5
IUCN Red List, WPA Schedule Status for Butterflies in the
Tamil Nadu Checklist
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted for protection of
plants and animal species. The Act provides for the protection of wild animals, birds and plants;
and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto. It extends to the whole
of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir which has its own wildlife act. It has six
schedules which give varying degrees of protection. Schedule I and part II of Schedule II
provide absolute protection - offences under these are prescribed the highest penalties.
Species listed in Schedule III and Schedule IV are also protected, but the penalties are much
lower. Schedule V includes the animals which may be hunted. The specified endemic plants in
Schedule VI are prohibited from cultivation and planting. The hunting to the Enforcement
authorities have the power to compound offences under this Schedule (i.e. they impose fines
on the offenders).
The code has been amended several times and the 2002 Amendment
punishment and penalty for offences under the Act more stringent.
act have made
By Defined by the Indian government as
national emblem - www.mha.nic.in, Public
Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/
w/index.php?curid=665228
(Source: Wiki)
Butterflies
A most recent estimate puts the number of butterflies species in India to 1318. The WPA 1972 protects 453 species (and sub-
species level for significant species) of butterflies. Out of the six schedules available, butterflies are covered under only 3
schedules (Schedule Part I (Part IV), Schedule Part II (Part II) and Schedule IV). No of species covered under Schedule I is 127,
Schedule II is 306 and Schedule IV is 20.
Out of the 324 species listed for the state of Tamil Nadu, Family
Sch I (Part IV) Sch II (Part II) Sch IV
59 species and sub-species are covered under WPA,
3
1
1972. The break up of the same family wise and Papilionidae
Pieridae
4
2
schedule wise can be seen in the table provided.
Nymphalidae
1
16
3
If we carefully go through the species list, we could
Lycaenidae
2
18
1
sense that there are many species which definitely need
a consideration under the schedules, but are not cov- Riodinidae
ered especially species of endemic and rarity in nature. Hesperiidae
Hopefully, a revision on the same is done soon!
4
43
6
Total
4
6
20
21
0
5
11
9
60
The following 60 species have been covered under schedules from the checklist of butterflies available in Tamil Nadu.
S. No Species Common Name Sub-species occurring Sub-species men-
in TN
tioned in WPA, 1972 Schedule under
WPA, 1972
1 Pachliopta hector Crimson Rose - - Sch I (Part IV)
2 Papilio clytia Common Mime clytia clytia Sch I (Part IV)
3 Papilio liomedon Malabar Banded Swal-
lowtail - - Sch I (Part IV)
4 Papilio buddha Malabar Banded Peacock - Sch II (Part II)
5 Appias libythea Striped Albatross/ West-
ern Striped Albatross - - Sch IV
6 Appias lyncida Chocolate Albatross latifasciata latifasciata Sch II (Part II)
7 Appias wardii Lesser Albatross - - Sch II (Part II)
8 Appias indra Plain Puffin shiva shiva Sch II (Part II)
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 3 VEINS 2
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