India registered a new species of Butterfly on Tuesday after Peter Smetacek, Director of Butterfly Research Center based in Bhimtal in Uttarakhand, announced country’s butterfly species number 1328.
Spialia Zebra has officially been declared as India’s latest butterfly species after the research centre published details of Spialia Zebra in its monthly magazine dated September 28. Also known as Zebra Skipper, the species was spotted in 2014.
They were photographed on November 8, 2018, in a farmhouse in Sagwara town in Dungarpur district of Rajasthan by a local teacher Mukesh Pawar. The pictures were sent to Butterfly Research centre and after six years of rigorous identification process, the director of the centre, Smetacek, finally decided to announce the Spialia Zebra as India’s latest butterfly species.
In an interview to The Times of India, Panwar described the species. He said it is distinguished by the discal band on the underside hindwing which is continuous with the outer spot. The inner spot is adjoined to the basal cell spot. On the underside, the hindwing discal band is straight and directed to the tornus. Whereas on the upper side, the basal cell spot is absent.
The butterfly which measures 2.5cm has white stripes on the wings giving it its name Zebra. They are found in dry habitat and cultivated areas in lowlands or arid foothills.
The butterfly was also spotted in Attock in Pakistan in 1888 when it was known as Campbellpore during the British Raj. It has been mentioned in a book called Butterflies of Pakistan (2016). At that time, scientists had collected 12 specimens from the Chittar Pahar area in Attock. The butterfly had also been seen in Margalla hills area in Punjab in Pakistan and south-eastern part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Panwar has been studying moths and butterflies for the past 15 years. He has also identified some 111 species of butterflies and has recorded the life cycles of 82 varieties so far. Spotting Spialia Zebra is usually tough since they fly swiftly at low-ground.