Nature’s early warning system

Butterfly species need to be conserved in real landscapes, not only because they deserve it in their own right but also because of their usefulness as sensitive indicators of environmental change and as an umbrella species whose targeted conservation benefits wider communities of lesser-known, threatened species.

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A kaleidoscope of blue tiger butterflies.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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A flutter of mostly lime swallotails.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Evergreen forests are restricted to small patches in a few high-altitude areas of Sathyamangalam. The vegetation in the middle altitude slope comprises mixed and dry deciduous forests, while the foothills have thorn forests.

Photo: CALVIN JOSE

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Yellow Pansy.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Yellow pansy.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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African babul blue.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Anomalous nawab.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Baronet.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Blue pansy.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Chocolate pansy.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Club beak.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Common banded peacock.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Common emigrant.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Common evening brown.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Common Jezebel.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Common leopard.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Common wanderer.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Common four ring.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Common grass yellow.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Common gull.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Crimson rose.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Crimson tip.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Double-branded crow.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Gram blue.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Great orange-tip.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Great eggfly.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Indian sunbeam.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Blue Mormon swallowtail.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Common castor.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Common baron.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Grass demon.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Oriental straight swift.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Peacock pansy.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Plain tiger.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Zebra blue.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Common palmfly.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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Lemon pansy.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Lesser grass blue.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Indian palm bob.

Photo: K. JAYANTHI

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A stream inside the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Erode district, Tamil Nadu.

Photo: CALVIN JOSE

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The Sathyamangalam forests act as a corridor in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve between the Western and Eastern Ghats.

Photo: CALVIN JOSE

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Small Cupid.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Small grass jewel.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Small orange-tip.

Photo: Bhupathi Vignesh

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Tawny coster. ▲

 

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