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Butterfly Checklist of Coimbatore District
District- An ideal habitat profile for Butterflies
Coimbatore District , with 4723 sq . km area , is blessed by the presence of Western Ghats on their Southern and Western side . Except Valparai and a few other areas ( where plantation dominates ), these riches are unspoilt mostly . The varied elevation are ideal habitats for different altitude specific butterflies . The foothills are especially rich in butterfly density and any place near a foothill is a butterfly hotspot . The dominant agriculture activities around the foothills also support certain specific butterfly species . Dwelling on the agriculture activities , crops such as Rice and Sugar and Coconut , Plantains and Palm , all are interestingly host plants to many butterfly species . These crops and plants are grown in the Coimbatore District . The Noyyal river fed water system which encompasses about 30 water bodies around the core Coimbatore area alone and numerous active waterbodies in the district from other rivers and tanks , are again a butterfly rich habitat they are . The Singanallur lake alone within the city limits of Coimbatore has recorded 64 butterfly species . The district also possesses significant dry and arid area , and the trees and plants from these areas are abundant with Pieridae family butterflies which prefer these habitats . Even the urban landscape , wherever dotted with little unspoilt green cover with native plants return good number of species . Despite the faster growth and the pressures of habitat loss to the urbanisation , industrialisation , real estate needs , etc , we find the presence of butterflies are not yet under severe threat . But from what we are already seeing from a few closely monitoring sites , we are losing significant habitat for some of the iconic butterflies of Coimbatore and the state like Joker , Common Threering , Baronet , Orange-tips , etc . The Common Three-ring which is abundant in areas like Peelamedu live on the common grass that grows on the streets . These are elsewhere rare . Coimbatore also is an important destination and route migrating butterflies . The annual migration of Milkweed butterflies is well observed and recorded . The current year saw a return of migration of these was almost nil in the last couple of years . This year we also witnessed large scale Emigrants species migration and Albatrosses , both within the ghats as well as from plains to the ghats . We also saw some reverse migration from ghats to the plains . Anamalai Tiger Reserve , Siruvani Hills , Anaikatti Hills and areas closer to the Nilgiri Hills are all important migratory spots . It is evident from the above discussion that the District of Coimbatore is an ideal habitat for butterflies from Karamadai to Pollachi taluks .
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