Conservation Area Series, 32 Fauna of Kudremukh National Park (Karnataka) Edited by the Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata Zoological Survey of India Kolkata CITATION Editor: Director. 2007. Fauna of Kudremukh National Park, Conservation Area Series, 32 : 1-205+ 11 plates. (Published by the Director, Zool. Surv. India, Kolkata) Published: June, 2007 ISBN 978-81-8171-157-1 Project Coordinator C. Radhakrishnan Scientist - E Western Ghats Field Research Station., Zoological Survey of India, Calicut - 673 002, Kerala. © Govt. of India, 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED • No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. • This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent, resold hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher's consent, in an form of binding or cover other than that in which, it is published. • The correct price ,of this publication is the price printed on this page. Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable. PRICE Indian Rs. 750.00 Foreign: $ 35; £ 30 Published at the Publication Division by the Director, Zoological Survey of India, 234/4 AJC Bose Road, 2nd MSO Building, 13th floor, Nizam Palace, Kolkata 700020 and printed at Shiva Offset Press, 14 Old Conn aught Place, Dehra Dun - 248001 (Uttarakhand) Fauna of Kudremukh National Park Conservation Area Series NO. 32 2007 1-205 CONTENTS I. FAUNA OF KUDREMUKH NATIONAL PARK - AN OVERVIEW .................... 1-9 c. Radhakrishnan 2. INSECTA: MANTODEA .................................................................................... 11-13 T. K. Mukherjee and A.K. Hazra 3. INSECTA: ORTHOPTERA ................................................................................. 15-25 S.K. Mandai, GP. Mandai and A.K. Hazra 4. INSECTA: ODONATA ......................................................................................... 27-48 K.G Emiliyamma and C. Radhakrishnan 5. INSECTA: SCELIONIDAE : HYMENOPTERA ............................................... 49-69 Rajmohana, K. 6. INSECTA: RHOPALOCERA: LEPIDOPTERA ................................................ 71-96 C. Radhakrishnan and Muhamed Jafer Palot 7. STREAM INSECTS ........................................................................................... 97-113 K.A. Subramanian 8. PISCES .............................................................................................................. 115-131 K.C. Gopi 9. AMPHIBIA ......................................................................................................... 133-156 K.P. Dinesh and C. Radhakrishnan 10. REPTILIA ........................................................................................................... 157-160 C. Radhakrishnan and Muhamed Jafer Palot 11 . AYES ................................................................................................................... 161-192 Muhamed Jafer Palot 12. MAMMALIA ...................................................................................................... 193-205 Muhamed Jafer Palot and C. Radhakrishnan Zool. SUYV. India Fauna of Kudremukh National Park. Conservation Area Series. 32 : 1-9, 2007 FAUNA OF KUDREMUKH NATIONAL PARK, KARNATAKA - AN OVERVIEW C. RADHAKRISHNAN Western Ghats Field Research Station, Zoological Survey of India, Calicut - 673 002, Kerala, India. INTRODUCTION Kudremukh National Park (KMNP), a conservation area in Karnataka, is the largest declared protected area of tropical wet evergreen forests in Karnataka, harbouring high levels of plant and animal diversity. Kudremukh National Park and its picturesque, mountainous landscapes constitute a prime sector of the forest tracts in the Western Ghats ('Sahyadri Mountains'), one among the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots identified for the conservation of biotic wealth. Kudremukh National Park also comes under the Global Tiger Conservation Priority-I, under the format developed jointly by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and World Wide Fund­ USA (WWF). The Park's name is a combination of 'Kudre' Ineaning horse and 'mukha', face, which together denotes the characteristic 'horse-face' shape of t~e Kudremukh peak, the highest point in the Park. As the name suggests, it looks like a horse-face, hence called Kudremukh or kudremukha. The Park is also a recognized hill station, rich in iron-ore deposits. The Park, situated about 95 km southwest of Chikmagalur town, is well linked by road, about 114 km and 316 km from Mysore and Bangalore respectively. HISTORY Kudremukh region of the State had been declared as a Reserve Forest way back in 1916 itself by the then British Government in order to check the rampant destruction