Butterflies and Moths of Pakke Tiger Reserve

by Sanjay Sondhi, and Krushnamegh Kunte. 

2014. 

Full citation of the book:

Sondhi, S., and K. Kunte. 2014. Butterflies and Moths of Pakke Tiger Reserve. Titli Trust (Dehradun) and Indian Foundation for Butterflies (Bengaluru). vi+202pp, all in full color.

Download sample pages here.

This book covers 379 butterfly species and 83 moth species from northeastern India. This is the second book in the Northeast India Natural History Series (the first being the Butterflies of the Garo Hills). This series seeks to popularise the biodiversity of northeastern India with a view to promote community-based eco-tourism, and thereby incentivize local communities to protect their forest habitats and to support conservation action. Since 2007 we have been surveying butterflies and moths of Pakke Tiger Reserve in western Arunachal Pradesh, which is part of the globally recognized Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot. This book is a product of intensive surveys in and around this protected area. It has been published with generous and full funding from the Forest Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh. This book is published on a not-for-profit basis, and the publishers and authors will not receive any commercial benefit from its proceeds. The contributory proceeds from this book will go entirely to the Pakke Tiger Conservation Foundation for the welfare of the forest department staff and local communities involved in the conservation efforts at Pakke. You can find out more about the conservation efforts and community-based eco-tourism initiatives at Pakke by visiting http://www.pakketigerreserve.org/ or by emailing Sanjay Sondhi.

ORDERING COPIES OF THE BOOK: Copies of the book may be ordered from the Divisional Forest Officer, Pakke Tiger Reserve, or from the authors:

Sanjay Sondhi, Dehradun: Ph: +91 9412-052-189.

Krushnamegh Kunte, Bengaluru (=Bangalore): Ph: +91 80 2366-6085 (office), -6086 (lab), +91 9483-525-925 (mobile).

Contributory amount: Rs. 500 (Rs. five hundred), plus shipping costs. 20% discount on orders of six copies or more.

You may pay for the books by bank transfer in Pakke Tiger Conservation Foundation's bank account:

Account holder name: CM, Pakke Tiger Conservation Foundation
Savings Bank Account Number: 31273268569
Bank Name: State Bank of India
IFSC code: SBIN0007840

More details

Spiders of India

Spiders of India 
Ed: PA Sabastian KV Peter

Spiders of India is the only modern book available on the subject, and will prove an invaluable resource for professionals, students, naturalists, and researchers in zoology, entomology, ecology and physiology. The first part of the book looks at the morphology and anatomy of spiders, as well as systematics and evolution. The second part provides detailed descriptions of selected species. The book also contains, importantly, a decisive and updated checklist of the 1,520 spiders which have been described from India. It is richly illustrated with line drawings and diagrams, and more than 150 colour photographs, many documented for the first time

Links:

 Amazon


Goodreads

Google Books

Thanks to Vijaykumar Yadav for details.

The Fauna of British India : Moths

The Fauna of British India (short title) with long titles including The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma, The Fauna of British India including the remainder of the Oriental Region is a series of publications that was made by the British government in India and published by Taylor and Francis of London. The series was started somewhere in 1881 after a letter was sent to the Secretary of State for India signed by Charles Darwin, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and other "eminent men of science". W. T. Blanford was appointed editor and began work on the volume on mammals. (Ref Wikipedia)


Moths has 5 volumes

1. Hampson, G. (1892) Moths 1. Saturniidae to Hypsidae 527 p - 333 fig
2. Hampson, G. (1894) Moths 2. Arctiidae, Agrostidae, Noctuidae 609 p - 325 figs
3. Hampson, G. (1895) Moths 3. Noctuidae (cont.) to Geometridae 546 p - 226 figs
4. Hampson, G. (1896) Moths 4. Pyralidae 594 p - 287 figs
5. Bell TRD & F B Scott (1937) Moths. Vol. 5. Sphingidae [537 p - 1 folding map - 15 pl]

Taxonomy of Moths in India

Ajai Srivastava,
IBD Pub, 2002,
viii, 334 p, plates,
ISBN : 8170892821

 

 

Moths of India (An Introduction)

by Isaac Kehimkar


Edited by Bittu Sahagal
National Council for Science and Technology Communication,
NCSTC-HORNBILL Natural History Series
Hardcover (Edition: 2002)

Vigyan Prasar
ISBN 8174800271

Size: 7.0 inch X 5.0 inch
Pages: 76 (11 Color &13 B/W Illustrations)

 

Link to pdf

Dragonflies and Damselflies of Kerala (Keralathile Thumbikal)

