New moth species sighted in Arunachal Pradesh

The moth was photographed by nature enthusiasts of Ngunu Ziro, led by Dr Tage Kano, during their field trip to Talley Valley Reserve last September.

The photograph was sent to the education officer of the Bombay Natural History Society, Dr V Subhalaxmi, for identification. Dr Subhalaxmi identified it as Genus level, Ariff Siddiqui, a lepidopterist, who was a member of the team, said.

On consultation with the international moth experts in the British Natural History Museum and experts from Hong Kong, it was confirmed that this was indeed a new species for science, Siddiqui said.

A few years back, Bhutan Glory, a rare butterfly variety, was sighted at Ziro in Lower Subansiri district by entomologists and the new moth species, a day-flying one, possibly mimics Bhutan Glory and thus shares the same habitat.

Dr Shen-Horn Wen from Taiwan University, who has been specializing on this genus of moth, has agreed to collaborate in describing the species, Siddiqui disclosed.

There are currently an estimated 1,12,000 to 1,65, 000 listed species of butterflies and moths within 131 families on this planet.

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly family, both belonging to the Lepidoptera order. Moths form the majority of this order and about 10 times the number of species of butterfly. Thousands of species are yet to be described