Butterflies are important pollinators. They are also good
indicators of the ecological quality of a habitat. Some butterflies are vital
for economically important plants and also general an important component of
the food chain. In short, butterflies are benign, aesthetically pleasing, fauna
members and not to mention, beautiful to watch as an ornament of Mother Nature.
3
As "cold blooded" insects, butterflies are
particularly affected by changes in climate. Numbers are influenced every year
by weather patterns, but increases in mean temperatures over a sustained period
can lead to significant changes in range, population size, the rate of
colonization or extinction, phrenology, number of generations each year, choice
of larval monitor change, not just because of its intrinsic interest but
because these changes may have considerable implications for conservation
management.
A good number of scientific inventories on butterflies of Bangladesh have been prepared in
the past one decade. The checklist ranges approximately 400-500 species. The
worrying part is that the evidence of these species' existence and distribution
are not comprehensive. In most of the cases these checklists prepared to meet
the scientific communities' interest, but the engagement of common people or
knowledge sharing with them have been overlooked. We have been working for an
intensive period on butterfly recording with the help of digital media and
information on distribution area covered in Bangladesh . We use common
scientific methods of taxonomic key for identification of butterfly species.
The inventory is segregated into some focused districts in each phase and
ultimately the goal is to cover the whole country with a tentative tenure of
8-10 years.
This inventory encompasses the tenure of September 2009 - January
2012. It includes the geographical area of Dhaka , Mymensingh, Tangail,
Netrokana, Rangpur, Gaibandha, Bogra and Syllhet districts. The lokations
mainly covered during the documentation were urban and village road sides,
botanical gardens, educational institutions, adjacent area of river, lakes,
ponds, tea gardens, etc.
A total of 61 species recorded in this initial phase where 22
(NYMPHALIDAE), 3 (PAPILIONIDAE), 10 (PIERIDAE), 16 (LYCAENIDAE) & 10
9HESPERIIDAE) families were found. Out of all these species mostly 56 were
commonly found in all these locations. Only 5 species (Appias Olferna, Appias
Drusilla, Spindasis lohita Senama, Loxura Atymnus Fuconius, Arhopala Amantes)
were found uncommon. These species have been recorded in only one or two
districts. In this manuscript, brief explanation of these species are provided,
which includes family names, their superseded, scientific names as well as the
generally accepted, common names, Furthermore wingspans, colours, habits, larva
host plants and geographically recorded locations have also been incorporated.
Although utmost care has been taken to present the accurate measure of
wingspan, colours, habit and larva host plants but they are prone to variations
due to disparities in accordance to regions, site conditions and erratic
seasonalities. Physical appearances of the species on the other hand, can very
a great deal depending on their age.
Roughly 1,00,000 images were taken during this inventory tenure,
where all these species' solitary of taxonomical forms have been captured but
due to space limitations of this book, solitary taxonomical outline have been
presented for individual species. Although global positioning System (GPS) has
been used while taking pictures, marks for these are not incorporated in this
book. Moreover image have been scaled and magnified where necessary.
Indeed, we have tried our best to make this publication helpful
for both scholars and general leaders.
"Upho;ding the ecology and conservation of flora and fauna
species of Bangladesh , though the power of
imagery and documentation" -with this belief and motto, we, a group of
people, have been working voluntarily with a similar vision for the last one
decade.
During our expedition, we have been able to make a healthy
documentation" of some species in Bangladesh which includes rare and
threatened flora, medicinal plants, dragonflies, lizards frogs, birds along
with butterflies and moths.
The book Butterflies of Bangladesh is a compilation of our first
phase inventory with the endeavors of our two and half year's effort where
primarily eight districts of Bangladesh were focused. The
rest of the geographical locations of Bangladesh will also be enclosed
by 8-10 years onward.
The ultimate goal of this initiative is the formulation of an
authentic checklist of butterflies in Bangladesh with adequate
information which is supposed to play a great role for conservation efforts,
not only for the scientific communities, but also for people as a whole.