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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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