This document provides information about butterflies and moths. It discusses how butterflies are beneficial to ecosystems and different from moths. Key differences include antenna shape, whether they are diurnal or nocturnal, body shape, and how they rest. The document also covers butterfly classification, life cycle, morphology, mimicry, habitats, sexual dimorphism, migration, identification keys, common species in Bangalore, and tips for creating a butterfly park.

1. Flying Jewels
Let’s Watch, Admire and Learn them
Ashok Sengupta,
PGT Comp Sc
KV No 1 Jalahalli (West)

2. AshokSengupta
Can you distinguish them as Moths and Butterflies

3. Introduction
• Butterflies, the flying jewels of nature, have
always attracted mankind towards them.
• These tiny insects play an important role in
maintaining the balance of nature not only by
providing an important means of pollination
but also by acting as a link in the food chain
for many animals.
• More over they are a natural indicator of
environmental changes.
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4. Why are Butterflies valuable
• Intrinsic Value - They have their own right to live
• Aesthetic Value – They make the nature more beautiful
• Educational Value – Child can learn the cycle of life
• Scientific Value – Model Organism for research
• Eco-system Value – Indicators of healthy eco-system
• Health Value – Butterfly watching brings happiness to us.
• Economic Value – Butterfly eco-tourism brings income
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5. How they are different from
Moths
• Butterflies and moths are very closely-related insect groups that
make up the Order Lepidoptera
• Butterflies have clubbed antenna whereas Moths have feathery
Antenna
• Butterflies are diurnal (Day fliers)whereas Moths are mostly
nocturnal.
• Butterflies tend to have thinner bodies as compared to Moths.
• Butterflies tend to pupate in a hard chrysalis whereas Moths pupate
inside a cocoon, which they spin out of silk and sometimes nearby
materials like leaves.
• Butterflies tend to rest with their wings closed whereas Moths rest
with their wings open.
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Butterfly Moth

6. Classification of Butterflies
• Papilionidae – Swallowtail Butterflies
• Pieridae – Yellow and White Butterflies
• Nymphalidae – Brush Footed Butterflies
• Lycaenidae – Blues, Copper and Hairstreak Butterflies
• Riodinidae – Metalmark Butterflies
• Hesperiiade – Skippers and Swift Butterflies
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7. Butterfly Stats
• Earth has over 25000 species of butterflies.
• Un-Divided India had 1501 species of butterflies.
• Presently we have over 1200 species of butterflies in
India.
• The Western Ghats of India currently hosts 342
species of Butterflies. However a few entries in the
checklist are doubtful. We have not witnessed Silver
forget-me-not, Common Mottle, Blue Baron and
even Indian Oakblue in Western Ghats. Recent
additions to the checklist includes Purple spotted
Flitter and Restricted Spotted Flat .
• Bangalore and its adjoining area hosts 166 species of
Butterflies as per old study. However we have not
witnessed about 19 species since past decade.
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8. Largest vs smallest Butterfly
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9. Morphology of Butterfly
• Adult butterfly have four wings covered
with minute scales.
• They have six legs, but in brush footed
butterflies front pair of legs are
reduced.
• The body of a butterfly has three
segments, viz. head, thorax and
abdomen. This is all exo-skeleton
• The butterfly eyes are compound and
they have a pair of antenna.
• The most important organ is the
proboscis that helps the butterfly to
suck nectar from flowers
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10. Life-cycle of a Butterfly.
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Egg -> Larvae -> Pupa -> Adult

11. Mimicry in Butterfly
• Butterflies exhibit an interesting feature of mimicry where a palatable
butterfly mimics the morphological traits of a non-palatable butterfly.
This type of mimicry is called Batesian Mimicry. The Common Mormon
exhibits this in females where one form romulus mimics the Crimson
Rose and another form stichius mimics the Common Rose.
• Auto-mimicry is another type of mimicry in which one body part
resembles another body part. Blues exhibit auto-mimicry through their
tails and eyespots on tails that resembles the head to avoid a predatory
attack.
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12. Habits and habitats
• Butterflies feed primarily on nectar from
flowers. Some also derive nourishment from
rotting fruits, tree saps, decaying flesh, dung
and dissolved minerals in wet sand and mud.
• Male butterflies need a lot of salts and
minerals during reproduction and they get it
through mud-puddling. Crows and Tigers
acquire Alkaloids from plants like the
Crotalaria for reproduction.
• All butterflies are terrestrial mostly found in
tropical regions. However they are also found
at altitudes of 6000m . In Himalayas we find
the Apollos at these altitudes.
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Food Habits
Habitats

13. Sexual Dimorphism
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Butterflies, especially the Blues show this phenomenon , where males are
Vibrantly coloured, where as females are paler.
•Males constantly fly to show their presence, whereas the females need time
for laying eggs and don’t want to get predated.
•Possibly bright coloured males see each other from a distance and thus
avoid conflict.

