TN Butterflies Facebook 2016– An Analysis
District wise species representation
29 out of 32 districts were represented in the
forum at least by a post minimum. The
districts which missed out are Perambalur,
Ariyalur and Thanjavur. Perambalur is yet to
make a debut in our forum. Districts with
maximum no of species representation are
Coimbatore (208), Tirunelveli (130), The
Nilgiris (118), Virudhu Nagar (96), Chennai
(92), Theni (86), Erode (70) and Trichy (64).
And the rest of them are with less than 50
representation. These have to be improved
upon.
Family wise– Month wise species representation
Tamil Nadu Butterfly season begins in line with North East Monsoon and another peak around June. The Year started with
very good count on January as an end signal to the monsoon and then the months of Feb, March, April and May saw only a
trend that is part of Summer months. A peak is seen in the month of June (could well be influenced from South West
Monsoon) with 131 species reported. July and the August months went to the phase where it is just around the average
numbers.
A good peak is seen in the month of September, much before NE monsoon and interior districts too reported good sightings.
All in all 157 species is reported which is highest for the year. Please note that the monsoon was a disaster to the state and
probably worst rainfall recorded in the last 150 Years or so for these months (and final figures suggest a shortfall of 62%
from Normal for NE Monsoon as a whole. Despite these and in anticipation, the peak continued for the month of October
with 152 species. And then they are all gone. Even during these peak months, although more species were seen, the
butterfly density was low. The monsoon should bounce back in the coming years and we hope for the butterfly bounty
again!
180
160
140
Papilionidae
120
Pieridae
100
Nymphalidae
Lycaenidae
80
Hesperiidae
60
Total
40
20
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Jul
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
39