A new species called the ‘Chocolate bordered Flitter’ has been discovered in Dzongu, Sikkim.
The state is also known as the ‘land of butterflies’.
The butterfly is scientifically named ‘Zographetus dzonguensis’. It is named after the city Dzongu, where it was found.
It was first photographed by Sonam Wangchuk Lepcha in 2020, when he was casually photographing butterflies on his usual butterfly expedition in Dzongu. He regularly sent his
photographs to the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, for uploading to their website known as ‘Butterflies in India’. When this photo was first examined, it was found out that this species was previously unknown in India.
After more research, it was found that its closest relatives are ‘Zographetus pangi’ in Guangdong, and ‘Zographetus hainanensis’ in Hainan, both in the southeastern part of
China, close to Hong Kong. The physical appearance of the species differs slightly and the internal structures of the males are also different. This new species has a golden yellow appearance with brown borders and spots on its entire body.
You can read more here: https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5072.4.4/46105