14. Migration
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• Many butterfly species are known to perform seasonal
migration. Well known migration in India is of the Danaine
butterflies that includes Common Crow, Double Branded
Crow, Blue Tiger and Dark Blue Tiger. These Danaine
butterflies perform pre-monsoon migration from western-
ghats to eastern-ghats and return migration from eastern-
ghats to western-ghats every year.
• The famous Albatross migration in the Western-ghats is
also a spectacle in the month of January every year.
• Other butterflies known to migrate include Common
emigrant, Painted Lady, Pea-blue, Plain Puffin, Spot
Swordtail, Five-bar Swordtail, Painted Sawtooth.
Wrightia tinctoria

15. Identification keys for
Butterflies
• Most of the butterflies
can be identified by
their specific size,
colour and marking on
the wings.
• There are however
some species that
needs further scientific
analysis in laboratory to
get their ID properly.
Genus Tarucus
(pierrots) , Potanthus
(Darts) are some
examples of complex
species.
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16. Common Butterflies around
us
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17. The Tiny Blues fluttering un-
noticed
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18. Some Un-common beauties around
Bangalore
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19. The World of Skippers
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20. New Additions to Bangalore Checklist
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21. Re-Discoveries at Bangalore
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22. The Challenge to re-discover these in Bangalore
Scientific Name Common Name
Tagiades litigiosa litigiosa Sylhet Water Snow Flat
Azanus uranus Dull Babul Blue
Nacaduba kurava canaraica Karwar Transparent Six-Lineblue
Horaga onyx onyx Variable Common Onyx
Spindasis elima Scarce Shot Silverline
Spindasis lohita lazularia Tamil Long-banded Silverline
Virachola perse Tamil Large Guava Blue
Charaxes athamas athamas Oriental Common Nawab
Charaxes psaphon imna Indian Plain Tawny Rajah
Libythea myrrha carma Dakhan Club Beak
Lethe drypetis Dakhan Treebrown (Tamil Treebrown)
Orsotriaena medus mandata Sahyadri Medus Brown
Ypthima baldus madrasa Sahyadri Common Five-ring
Colotis fausta fulvia Dakhan Large Salmon Arab
Pareronia ceylanica ceylanica Sri Lankan Dark Wanderer
Pieris canidia canis Sahyadri Cabbage White
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23. Distinguishing Similar Species
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24. Distinguishing Similar Species
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25. Butterfly Park – Some Tips
• Have an open area near your house and
plant some locally available nectar plants
initially.
1. Lantana (Lantana camera)
2. Jamaica vervain (Stachytarpheta
jamaicensis, S. mutabilis)
3. Clerodendrum viscosum
4. Combretum paniculatum
5. Ixora Sp.
6. Butterfly Bush (Buddleja sp)
7. Premna sp
8. Soapnut (Sapindus)
9. Cadaba fruticosa
10. Plumbago zeylanica
11. Ageratum conyzoides
12. Zinnia sp
13. Marigold sp (Tagetes erecta)
14. Saraca asoca
15. Tridax procumbens
16. Urena lobata
17. Crotalaria retusa
18. Melastoma malabatricum
19. Careya arborea
20. Asclepias curassavica
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• Follow it up with some LHPs
1. Polyalthia longifolia
2. Michelia champaca
3. Aristolochia indica
4. Aegle marmelos
5. Cassia fistula
6. Cassia tora
7. Calotropis gigantea
8. Potted Palms
9. Castor
10. Copperpod tree
11. Pongamia
12. Capparis
13. Mango
14. Kalanchoe
15. Zizyphus
16. Lime
17. Murraya koenigii
18. Nerium Oleander

26. Join Butterfly Club Bangalore
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We are a small but dedicated and like minded team of Butterfly
enthusiasts located at Bangalore. We perform regular butterfly
walks in and around Bangalore and document the population
dynamics of Butterflies around Bangalore. We get expert help from
Dr Krushnamegh Kunte, Principal Scientist NCBS, Dr Kalesh
Sadasivan from Kerala, Mr Karthikeyan Srinivasan, Chief Naturalist,
Jungle Lodges and many other experts around the country.

27. Your Queries Please
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