Winged ‘metallic blue’ creature seen mating in mountains of India. It’s a new species
High up in the mountains of southern India, a “metallic blue” creature glided through the forest. The colorful animal was easy to spot — yet difficult to find. When finally located by scientists, it turned out to be a new species.
Researchers ventured into the Western Ghats mountain range on several wildlife surveys in 2018 and 2021, according to a study published Dec. 31 in the journal ENTOMON. The area was a known biodiversity hotspot.
Searching the forests, researchers found a bright blue butterfly that they didn’t recognize, the study said. They captured four of these butterflies and observed dozens more. Taking a closer look at the insects, researchers realized they’d discovered a new species: Cigaritis meghamalaiensis, or the cloud forest silverline butterfly.
Cloud forest silverline butterflies measure less than an inch in length and vary in coloring between males and females, the study said. Seen from above, males have “metallic blue” and “velvety black” wings. Females have dark brown wings.
Photos show a male and female cloud forest silverline butterfly. Seen from underneath, the wings of males and females look similar, a “pale pinkish-brown” color with some “silver scales,” researchers said.
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Cloud forest silverline butterflies are “very uninclined to fly and often (fall) easy prey to predators” such as lizards, the study said. Researchers saw the animals basking, mating and laying eggs in the bark of trees and plants.
Researchers said they named the new species after the Meghamalai area where it was discovered and its preferred forest habitat. Meghamalai is a mountain range within the Western Ghats and in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, about 1,300 miles south of New Delhi.
The new species was identified by its coloring, habitat and behavior, the study said. Researchers did not provide a DNA analysis of the new species.
The research team included S. Ramasamy Kamaya Naicker, Sujitha Prabhakaran Chandrika, Baiju Kochunarayanan, Jebine Jose, Manoj Kripakaran, Rajkumar Chidambaram Palaniappan, Vinayan Padmanabhan Nair and Kalesh Sadasivan.
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