of forests by slash and burn cultivation practices in the forested interiors of the Ghats. A few decades later, Dr. Ullas Karanth, a well known environmentalist and Tiger expert, based on his detailed and systematic survey of the distribution of the endangered Lion- tailed Macaque in Karnataka during 1983-84, observed that suitable and extensive rainforest habitat for Lion- tailed Macaque existed in Kudremukh, and that the tract probably harboured the largest contiguous population of lion tailed macaques in the Western Ghats outside the rainforests of Malabar region. Suggesting the Lion- tailed Macaques as a symbolic 'flagship' species to conserve the entire biotic community in the region, Dr. Ullas Karanth prepared a conservation plan for survival 2 Fauna ofKudremukh National Park, Conservption Area Series. 32 of wild population of Lion- tailed Macaques in the region, delineating the present national park area as a proposed nature reserve. The Karnataka State Wildlife Advisory Board, based on his report, suggested to the Government that Kudremukh Nati~nal Park be created, and the Government of Karnataka, in tum, issued the first notification of the Kudremukh National Park, in 1987, declaring these Reserved Forests as a National Park. Although the biodiversity rich Kudremukh Hills and surrounding natural forests received the first, preliminary notification towards being declared a National Park, which brought the area under the purview of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, disallowing any non-forestry operations, including mining, within a protected area, the KMNP remained as a hub of controversies thereafter. Granted permissions and a 30-year lease in 1969, Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL), a Public Sector Undertaking, has been mining weathered iron-ore from Kudremukh Hills within the park premises, on an area of 4,604.55 ha, for over 20 years. Opposition to its activities began, over the years, from environmentalists and wi Idl ife conservationists who were concerned about the threat to the region's flora and fauna, and farmers who were affected by the pollution of the streams that originate in the mining area. On 25 July 1999 the company's lease ended, but operations continued under a "temporary working permission" granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, until a petition in the Supreme Court sought to put an end to it all. After nearly two-year long court battle, the Supreme Court, in a ground-breaking judgement, delivered on 30 October 2002, ordered all mining operations in KMNP to be ceased and recommended that the company make its departure from the area by December 2005. Thus, on 31 December 2005, the curtains came down on the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd's long disputed mining operations in the protected Kudremukh National Park, one of the most stunning and most disputed landscapes in Karnataka. PHYSIOGRAPHY Kudremukh National Park (Map-A), in its natural setting, is nestJed on the crest of the mountains, occupying almost a central position in the entire no~h-~outh stretch of the Western Ghats. The Park stretching over an area of about 563 sq. km is located between 75° 01' - 75° 25' E longitude and 13° 01' - 13° 29' N latitude, at the tri-junction of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Chikmagalur districts of Karnataka State .. Its mountainous topography is, characteristically, with a central ridge running north-south through the Park. A~titude varies from range 100 to 1890 m with an average elevation of about 600 m, the highest point being the Kudremukh Peak in the south of the Park. While a forest corridor connects the park to Someshwara Sanctuary on the north-west, the Park's periphery' on the west drops down along the abrupt slopes of the Western Ghats to the coastal plains of Arabian Sea. RADHAKRISHNAN : An Overview 3 A• PenlMalar Imba panatba,*, I.dl. ·KJgga .... ~ . ----- • Towcraudda • Mudubae Kerekatte • Bhagavatbi Road • KuringaJ Trekpatb Kudremukb Peak· Tbolall• APC\ Map-A: Map of Kudremukh National Park indicating collection localities 4 Fauna ofKudremukh National Park, Conservation Area Series, 32 The mountainous landscape of the Park is very picturesque, with high hills and steep precipices, broad and deep valleys, undulating plains cloaked with velvety grasslands and interspersed dark-green sholas, and lush evergreen forests dotted with shimmering cascades, which collectively portray the pristine natural beauty and wilderness of the environment. The Park area is the source of the catchments of many streams and rivulets, and three major rivers of the Karnataka State, viz., Thunga, Bhadra and Netravati, take their origins from the hi lis