Rare butterfly Palmking spotted for the first time in Tamil Nadu
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
Environment
- Published
13th Apr, 2022
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Context
The rare woody butterfly Palmking has been sighted for the first time in Tamil Nadu. It was earlier seen only in Kerala.
About Palmking butterfly
- Palmking (Amathusia phidippus) belongs to the Nymphalidae subfamily. It is described as reclusive, mostly resting in the shade.
- The butterfly is characterised by its brown/woody colour and dark bands. Its wood colour is an easy camouflage making it difficult to spot.
- It feeds on palm, coconut and calamus varieties of plants.
- Palmking was first recorded in South India by British scientist H.S.Ferguson in 1891. It was rediscovered in 2007 in Thenmala by C. Susanth
Tamil Nadu State Butterfly
- Tamil Yeoman butterfly species (endemic to western ghats) is Tamil Nadu state’s butterfly.
- Tamil Yeoman (Cirrochroa thais) is also known as tamil maravan which means warrior.
- It is uniformly orange in colour with a dark brown outer ring.
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