Dragonflies and Damselflies of Kerala (Keralathile Thumbikal)
First photographic field guide by C G Kiran and David V Raju

Published by Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences
www.ties.org.in

• Covering 120 species with color pictures and descriptions
• More than 660 photographs including color pictures of male, female, mating, unique behavioral patterns, larvae etc. 
• Species level identification using latest taxonomical inputs 
• Checklist covering 150 species including Scientific Name, common name and Malayalam names
• Morphometric table and flight season chart
• Simple language, scientific terms given in English and Malayalam
• International style layout and printing

Butterflies of Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary

The Eaglenest Wildilife Sanctuary in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh is one of India's hotspots of biodiversity. Since the discovery of the bird, the Bugun Liocichla by Dr. Ramana Athreya, a host of other new species, range extensions and new records of amphibians, reptiles, butterflies and moths have been discovered from Eaglenest. The Bugun Welfare Society (http://bugunwelfaresociety.webs.com/) runs eco-tourism in the area, providing employment to the local communities and an incentive to conserve the area. 

Since 2009, Sanjay Sondhi has been surveying lepidoptera fauna at Eaglenest. These surveys have revealed close to 200 species of butterflies and close to a 1,000 species of moths, many of them being range extensions and a few, new records for India such as the Bhutan's national butterfly-the Ludlow's Bhutan Glory Bhutanitis ludlowi. 

These butterfly and moth brochures are intended to promote eco-tourism at Eaglenest. Each brochure covers 85 species of butterflies and 85 species of moths. The contributions from sales from these brochures will go to the community fund of the Bugun Welfare Society. 

The brochures can be ordered as under by depositing a cheque/electronic transfer to

Bugun Welfare Society

a/c no.11775243383

Code.SBIN00003594

State Bank of India Tenga Valley Branch

West Kameng Dist.Arunachal Pradesh-790 115

Rs 100 for one brochure (butterflies or moths) (Rs 75 for the brochure plus Rs 25 for shipment)

Rs 185 for two brochures (butterflies and moths) (Rs 150 for the brochures plus Rs 35 for shipment)

with intimation to 

Sanjay Sondhi, sanjay.sondhi1@gmail.com 

and

Indi Glow, phuarung@gmail.com

Moths of Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary

The Eaglenest Wildilife Sanctuary in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh is one of India's hotspots of biodiversity. Since the discovery of the bird, the Bugun Liocichla by Dr. Ramana Athreya, a host of other new species, range extensions and new records of amphibians, reptiles, butterflies and moths have been discovered from Eaglenest. The Bugun Welfare Society (http://bugunwelfaresociety.webs.com/) runs eco-tourism in the area, providing employment to the local communities and an incentive to conserve the area. 

Since 2009, Sanjay Sondhi has been surveying lepidoptera fauna at Eaglenest. These surveys have revealed close to 200 species of butterflies and close to a 1,000 species of moths, many of them being range extensions and a few, new records for India such as the Bhutan's national butterfly-the Ludlow's Bhutan Glory Bhutanitis ludlowi. 

These butterfly and moth brochures are intended to promote eco-tourism at Eaglenest. Each brochure covers 85 species of butterflies and 85 species of moths. The contributions from sales from these brochures will go to the community fund of the Bugun Welfare Society. 

The brochures can be ordered as under by depositing a cheque/electronic transfer to

Bugun Welfare Society

a/c no.11775243383

Code.SBIN00003594

State Bank of India Tenga Valley Branch

West Kameng Dist.Arunachal Pradesh-790 115

Rs 100 for one brochure (butterflies or moths) (Rs 75 for the brochure plus Rs 25 for shipment)

Rs 185 for two brochures (butterflies and moths) (Rs 150 for the brochures plus Rs 35 for shipment)

with intimation to 

Sanjay Sondhi, sanjay.sondhi1@gmail.com 

and

Indi Glow, phuarung@gmail.com

Butterflies of the Garo Hills

Title: Butterflies of the Garo Hills
Authors: Sanjay Sondhi, Krushnamegh Kunte, Gaurav Agavekar, Rohan Lovalekar, and Kedar Tokekar
Publishers: Samrakshan Trust, Title Trust, and Indian Foundation for Butterflies.
Number of pages: 200
Number of species accounts: 324. This is out of the 339 species that had been recorded from the Garo Hills at the time of finalizing the book in March 2013. The missing species are certain Swifts and other Hesperiids that cannot be easily identified in the field.
Number of color images: 521
Token price: Rs. 500 (Rs. five hundred), plus shipping costs. 20% discount on orders of six copies or more.

