YINGKIONG, 18 May: Twenty-five guests, including researchers and nature conservationists from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand participated in a weeklong ‘Siang biodiversity meet’ which concluded here in Upper Siang district on Saturday.
A total of 140 species of butterflies, 100 species of birds, and 300 species of moths were spotted during the meet, organised by the Gobuk Welfare Society(GWS), in collaboration with the Epum Sirum Welfare Society, and with support from the Titli Trust, the Mouling National Park-cum-Wildlife Division DFO, and the district administration.
Rare species of butterflies, such as the dark freak, brown gorgon, yellow gorgon, elusive prince, false Tibetan cupid, green dragontail and bottled argus,were spotted during the meet.
The dark freak is a rare species of butterfly found only in a few parts of Arunachal Pradesh and nowhere else in the world. Another butterfly species, the false Tibetan cupid, was also spotted. “In India, the false Tibetan cupid is found only in a few parts of Dibang Valley and Upper Siang districts of Arunachal,” said Sanjay Sodhi of the Titli Trust.
Rare birds, such as the green cochoa, large niltava, black-chinned yuhina, white-naped yuhina, slaty-bellied tesia and spotted elachura were also spotted during the meet.
Rare moths Phalera eminens and Macrobrochis flavicincta were also spotted. Both moths were recently covered in a paper published in Tropical Lepidoptera Research as new records from India.
Asian glass lizard and twin-spotted wolf snake were also spotted during the meet. Both the species are endemic to Asia.
The organising team, led by GWS president DubomTekseng, appealed to one and all to “give your hand towards conserving biodiversity.” (DIPRO)
