“Kaiser-i-Hind” butterfly:

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Why in the news?

Recently, Arunachal Pradesh, govt. approved “Kaiser-i-Hind” as the state butterfly.

Key highlights:

•  Kaiser-i-Hind is scientifically known as Teinopalpus imperialis. In literal terms, it means Emperor of India. 
• Kaiser-i-Hind' is a large and brightly colored butterfly.
• It is an elusive swallowtail butterfly, which carries 'India' in its name.
• They are also found in Bhutan, Nepal, Laos, Myanmar, southern China and Vietnam.
• This butterfly with a 90-120 mm wingspan is found in (West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim and Manipur) along the Eastern Himalayas.
• It flies high in the canopy of broad leaved temperate evergreen forests.
• The Kaiser-i-Hind is protected under Schedule II of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. 
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature has red-listed the Kaiser-i-Hind.

Butterfly:

• Butterflies are insects from the order Lepidoptera of phylum Arthropoda which also includes moths.

Significance:

Rich Biodiversity:

• Abundance of butterflies in any area represents the rich biodiversity.

Indicator Species:

• The butterfly acts as an indicator species.
• An indicator species provides information on the overall condition of the ecosystem and of other species in that ecosystem. They reflect the quality and changes in environmental conditions as well as aspects of community composition.

Pollinator:

• It acts as a pollinator by helping in pollination and conserving several species of plants.

India's Largest Butterfly: 

• A Himalayan butterfly known as Golden Birdwing (Troides aeacus) has been discovered as India’s largest butterfly after 88 years.
• The female butterfly was recorded from Didihat in Uttarakhand, the male was from the Wankhar Butterfly Museum in Shillong, Meghalaya.
• With a wingspan of 194 mm, the female of the species is marginally larger than the Southern Birdwing (190 mm). 

Other butterflies in news:

• The Malabar Banded Peacock or the Buddha Mayoori which was recently declared the ‘State Butterfly’ of Kerala will have a dedicated butterfly park in Kochi.

Other states to have state butterflies are: 

• Maharashtra:  Blue Mormon. 
• Uttarakhand: Common peacock.
•  Karnataka: Southern birdwings.