THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, The Hindu December 17, 2025
Kerala hosts the highest butterfly diversity among all Indian States along the Western Ghats, with 328 species documented, including 41 species endemic to the Western Ghats, according to a comprehensive new monograph published in ENTOMON, an open access quarterly journal by the Association for Advancement of Entomology.
The researchers of the study ‘The Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera) of Kerala: Status and Distribution’ have reported that the Western Ghats support 337 butterfly species and Kerala accounts for nearly the entire diversity.
The butterfly fauna of the State spans six families, led by Nymphalidae (97 species), Lycaenidae (96 species), and Hesperiidae (82 species), followed by Papilionidae, Pieridae and Riodinidae.
The study, undertaken by a team of researchers led by Kalesh Sadasivan, has also documented 36 migratory butterfly species to highlight the State’s role as a key corridor for seasonal butterfly movements. Notably, 22 species recorded from Kerala are included in the IUCN Red List, though most fall under the ‘Least Concern’ category, while two are listed as ‘Near Threatened.’
The monograph highlights that 70 butterfly species found in Kerala are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Of these, only four species enjoy the highest level of protection under Schedule I, while the majority fall under Schedule II of the Act.
Significant
One of the most significant contributions of the work is the extensive larval host plant checklist which documents over 1,800 feeding records, including over 350 new field observations. Covering nearly 800 plant species, the list represents one of the largest region-specific compilations in India.
Another highlight of the quarterly publication lies in its significant taxonomic clarifications and reinstatements.
The authors present evidence-based revisions affecting several Western Ghats taxa, including the recognition of Argynnis hybrida and A. castetsi as distinct from their previously conflated forms, the clarification of Elymnias caudata as separate from E. hypermnestra undularis, and the separation of Abisara bifasciata suffusa from A. echerius prunosa.
Besides proposing species-level elevation for four Western Ghats butterflies, the monograph describes a new subspecies, Tajuria maculata sureshi ssp. nov., discovered in Kerala and named in honour of distinguished naturalist and wildlife filmmaker Suresh Elamon.
