Ramana Athreya @ IISER-Pune
Research : Moths

Sphingidae of Arunachal Pradesh, North-east India
Inventory and Image Gallery

We have initiated a project to use moths to understand speciation patterns and processes in Arunachal Pradesh. A second goal is to generate a photo-library of moths as a resource for long-term monitoring of moth populations and also to promote conservation-oriented moth tourism in partnership with tribal communities in Arunachal Pradesh. The first goal requires accurate identification of all the species, for which we will use multiple strategies including molecular diagnostics. Tourism and population monitoring require that the moths be identified based on the pattern visible while they are resting on the screen, i.e. the upper forewing pattern in most cases. We hope to achieve this for most species, at least in a restricted geographical area.

According to our protocol we will sample moths at UV screens at 10 different locations spanning 3000m of elevation in a single area. We expect to generate images of half a million individual moths comprising over 1000 species every season. The screen is marked with 30 grids of size 20cm x 30cm, each of which are photographed thrice during the night. Individual moth images will be cropped from these grid shots. The screen fabric also has a printed pattern which provides a size reference (approx. 15mm between double lines of the same shade). During the next season we hope to return with better images either by increasing the number of image pixels or by imaging even smaller fields (13 cm x 20 cm).

In this first installment we present a gallery of over 1000 images comprising 70+ sphingids.

We welcome comments on the species identification (corrections, confusing species, etc; please include references where possible) and enquiries for collaboration from experienced moth researchers, both professional and amateurs. Your contribution to this project will be invaluable for refocusing attention on a remarkable hotspot of moth biodiversity which has had little systematic studies during the recent decades.

We should emphasise that our species identifications are merely the closest pattern match that we could locate rather than a definitive identification. Indeed in some cases the "closest" match is with a range-restricted species thousands of km away.

Species Accounts

Identification References

The acronyms in parantheses against the references (above) have been used in species notes

The files names of all images are listed below (the images) for reference in correspondence. Images with uncertain identification have a _ZQ_ label in the file names. Colour forms of a species are indicated by _F#_ in the name.

Species Inventory

Click on the links to reach the image gallery
The link below each image opens the corresponding species page
Each species page has a link to all the other images of the species.

Species Thumbnail Gallery

1. Acherontia lachesis Notes       Images	2. Acherontia styx Notes       Images	3. Acosmerycoides harterti Notes       Images	4. Acosmeryx anceus Notes       Images	5. Acosmeryx naga Notes       Images
6. Acosmeryx omissa Notes       Images	7. Acosmeryx sericeus Notes       Images	8. Acosmeryx shervillii Notes       Images	9. Acosmeryx sinjaevi Notes       Images	10. Agrius convolvulii Notes       Images
11. Ambulyx joiceyi Notes       Images	12. Ambulyx liturata Notes       Images	13. Ambulyx moorei Notes       Images	14. Ambulyx noid1 Notes       Images	15. Ambulyx noid2 Notes       Images
16. Ambulyx ochracea Notes       Images	17. Ambulyx placida Notes       Images	18. Ambulyx pryeri Notes       Images	19. Ambulyx sericeipennis Notes       Images	20. Ambulyx substrigilis Notes       Images
21. Ampelophaga khasiana Notes       Images	22. Ampelophaga rubiginosa Notes       Images	23. Amplypterus mansoni Notes       Images	24. Apocalypsis velox Notes       Images	25. Callambulyx noid Notes       Images
26. Callambulyx poecilus Notes       Images	27. Callambulyx rubricosa Notes       Images	28. Cechenena helops Notes       Images	29. Cechenena lineosa Notes       Images	30. Cechenena minor Notes       Images
31. Cechenena scotti Notes       Images	32. Cechenena subangustata Notes       Images	33. Clanis deucalion Notes       Images	34. Daphnis hypothous Notes       Images	35. Dolbina inexacta Notes       Images
36. Elibia dolichoides Notes       Images	37. Elibia dolichus Notes       Images	38. Enpinanga assamensis Notes       Images	39. Eupanacra noid Notes       Images	40. Eupanacra perfecta Notes       Images
41. Eupanacra sinuata Notes       Images	42. Hippotion celerio Notes       Images	43. Hippotion rafflesii Notes       Images	44. Marumba dyras Notes       Images	45. Marumba spectabilis Notes       Images
46. Megacorma obliqua Notes       Images	47. Meganoton analis Notes       Images	48. Meganoton rubescens Notes       Images	49. Nephele hespera Notes       Images	50. Psilogramma increta Notes       Images
51. Psilogramma menephron Notes       Images	52. Rhagastis albomarginatus Notes       Images	53. Rhagastis castor Notes       Images	54. Rhagastis confusa Notes       Images	55. Rhagastis gloriosa Notes       Images
56. Rhagastis lunata Notes       Images	57. Rhagastis noid Notes       Images	58. Rhagastis olivacea Notes       Images	59. Rhagastis velata Notes       Images	60. Rhodoprasina callantha Notes       Images
61. Rhodoprasina floralis Notes       Images	62. Theretra alecto Notes       Images	63. Theretra boisduvalii Notes       Images	64. Theretra clotho Notes       Images	65. Theretra latreillii Notes       Images
66. Theretra nessus Notes       Images	67. Theretra noid Notes       Images	68. Theretra oldenlandiae Notes       Images	69. Theretra pallicosta Notes       Images	70. Theretra rhesus Notes       Images
71. Theretra silhetensis Notes       Images

Acknowledgments

This project is being undertaken under the aegis of IISER-Pune and EcoSystems-India (Guwahati)

This project is being/was funded by grants from Whitley Fund for Nature (UK), Nadathur Trust (Bengaluru), Rufford Small Grants (UK), IISER-Pune, and Dept. of Science of Technology, Govt of India. We are grateful for the generous support which has made this work possible.

The work has been undertaken with the permission of the Forest Department, Govt of Arunachal Pradesh (letter CWL/G/13 (17)/06-07/Pt-III/4194-95; dated 18th May 2011)

We thank the following people and organisations who have contributed substantially to this project:
1. Indi Glow, Nima Tsering and their staff in Eaglenest for logistical support.
2. Bugun Welfare Society (Singchung, W. Kameng district, Arunachal)
3. Forest Dept staff in Eaglenest and Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh
4. Sanjay Sondhi of Titli Trust for taking the first sustained steps and convincing us that "Arunachal moths could be done!"
4. Goutam Narayan, Nandita Hazarika, Anjan Baruah and other staff of EcoSystems-India.
5. Vishnu, Ashwini Ramesh, Saudamini, Neha Bora and Karma Bhutia from IISER-Pune.
6. Ian Kitching and his collaborators for the series of publicly available internet resource on moths.

28 February 2013, Ramana Athreya