Copies of the book can be ordered from any one of the following four local distributors/stockers:

Samrakshan Trust, Baghmara (Meghalaya): Kamal Medhi (balpakram@gmail.com, 8974-986-223) and Yaranajit Deka (yaranajit.samrakshan@gmail.com, 9402-396-570). Their phones often do not work, so it is best to contact them by email.

Sanjay Sondhi, Dehradun: sanjay.sondhi1@gmail.com, 9412-052-189.

Kedar Tokekar, Pune: tokekark@yahoo.co.in, 9970-167-351.

Krushnamegh Kunte, Bengaluru (=Bangalore): krushnamegh@ncbs.res.in, krushnamegh@ifoundbutterflies.org, (080) 2366-6085 (office), -6086 (lab), 9483-525-925 (mobile).

You can pay for the book by a bank transfer in Samrakshan's bank account (preferred method) or by cash to one of the above distributors:

Account holder name: Samrakshan Charitable Trust ET
Savings Bank Account Number: 32928955983
Bank Name: State Bank of India, Baghmara Branch
IFSC code: SBIN0004885
CIF Number: 86682627876

Please note that the book has been published with generous and full funding from the India Foundation and the Forests and Environment Department, Government of Meghalaya. The authors have decided not to take any royalty and the publishers have decided not to make any money on this book. However, we are selling this book for the token price of Rs. 500, with the understanding that all the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Garo tribes in the South Garo Hills District of Meghalaya, where we have worked in the past and continue our research. Through the sale of this book we are trying to help Samrakshan Trust generate alternative source of revenue for the Garos from the very biodiverse forests that they hold. Samrakshan Trust has been doing this for several years in various ways to encourage the Garos to keep their forests rather than turn them over to illegal coal miners. Part of this effort is butterfly tourism in the Garo Hills, about which Yaranajit, Kamal or Sanjay can tell you more.

There was also a paper published
Kunte, K., Sondhi, S., Sangma, B. M., Lovalekar, R., Tokekar, K., & Agavekar, G. (2012). Butterflies of the Garo Hills of Meghalaya , northeastern India : their diversity and conservation. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 4(10), 2933–2992. Retrieved from http://www.threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJournal/2012/September/o294512ix122933-2992.pdf

And a very interesting and educating discussion about identifications in this book in Journal of Threatened Taxa:

• Gogoi, M. (2013). Butterflies of the Garo Hills by S. Sondhi., K. Kunte, G. Agavekar, R. Lovalekar, K. Tokekar.(2013). Samrakshan Trust (New Delhi), Titli Trust (Dehradun) and Indian Foundation for Butterflies (Bengaluru), xvi+200pp. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 5(June), 4527–4528. Retrieved from http://threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJournal/2013/June/Book_review.pdf
• Kunte, K., Agavekar, G., Sondhi, S., Lovalekar, R., & Tokekar, K. (2013). On the identification and misidentification of butterflies of the Garo Hills. … of Threatened Taxa, 5(July), 4616–4620. Retrieved from http://threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJournal/2013/July/o371026vii134616-4620.pdf
• Gogoi, M. J. (2013). On the identification of Indian butterflies in the book on Butterflies of the Garo Hills. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 5(November), 5016–5018. Retrieved from http://www.threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJournal/2013/November/o385526xi135016-5018.pdf
• Kunte, K., Sondhi, S., Agavekar, G., Lovalekar, R., & Tokekar, K. (2013). Final notes on the identification and misidentification of butterflies of the Garo Hills, 5(November), 5019–5020. Retrieved from http://www.threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJournal/2013/November/o385626xi135019-5020.pdf

Butterflies on the Roof of the World

Butterflies on the Roof of the World: A Memoir 

by: Peter Smetacek

Hardcover: 224 pages

Publisher: Aleph Book Company (November 26, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9382277056

ISBN-13: 978-9382277057

In this book, Peter Smetacek invites us into the fascinating world of butterflies. We accompany him on expeditions deep into the mountains of the Himalaya, high desert landscapes of Ladakh, leopard and bear-infested forests of Kumaon, scenic meadows of Garhwal, and all manner of other habitats, as he attempts to capture rare and interesting species an all-black butterfly that hasn't been spotted for over a century, drunken moths that behave no differently from their human counterparts when they are tipsy, high-elevation butterflies that sail over mountain peaks, and caterpillars that are worth more than their weight in gold. Along the way, in prose that is lucid, witty and always entertaining, he illuminates for the reader the mysterious world of the elusive insects he has spent a lifetime with, and explains why the well-being of butterflies is of vital importance to us all.

