyrene (Drury, 1773) Orange Tip, Great Anaphaeis aurota (Linnaeus, 1758) Orange Tip, Yellow Leptosia nina(Linnaeus, 1764) Pioneer Colotis amata (Fabricius,1793) Psyche Pareronia valeria(Fabricius,1793) Lycaenidae Salmon Arab, Small (Fabricius,1775) Wanderer, Common Caleta caleta (Cramer,1776) Castalius rosimon Pierrot, Angled Talicada nyseus(Hewitson,1876) Pierrot, Common Tarucus nara (Fabricius,1775) Pierrot, Red Leptotes plinius (Guèrin-Mènèville, 1843) Pierrot, Rounded Jamides celeno(Kollar, 1848) Blue, Zebra Pseudozizeeria maha(Fabricius,1793) Cerulean, Common Actolepis puspa(Cramer, 1775) Grass Blue, Pale Freyeria trochylus (Kollar, 1844) Hedge Blue, Common Spindasis vulcanus(Horsefield, 1828) Nymphalidae Jewel, Grass (Freyer, 1845) Silverline, Common Euthalia aconthea (Fabricius, 1775) Euthalia nais Baron, Common Ariadne ariadne (Cramer,1777) Baronet Ariadne merione(Forster,1771) Castor, Angled Moduza procris (Linnaeus,1763) Castor, Common Acraea violae (Cramer, 1779) Commander Hypolimnas misippus (Cramer, 1777) Coster, Tawny Hypolimnas bolina(Fabricius, 1793) Eggfly, Danaid Melanitis leda (Linnaeus, 1764) Eggfly, Great Euploea core (Linnaeus, 1758) Evening Brown, Common Phalanta phalantha(Linnaeus, 1758) Indian Crow, Common Kallima horsfieldii(Cramer, 1780) Leopard, Common Cynthia cardui (Drury, 1773) Oakleaf, Blue Junonia orithya (Kollar, 1848) Painted Lady Junonia atlites (Linnaeus, 1758) Pansy, Blue Junonia hierta (Linnaeus, 1758) Pansy, Gray Junonia almana(Linnaeus, 1763) Pansy, Lemon Charaxes solon(Fabricius, 1798) Pansy, Peacock Neptis hylas (Linnaeus, 1758) Rajah, Black Tirumala limniace(Fabricius, 1793) Sailer, Common Parantica aglea(Moore, 1872) Tiger, Blue Danaus chrysippus (Cramer, 1775) Tiger, Glassy Danaus genutia (Stoll, 1782) Hesperiidae Tiger, Plain (Linnaeus, 1758) Tiger, Striped Hasora chromus(Cramer, 1779) Borbo cinnara Awl, Common Banded (Cramer, 1782) Swift, Rice (Wallace, 1866) Check List | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | 2010 024 Raut and Pendharkar | Butterfly (Rhopalocera) fauna of Maharashtra Nature Park, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Bombay Natural History Society Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) – A Biodiversity Assessment 50: of331-339. a threatened mountain system. Gaonkar, H. 1996.

Bangalore: Report submitted to the Centre for Ecological Sciences. 86 p. Proceedings Gokarnkar,of the Seminar P., S. V. Chorgheon Wonderful and A.World Rajbhor. of Insects. 2008. Butterfly Diversity of Maharashtra Nature Park; p. 63-64. In: Athalye, R. P. (Ed.) Thane: Department of Zoology,Some VPM’s Indian B.N. Bandodkar Butterflies. College. Gunathilagaraj, K., T.N.A. Perumal, K. Jayaram, and M. Ganeshkumar. 1998. Butterflies of peninsular Udhagamandalam: India (India: Nilgiri A Lifescape). Wild Life and Environment Association. 274 p. Kunte, K. 2000. Hyderabad: Universities pressInsect (India) Environment Limited. 272 p. Kurve, P. and M. Pejavar. 2004. ButterfliesComparative of B. study N. Bandodkar of butterflies college from urbanizedcampus, Thane, zone, Maharashtra.degraded forest and core forest in 10 and (3): around 104–105 Thane Kurve,city P. and A. Patwardhan. 2005.

. Mumbai: MaharashtraMinor project Naturesubmitted Park-back to the University to Nature of Mumbai. Figure 2. Familywise species encountered in 72 p Monga, S. 2005. . Mumbai: Maharashtra Nature Nature colors.Biological 58 p. Conservation ParkAcknowledgments: Pollard, E. 1977. A method for assessingMonitoring changes Butterflies in the for abundance ecology and of Conservation.butterflies. 12: 115–153. We are thankful to Avinash Kubal, Deputy Director Pollard, E. and T. J. Yates. 1993. of MNP Society, for providing the necessary permissions and to Vikram London: Chapman and Hall, London. 274 p. LiteraturePawar for digitizing Cited maps. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society Aitkin, E. H. and E. Comber. 1903a. A list of Butterflies of Konkan. Received: July 2009 Journal of Bombay Natural History 15:Society 42–55. Revised: November 2009 Aitkin, E. H. and E. Comber. 1903b. Further notes on Konkan butterflies. Journal of Accepted: December 2009 15: 356–357. Published online: February 2010 Best, A. E. G. 1951. The Butterflies of Bombay and Salsette. Editorial responsibility: Ana Lúcia Tourinho

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