Introduction

In India there are two subspecies of Chilades parhassius (Fabricius, 1793): Chilades parhassius parhassius (Fabricius, 1793) and Chilades parhassius minuta ( Evans, 1932) and two subspecies of Choaspes benjaminii (Guérin-Méneville, 1843): Choaspes benjaminii japonica Murray, 1875 and Choaspes benjaminii benjaminii (Guérin-Méneville, 1843).

Chilades parhassius parhassius (Fabricius, 1793) has the range extension from Rajasthan to Kerela and eastward to Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. While Choaspes benjaminii japonica Murray, 1875 has the range extension from Himachal Pradesh to Northeast India and Choaspes benjaminii benjaminii (Guérin-Méneville, 1843) has the range extension from Karnataka to Kerela ( Varshney & Smetacek, 2015).

Chilades parhassius parhassius (Fabricius, 1793) is uncommon in peninsular and northwestern India. Can be found in Western Ghats but at low elevations from Kerela and Tamil & Nadu, northern part of Karnataka, Telangana, Goa and from Maharashtra up to Gujarat, also found in Rajasthan, Haryana, southern part of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh and also distributed to Himachal Pradesh (Shimla at an altitude of 2050 m, fide Wynter-Blyth) and from Nepal where there is an old record from terai. Chilades parhassius minuta is recorded in Northwestern India in Punjab east to Chandigarh. There is no record of it from Jammu and Kashmir ( Gasse, 2018).

Choaspes benjaminii benjaminii (Guérin-Méneville, 1843) is fairly common in Southwestern Ghats that too above 1000 m i.e., in Kerela, West Tamil Nadu and in Kodagu area of Southwest Karnataka. Whereas Choaspes benjaminii japonica Murray, 1875 is fairly common in Himalayas from 300-2700 m, seen West of Kangra in Himachal Pradesh and Eastern part of Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim, Northwest Bengal and from Bhutan to Arunachal Pradesh and the remaining Northeast India but not recorded from Mizoram. There is no record of it from Jammu and Kashmir.

From decade, some researchers have made research in some parts of the Union Territory and have added many new sightings of Rhopalocera fauna of Jammu and Kashmir, India i.e., ( Qureshi et al., 2013a , 2013b, 2014; Sharma & Sharma, 2017a, 2017b, 2018a, 2018b, 2020) and many other articles by Sharma & Sharma (2017a, 2017b, 2018), Sheikh & Parey (2019a, 2019b), Sharma & Sharma (2020), Gupta & Sheikh (2021), Sheikh (2021), Singh & Sheikh (2021), Parey & Sheikh (2021), Dar et al. (2022a, 2022b), Sheikh et al. (2021), Sheikh & Gupta (2022), Sheikh & Mishra (2022a, 2022b), Sheikh & Dar (2022).

Choaspes benjaminii japonica Murray, 1875

On 15-IV-2022, author observed the Rhopalocera in Bani tehsil, and she found the Choaspes benjaminii japonica Murray, 1875 ( Figure 1) belonging to Hesperiidae family nectarine on flowers of Melia azedarach L. for half an hour and later on she found three to four individuals’ nectarine on the same tree. The author photographed this Rhopalocera with the help of Canon Eos 1300 D, and noted down the coordinates of the area (32°42’42.8” N, 74°48’58.1” E) at an altitude of around 1350 m a.s.l. The vegetation around was Alnus nitida Spach, Rubus niveus Thunb, Rubus ellipticus Sm., Berberis lycium Royle, Ficus carica L., Juglans regia L., etc.

Chilades parhassius parhassius (Fabricius, 1793)

On 11-V-2022, author has done survey on the Rhopalocera of Bani area of Kathua district ( Figure 2) of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory where she found Chilades parhassius parhassius (Fabricius, 1793) ( Figure 1) belonging to Lycaenidae family nectarine on Trifolium repens where author photographed this butterfly with the help of Canon Eos 1300 D, and noted down the coordinates of the area (32°42’26.7” N, 74°48’43.8” E) at an altitude of around 1350 m a.s.l. After this sighting author found the same species in many areas of Bani like in Duggan, Dalangal, Sida etc. The study was carried out in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. It is located between 75.5173° E longitude and 32.3865° N latitude. The average annual rainfall is 1360 mm. The study area experiences a sub-tropical climate. The Kathua district has its border with Pakistan, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The vegetation around the sighting was; Rhododendron arboretum Sm., Prinsepia utilis Royle, Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus, Melia azedarach L., Alnus nitida Spach, Rubus niveus Thunb, Rubus ellipticus Sm., Berberis lycium Royle, etc.

Identification

Identification was done with the help of following to Evans (1932), Wynter-Blyth (1957), Kehimkar (2016) and Smetacek (2018).

Acknowledgments

Author is highly thankful to Department of Zoology, Sunrise University Alwar for providing facilities to carry out the research work. The author is also thankful to Mr. Lovish Garlani for his help in identification of this Rhopalocera.

References

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Author notes

*Autor para la correspondencia / Corresponding author