Dear Butterfly Lovers,
வணக்கம் [Greetings].
The months from June to September are a period of Southwest Monsoon rains. This year, most of the districts
witnessed normal rainfall and some districts of north and south Tamil Nadu witnessed excess rainfall. Many
interesting butterfly activities were observed starting with the Painted Lady Butterfly migration in June 2019 and
continuing till mid July. On 28 June 2019, the Tamil Nadu government had announced Tamil Yeoman as the State
butterfly of Tamil Nadu. In the month of July, large scale migrations of Common Emigrants, Blue Tiger, Dark Blue
Tiger, Lime butterfly, Common and Double-branded Crow were noted in Chennai which actually started from
June last week to 20th July 2019. During the months of August and September, which is usually the peak
butterfly season, many rare species have been reported, including Indian Pierrot and Common Onyx from Salem,
Nilgiri Grass Yellow and Yellow-breasted Flat from Coimbatore, Common Tinsel and Dark Pierrot from Nilgiris
and Striated Five-ring from Tirunelveli district.
In the current issue, Mr. Pavendhan A brings out a brief report on the summer butterfly study carried out by
TNBS at Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Erode. He reports that during the summer study, 113 species of
butterflies were identified with Banded Royal, Painted Courtesan, Nilgiri Tiger and White Hedge Blue as the most
highlights. The report also mentions out a consolidated checklist of butterflies for the Tiger Reserve comprising
of 168 species after a one year study. In the next article, Mr. Theivaprakasham Hari shares his observations on
butterfly migration from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. This is followed by an article on Painted Lady
Butterfly Migration observed in Tamil Nadu during the months of June and July 2019. The members from at least
14+ districts shared their observations on the migration of Painted Lady butterfly. Followed by this, we have
reproduced a comprehensive article of Mr. Pavendhan A, published in Kadu magazine in Tamil language. The
article details butterflies role on the eco-system, numbers, anatomy and early life, adult butterfly & their life,
butterfly migration, survival challenges, butterfly status in TN, conservation challenges and the road ahead. This
is followed by “In the News” section where the latest butterfly news published in press is highlighted. “From
the Facebook Pages” section portrays the regular photo gallery picked up from Facebook postings during the
quarter by members.
We hope you enjoy going through this Newsletter and looking forward to your valuable feedback. We believe
that the News Letter belongs to every one of us and expect more contribution from all our members going
forward . Please write to [email protected]
Editorial Team
The Nature and Butterfly Society
Pattampoochi– A quarterly magazine of The Nature and Butterfly Society
Wings 3 Veins 4
Oct–Dec 2019. Issued on 01.10.2019
Issued from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
For Private Circulation Only. Copyright is with TNBS. Please write to us for
getting permission to use any of the contents.
Editor: A Pavendhan
Editorial Team: Balakrishnan R, Gopalakrishnan S, Nishanth CV,
Theivaprakasham H , Viswanathan S and Ramanasaran H
The Nature and Butterfly Society (259/2018) is registered under the
Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975
Cover Page: Painted Lady (Gopalakrishnan S)
Full Page Picture Credits:
Large Salmon Arab (Vishwanathan S), Rustic
(Gopalakrishnan S), Spot Swordtail and Tamil
Yeoman (Theivaprakasham H), Dark Blue Tiger
(Pavendhan A), Yellow–breasted Flat
(Ramanasaran H) and Tamil Lacewing (Nishanth
CV).
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 3 VEINS 4
3