North-east Butterfly meet identifies 180 species

Itanagar, Oct 2: The North-east Butterfly Meet held at Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh has identified as many as 180 specieAranyak, s of butterflies in Seijosa under East Kameng district of the state. The conference was held during September 29 to October 1, 2018.

The three-day meet recorded a few important species: Nonsuch Palmer Creteus Cyrina, Hewitson’s Dull Oakblue Arhopala Ooenea, and Wavy Maplet Chersonesia Intermedia.

The meet was organized by the State Environment and Forest Department in collaboration with BNHS, Aaranyak, Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), BAMOS, Ngunu Ziro, WIKI Butterfly Lovers and Flutters Website.

During the meet, activities like butterfly watching and photography in the field, indoor workshops on butterfly ecology and taxonomy were organized, an official communiqué informed here on Monday.

Northeast Butterfly Meet (NEBM) is an annual event organized by Butterflies of Northeast India Group since 2013. The meet focuses on encouraging young students and enthusiasts to take up butterfly research and conservation work in the North Eastern region.

Around 50 participants from different states of India participated in the meet including butterfly enthusiasts from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya.

The meet provided a common platform for butterfly enthusiasts, wildlife researchers and staff of forest department to interact and exchange ideas on butterfly diversity, distribution and conservation and to explore rich butterfly diversity of the region.

The meet was inaugurated by Seijosa Additional Deputy Commissioner T R Tapu, Pakke Tiger Reserve divisional forest officer (DFO) Tana Tapi and Ghora Aabe Society Chairman, Takam Nabam.

The ADC said, “Pakke is an important biological hotspots and butterflies plays a key role in maintaining the biological richness on the region.”

He also emphasized on the necessity of establishing butterfly gardens in schools, offices and local premises of households to keep oneself connected to nature and the environment.

The DFO while informing that there was a lot of fun among the participants and discussions held on various species of butterfly found in the state and the region and its habitats.

The first edition of the meet was held in Kaziranga National Park in Assam, while the second held at Manas National Park in Assam, the third held at Garu hills in Meghalaya and the fourth held at Sikkim.

“We have decided to hold the sixth edition of the meet at Namdapha National Park in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh in 2019,” the DFO said and added that the activities would draw the attention of researchers and tourists towards Pakke Tiger Reserve as an important butterfly destination.