Arunachal: Butterfly enthusiasts make groundbreaking discovery in  

Guwahati: A group of butterfly enthusiasts has made a significant discovery in the Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, located in Arunachal Pradesh's Lower Subansiri district.

They stumbled upon the elusive Neptis philyra, also known as the long-streak sailor, marking the first time this butterfly species has ever been recorded in India.

The team responsible for this exciting find consists of Atanu Bose, Mahesh Baruah, and Abhishek Dutta Choudhury from Assam's Bongaigaon, along with Anitava Roy from West Bengal.

Their efforts were supported by the Wiki Loves Butterflies program and the valuable field expertise of Kojmama Taman and Punyo Chada.

The Neptis philyra was first described by M. Ménétriés in 1859, and its natural habitat is known to span regions of East Asia, including eastern Siberia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Tibet, Yunnan, and Vietnam.

This groundbreaking discovery has been documented and published in the prestigious Journal of Tropical Lepidoptera Research, an international scientific journal based in Florida, USA.

The publication date is noted as April 5, 2024.