Journaf of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 Aprff 2016 | 8(4): 8666–8697 Butterfffes of Garhwaf, Uttarakhand, western Hfmafaya, Co m munfcatfon Indfa ISSN 0974-7907 (Onffne) Arun P. Sfngh 1 & Sanjay Sondhf 2 ISSN 0974-7893 (Prfnt) 1 Forest Entomofogy Dfvfsfon, Forest Research Insftute, P.O. New Forest, Dehradun, Utarakhand 248006, Indfa OPEN ACCESS 2 Tftff Trust, 49 Rajpur Road Encfave, Dhoran Khas, Near IT Park, P.O. Gujrada, Dehradun, Utarakhand 248001, Indfa 1 [email protected], [email protected] (correspondfng author), 2 [email protected] Abstract: Thfrty percent of buterfy specfes that occur fn Indfa are found fn the Garhwaf regfon of the western Hfmafaya, whfch comprfse sfx dfstrfcts of Utarakhand State wfth fve major vegetafon types fyfng between the catchments of the Ganga and Yamuna rfvers. The annotated checkffst compffed here for thfs regfon comprfses 407 specfes and takes fnto account aff the specfes recorded sfnce 1899, when the frst ffst of 323 specfes was prepared by Mackfnnon & de Nfcévfffe on the ‘buterffes of Mussoorfe and fts adjacent areas’. Over a 20 year perfod (1986–1990; 2000–June 2015) the present authors mafntafned detaffed notes and were abfe personaffy to record 349 specfes. Thfs fnformafon fs presented fn a checkffst, together wfth detaffs of the month, year and sfte of each record, refafve abundance, Indfan Wffdfffe (Protecfon) Act, 1972 (IWPA) status, as weff as references of earffer records made by other authors fn Garhwaf for those specfes that the authors were not abfe to record themsefves. Forty-nfne specfes recorded fn the regfon have been pfaced under varfous schedufes of IWPA; onfy one specfes, the Gofden Emperor Dfffpa morgfana Westwood, fs ffsted fn Schedufe I Part IV, the others befng mafnfy fncfuded under Schedufe II Part II. The paper afso dfscusses new range extensfons and sfgnffcant records (past and present), fdenffes major bfofc factors that threaten buterfy dfversfty fn Garhwaf, and suggests the scope for buterfy ecotourfsm fn the state as an opfon for fong term conservafon. Keywords : Conservafon pfannfng, ecotourfsm, Lepfdoptera, mofst temperate forest, oaks, protected specfes, tropfcaf mofst decfduous forest, western Hfmafaya. DOI : htp://dx.dof.org/10.11609/jot.2254.8.4. 8666-8697 | ZooBank: urn:fsfd:zoobank.org:pub:A0404138-993B-464E-937A-E7479A765F35 Edftor: Ian J. Kftchfng, Naturaf Hfstory Museum, London, U.K. Date of pubffcafon: 26 Aprff 2016 (onffne & prfnt) Manuscrfpt detaffs: Ms # 2254 | Recefved 31 August 2015 | Ffnaf recefved 06 Aprff 2016 | Ffnaffy accepted 09 Aprff 2016 Cftafon: Sfngh, A.P. & S. Sondhf (2016). Buterffes of Garhwaf, Utarakhand, western Hfmafaya, Indfa . Journaf of Threatened Taxa 8(4): 8666–8697 ; htp://dx.dof. org/10.11609/jot.2254.8.4. 8666-8697 Copyrfght: © Sfngh & Sondhf 2016 . Creafve Commons Atrfbufon 4.0 Internafonaf Lfcense. JoTT affows unrestrfcted use of thfs arfcfe fn any medfum, reproduc - fon and dfstrfbufon by provfdfng adequate credft to the authors and the source of pubffcafon. Fundfng : Parfaffy by Indfan Councff of Forestry Research and Educafon (ICFRE). Conffct of Interest The authors decfare no compefng fnterests. Author Detaffs: Arun P. Sfngh , fs currentfy workfng as a scfenfst wfth the Forest Research Insftute, Dehradun. Hfs experfence pertafns to the conservafon and ecofogy of buterffes and bfrds across the Hfmafaya, over the fast two decades. Sanjay Sondhf , Founder Trustee Tftff Trust, fs a naturaffst wfth an fnterest fn Lepfdoptera, herpetofauna and avffauna. He supports conservafon research and acfon and conservafon educafon programs fn eastern and western Hfmafaya. Author Contrfbufon: APS carrfed out most of the sampffng surveys, photography, fdenffcafon, compffafon of the data, ffterature revfew, paper wrffng afong wfth preparafon of the fgures and appendfx. SS added many vafuabfe new records to the frst author’s ffst, added records and suppfementary data from hfs sampffng surveys, revfewed ofder ffterature, provfded photographs, fdenffed many sub-specfes and vaffdated taxonomfc names of the specfes/subspecfes. Acknowfedgements: The frst author woufd ffke to thank the Dfrector Generaf, Indfan Councff of Forestry Research and Educafon (ICFRE); Dfrector, Forest Research Insftute (FRI), Dehradun and Head, Entomofogy Dfvfsfon, FRI, Dehradun for provfdfng the necessary facffffes to carry out research and fefd surveys fn Garhwaf from fme to fme durfng 2000-2010, under two buterfy projects funded by the ICFRE, Dehradun. The authors woufd afso ffke to thank the Utarakhand Forest Department for thefr support durfng numerous surveys. SS woufd ffke to acknowfedge support from hfs famffy, Anchaf and Yash Sondhf, who assfsted fn many of the surveys. ÄPS woufd ffke to deepfy acknowfedge the support and fnspfrafon recefved from hfs famffy, Raka and Shaurya, whffe accompanyfng the author durfng numerous fefd trfps across Garhwaf. 