On Aleph
Review on live Mint

Book of Indian Butterflies

The Book of Indian Butterflies
Isaac Kehimkar
Bombay Natural History Society

Butterflies of Peninsular India

India - a Lifescape
Butterflies of Peninsular India
Krushnamesh Kunte
Editor Madhav Gadgil
forward Prof. E. O. Wilson

Common Butterflies of Bengal Plains

A Pictorial Guide
Common Butterflies of Bengal Plains
Arjan Basu Roy, Rudra Prasad Das and Prosanta Mukherjee

Illustrated Checklist of Nepal's Butterflies

Illustrated Checklist of Nepal's Butterflies
by Colin Smith

Common Butterflies of India

Nature Guides
Common Butterflies of India
by Gay, Kehimkar and Punetha
World Wide Funf for Nature - India
Oxford University Press

The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya

The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya
and their natural history
Meena Haribal

Comprehensive yet compact field guide to the Himalayan lepidoptera. Initial chapters describe natural history & ecology of butterflies, local conservation laws, and description of Sikkim climate, geography etc. The bulk of the book provides detailed species descriptions, including identification and known status / range. Some 689 species are listed, although not all are fully described. Many are illustrated on the colour photographic plates.

Butterflies of Mumbai

Butterflies bring happiness to the viewers’ heart, so is the book “Butterflies of Mumbai”
by Nelson Rodrigues. It is a simple, user friendly book on butterflies in the Mumbai
region, with lot of large size photographs and very brief description. It will be a
wonderful guide for all who watch butterflies; beautiful big pictures and short text will be
well suited for the beginners, and the caterpillar photos and the lifecycle description will
be a great gift for those who want to study seriously about butterflies.

Butterflies are the indicators of an ecosystem; so monitoring butterflies are important
in monitoring the health of an ecosystem. Giving orientation to people about butterflies
and their lifecycle is vital in this juncture. In the introduction, the book describes the life
cycle of butterflies and some interesting facts about butterflies; which can attract more
people into the fascinating world of butterfly watching.

Introduction of digital cameras helped more people to start clicking this colourful flying
beauties, but the identification of them are a problem for the beginners. Email groups
and social networking groups are giving a platform for the freshers to identify and
interacting with people of similar interests. But a field guide with big pictures explaining
the difference between similar looking butterflies will be of great help; in my opinion
Nelson Rodrigues is successful in designing the book to deliver these needs.

Even though the book describes butterflies of Mumbai; it can be used all over south
India as the distribution of butterflies in this region is similar. The main attraction of
the book is definitely the large beautiful pictures of the butterflies itself. The author
had done a good job in collecting good photographs of the butterflies from more than
30 photographers around India. The detailed under wing and upper wing shots, sexual
and seasonal variations of many butterflies are described with the help of pictures. The
butterflies are arranged as per their primary colours not as per their families; it is good
experiment, hope this helps the beginners to identify the butterflies easily in the field.

The distinguished feature of the book is the 103 caterpillar pictures in it. No such book
describing early stages of Indian butterflies is available now. It will be a gift for those
who interested in studying life cycle of butterflies. The list of host and nectar plants in the
Mumbai region is also added at the end of the book, it will help in the study of life cycle
and also in conservation of butterflies. The details about the nature parks, gardens and
other places around Mumbai are described in the book; it will be useful for the butterfly
lovers.

Those who looking for serious scientific literature on butterflies is not targeted here. With
lot of beautiful pictures and quality print, it will be a great book for the butterfly lovers to
collect and use in the field. I would like appreciate Nelson Rodrigues for his dedication
and love towards butterflies in bringing such a beautiful book.

-- Haneesh K M

Butterflies of Goa

A photographic guide to Butterflies of Goa
Also includes butterflies of other ranges of the Western Ghats @ Southern India
Parag Rangnekar

Dragonflies of India : A Field Guide

INDIA-A LIFESCAPE
Dragonflies of India : A Field Guide
By : K.A.Subramanian
Editor : Madhav Gadgil
Published by : Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science and Technology
Website: http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in
ISBN : 978-81-7480-192-0
Price: Rs. 125/-

The First photographic field guide to 111 Indian dragonflies and damselflies. English common names introduced to Indian dragonflies and damselflies for the first time. Field keys for identification of larvae and adults.Over 200 clear photographs for accurate and quick identification. Concise text provides information on key characteristics and ecology of each species. Reviewed by eminent entomologists and field biologists.

The book can be downloaded from Vigyan Prasar Website.