India's Moth Fauna Gets 17 New Species From Arunachal Pradesh

ITANAGAR: The moth fauna of India has got seventeen new species from Tale Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh. This has been known after assessments were carried out on moth biodiversity in a period of over 29 days in the months of April, May, August and September in 2011 and 2019.

A study has been published in Tropical Lepidoptera Research in July this year. As per the study, 497 moth species were identified out of which 460 species were identified to species level, while the rest were identified upto genus level. 17 species were found regarding which no published records exist from India. These are additions to the moth fauna of this country.

Moths are organisms having high diversity. As per some scientists, there are between 1,50,000 to 5,00,000 moth species in the world. They either have dazzling colour and texture or have a cryptic form that easily camouflage with their surroundings. Their shapes and sizes vary and most of them are nocturnal by nature. There are certain types which fly during the day.

Arunachal Pradesh's moth diversity has not been studied in a satisfactory way. As per the study, the best-studied sites in the Himalayan region were around hill stations when the British were there in India. In Northeast India, places like Darjeeling and Shillong were the places regarding most historical records for moths.

The other areas that were surveyed well were the Naga Hills and Khasi Hills. Arunachal Pradesh, which does not have any major hill City, has been poorly studied historically. In Arunachal Pradesh, about 79.63 per cent of its land area is forested (Forest Survey of India, 2019) and supports unusually high species diversity.

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