8666 Butterflies of Garhwal Singh & Sondhi INTRODUCTION and stretching into the plains of northern India; (2) The sub-tropical zone, with mainly mixed vegetation and The first comprehensive records on butterflies of Chir pine, Pinus roxburghii, between 1,000–1,600 m in Garhwal were published by Mackinnon & de Nicéville all districts; (3) Moist temperate forest between 1,800– (1899) on the butterflies of Mussoorie and neighbouring 3,000 m, dominated by oaks (Quercus leucotrichophora, regions. They produced a detailed account of 323 Q. semicarpifolia and Q. dilatata), rhododendrons species collected during a 11-year period by Mackinnon (Rhododendron arboreum, R. barbatum), west from the Mussoorie Hills, the adjoining valleys of the Himalayan spruce, Picea smithiana, silver firs (Abies Algar river and Nag Tibba lying to its north, the entire pindrow and A. spectabilis), Indian cedar or deodar Dehradun Valley lying to its south, as well as some (Cedrus deodara), blue pine (Pinus wallichiana), horse butterflies brought by native collectors “from the highest chestnut (Aesculus indica), and many others; (4) Sub– valleys and hills right up to the frontier of Hundes or alpine vegetation with Rhododendron campanulatum Thibet”, i.e., three species of Parnassius from the Nilung shrubberies above 3,500m; (5) Alpine meadows with Pass (5400m). Later, Ollenbach (1930) listed 144 species R. anthopogon between 3,500–4,000 m, above which from six collecting localities (forested areas) in and is generally the snow line with sparse vegetation and around Mussoorie town, the best period for collection rocks. The region of Garhwal also includes a number of being May–June. Shull (1958, 1962) also reported on protected areas (national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and the butterflies of Mussoorie. Much later, Baindur (1993) conservation reserves), which are the last strongholds documented 27 species from Nanda Devi National Park, of biodiversity in the region: Rajaji National Park, Benog followed by a list of 35 species by Uniyal (2004) from the Wildlife Sanctuary, Mussoorie; Corbett National Park, same area that includes three new records for Garhwal. Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary, Govind Pashu Vihar Wildlife Rose & Sidhu (1994) revisited some of the older study Sanctuary and Govind National Park; Gangotri National sites near Mussoorie for a comparison into declining Park; Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary; Nanda Devi National butterfly diversity with time. Uniyal et al. (2013) also Park and Valley of Flowers National Park (which form reported a few butterflies of the Gangotri landscape as the part of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve); Asan part of a larger entomofaunal survey in that area. Conservation Reserve and Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve). These, and other study sites of the current paper, are listed and described further in Table 1, and MATERIAL AND METHODS their locations shown in Fig. 1. Identification of butterflies was undertaken with the Study area help of field guides (Marshal & de Nicéville 1882; Moore The Garhwal region of the Himalaya lies in northern 1874, 1890–1992, 1893–1896, 1896–1899, 1899–1900, India and includes six districts of the state of Uttarakhand 1901–1903, 1903–1905; Swinhoe 1905–1910, 1910– (namely Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Garhwal (Pauri), 1911, 1911–1912 & 1912–1913; Bingham 1905; Talbot Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Chamoli) (Fig. 1). To its east 1939, 1947; Evans 1932; Wynter-Blyth 1957; D’Abrera lies the Kumaon Himalayan region and to its west the 1982, 1985, 1986; Haribal 1992; Smith 1989, 2006; state of Himachal Pradesh; to its north lies the Tibetan Kehimkar 2008; Singh 2011; Sondhi et al. 2013; Sondhi Plateau and in the south the Shiwalik mountain ranges & Kunte 2014; Smetacek 2015) and web resources form a boundary and separate the Garhwal region from (http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/; http://flutters.org/ the plains of India (Haridwar district of Uttarakhand and and http://yutaka.it–n.jp/). Photographs and some the state of Uttar Pradesh). Two important river systems specimens that were difficult to identify were compared drain the region: the Ganges, which flows through the with specimens in the National Forest Insect Collection middle of Garhwal; and the Yamuna, which flows along (NFIC) at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India. its western boundary, together with their tributaries. Five major vegetation types occur in Garhwal: (1) Tropical How to use Appendix 1. moist deciduous forest dominated by sal, Shorea robusta, The annotated checklist (Appendix 1) also includes in the lower reaches (400–900 m), mainly in Dehradun all records of earlier authors that the authors of the District (Dehradun Valley, including Rajaji National Park) present paper were not able to verify in the study area. and Pauri Garhwal District (Kotdwar, Sonanadi Sanctuary Random sampling surveys were carried out covering all and Corbett Tiger Reserve), which gradually merges with the months/seasons of the year from 1986–2015. the dry deciduous forests in the south of the Shiwaliks 1. Relative abundance for our observations: The Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2016 | 8(4): 8666–8697 8667 Butterflies of Garhwal Singh & Sondhi Figure 1. Map of Garhwal (encircled in red dots) showing the seven districts and locations of the protected areas as given in Table 1.