A miyawaki forest canopy with towering native trees and a dense belt of flowering plants has turned the city’s Vellalore Lake into a butterfly hotspot. Blue Mormons, the fourth largest butterfly of India and State butterfly of Maharashtra, have been sighted in great numbers. A beautiful bluish-green butterfly called the common banded peacock, as like medus brown, chocolate albatross, and bamboo tree brown buzzed around the nectaring plants at the lake much to the excitement of butterfly enthusiasts.
“All these species can be sighted in forest covers and wooded-areas, but we were surprised to see them in good numbers in the plains,” says Pavendhan A of the Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society (TNBS), adding that so far 83 species have been recorded. “This indicates that 25% of species from Tamil Nadu’s checklist (of 327 species) are available in this single location. This criteria qualifies the wetland as a butterfly hotspot.”
