The discovery was made on Sunday when Kaiser-e-Hind (Teinoplaspus imperialis) was photographed live for the first time in India by Dr Tage Kanno during the two-day Butterfly Meet at Ziro organised by Ngunu Ziro from August 23.
“This species of butterfly has been photographed in Vietnam and Thailand but no live image has ever been photographed in India,” Kanno said.
Recently, a dead specimen was photographed in Sikkim and half-dead one photographed in Manipur, but this is for the first time that a living butterfly has been photographed.
In addition, this is for the first photographic proof that this rare specimen exists in Arunachal Pradesh, he said.
Monsoon Jyoti Gogoi, who participated in Butterfly Meet as an expert, said this is a historic event. He further said that the species was common locally 60 years back in Cherrapunji, but was no longer seen due to habitat loss and export of the specimen for business purposes by the experts. The specimen, he said, was also common a hundred years back in Manipur.
NgunuZiro is a community-based organisation working for sustainable development of the area. With this objective, it has been promoting and encouraging responsible tourism at Ziro.
Source: The Shillong Times
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