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Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Note Notes on new distribution records of Euaspa motokii Koiwaya, 2002 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) from Bhutan Jigme Wangchuk, Dhan Bahadur Subba & Karma Wangdi 26 May 2021 | Vol. 13 | No. 6 | Pages: 18671–18674 DOI: 10.11609/jot.6682.13.6.18671-18674 For Focus, Scope, Aims, and Policies, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/aims_scope For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/policies_various For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. 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Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 May 2021 | 13(6): 18671–18674 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) OPEN ACCESS htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.6682.13.6.18671-18674 #6682 | Received 08 September 2020 | Final received 17 April 2021 | Finally accepted 15 May 2021 NOTE Notes on new distributon records of Euaspa motokii Koiwaya, 2002 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) from Bhutan Jigme Wangchuk 1 , Dhan Bahadur Subba 2 & Karma Wangdi 3 1,3 Ugyen Wangchuck Insttute for Conservaton and Environment Research, Lamai Goempa, Bumthang, Department of Forests and Park Services, 32001, Bhutan. 2 Zhemgang Territorial Forest Division, Department of Forests and Park Services, Bhutan. 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected] The genus Euaspa Moore (1884), commonly diferentated from all other congeners in having less known as hairstreak buterfies, falls in the Lycaenidae prominent blackish marks in the subterminal area family and is distributed across the Himalayan range of the underside of the forewing. These marks are to southeastern Asia. With the recent descripton of prominent in case of E. forsteri (Esaki & Shirôzu 1943). Euaspa zhengi Huang, 2016 from Motuo, southeastern It also has two discal white zig-zag lines and two sub- Tibet (Huang 2016), there are 14 species in the Euaspa basal white markings on the underside of the hindwings. worldwide (Das et al. 2019). Currently, two Euaspa An oval-shaped cell spot with semi-circular opening species—E. pavo (de Nicéville 1887) and E. motokii is a prominent feature of this species (Das et al. 2019) Koiwaya, 2002—have been recorded from Bhutan. (Image 1a,b). Euaspa motokii was frst described from Naungomon, Current record: Euaspa motokii was frst observed on Kachin state of Myanmar (Koiwaya 2002), and its 9 June 2017 at Dakpai (27.1910N & 90.7340E; 1,245m) distributon extends to Anini (Dihang-Dibang Biosphere and later on 1 June 2020 at Tali (27.1660N & 90.7510E; Reserve) in Arunachal Pradesh State of India (Das et al. 1,769m), both in Zhemgang District (Figure 1). Dakpai 2019). The IUCN status of this species is not assessed. and Tali are neighboring villages located within 3km of The present record extends the distributon range of E. each other. A single individual was photographed at motokii from Kachin State of Myanmar and the Indian around 08.00h and 09.30h, respectvely (Image 1a,b). state of eastern Arunachal Pradesh to the foothills of the The species was identfed based on the descripton and Himalaya in Bhutan. photographs provided in Koiwaya (2002; 2007) and Das et al. (2019), and confrmaton was provided by Motoki Euaspa motokii Koiwaya, 2002 (Image 1a,b) Saito. This species has remained unreported untl now, Diagnosis: Euaspa motokii Koiwaya, 2002 is even though it was frst observed and archived in 2017 Editor: Monsoon J. Gogoi, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India. Date of publicaton: 26 May 2021 (online & print) Citaton: Wangchuk, J., D.B. Subba & K. Wangdi (2021). Notes on new distributon records of Euaspa motokii Koiwaya, 2002 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) from Bhutan. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(6): 18671–18674. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.6682.13.6.18671-18674 Copyright: © Wangchuk et al. 2021. 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: Ugyen Wangchuck Insttute for Conservaton and Environment Research, Territorial Forest Division, Zhemgang, and Department of Forests and Park Services. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Mr. Sherub Jamtsho, Zhemgang Territorial Forest Division and Mr. Sonam Dorji, Tourism Council of Bhutan for contributng the image of Euaspa pavo and its locaton. Our heartest thank to anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments and, Mr. Piet van der Poel is appreciated for organizaton and improving English in this paper. The authors would also like to thank the management of the Territorial Forest Division, Zhemgang, Ugyen Wangchuck Insttute for Conservaton and Environment Research, and the Department of Forest and Park Service for their support and guidance. 18671 J TT New distributon records of Euaspa motokii in Bhutan Wangchuk et al. Figure 1. Current records of Euaspa motokii from Tali and Dakpai; and distributon records of Euaspa pavo from Pasakha, Chukha District, Khomshar and Pantang, in Zhemgang District, Bhutan. in the photograph collecton of the second author. favorable habitat for buterfies. With this new record, Bhutan now has 760 species of The sightng locality falls within the Nangkhor Local buterfies as per Wangchuk et al. (in press). Forest Management Area. The area is primarily used by Remarks: The species was observed perching on the local people for the extracton of fuelwood and tmber, fallen branch of Castanopsis sp. and dry soil. The species and for catle grazing. The Territorial Forest Division in has been reported only from these two localites despite Zhemgang under the Department of Forests and Park concerted eforts, suggestng it is rare and may have a Services has been safeguarding and protectng wildlife restricted distributon in Bhutan. Associated species and habitats. The increasing demand for tmber and observed in the same area include Pedesta pandita, fuelwood has become a concern and increases the Libythea myrrha, Cyrests thyodamas, Hebomoia pressure on the habitat of E. motokii habitat. The glaucippe, Papilio helenus, and Papilio polyctor. In practces of seldom shifing cultvaton and extracton of Bhutan the presence of two species of Euaspa viz, E. non-wood forest products are additonal threats which motokii and E. pavo have been established. are exacerbated by easy access from motorable road. The preferred habitat of this species is cool- These factors may pose threats to the existence of this broadleaved forest mainly composed of Castanopsis species in Bhutan. We suggest that further assessment tribuloides, C. hystris, Schima wallichii, Eurya sp., Hobina to be carried out to ascertain specifc threats to the sp., Daphne sureil, Artemesia sp., Ageternia adonophora, species in Bhutan. Salligenella sp., Solanum sp., Osbeckia sp., Polygals arillara, and Leucus cilita. Typically, this species prefers Euaspa pavo (de Nicéville 1887) evergreen forest dominated by oak species. Castanopsis Current record: In Bhutan E. pavo (de Nicéville 1887) was reported to be the food plant of E. motokii larvae has also been reported from Pantang (26.9670N & (Das et al. 2002; Koiwaya 2002) this is probably the case 90.8550E; 245m) and Khomshar (27.134°N & 90.948°E; in Bhutan as it was sighted in oak forest. Previously, the 1,100m) villages in Zhemgang District on 24 September local community used this area for shifing cultvaton 2018 and 1 July 2019 respectvely (Figure 1, Image 2 a,b). and the forest is typically young and appears to be a Since the frst descripton by de Nicéville in 1887, E. pavo 18672 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 May 2021 | 13(6): 18671–18674 New distributon records of Euaspa motokii in Bhutan Wangchuk et al. J TT Image 1. Euaspa motokii recorded from Zhemgang District, Bhutan: a—Dakphai in 2017 | b—Tali in 2020. © Dhan Bahadur Subba Image 2. Euaspa pavo recorded from Zhemgang District, Bhutan: a—female | b—male, Khomshar Vilage. © Sherub Jamtsho has been observed at two localites of warm broadleaved require more informaton on habitat, ecology, life cycle, forest, extending its distributon from the south western and distributon to establish the conservaton measures to central foothills of Bhutan. and interventons in the localites. Remarks: The specimen of E. pavo deposited at Conclusion: The distributon of Euaspa species is Carnegie