by Altamash Kadir
The butterfly is ancient for its first documented emergence can be dated to at least fifty-six million years ago, and this creature is loved by most today. This story is an auto-ethnographic account through the lens of citizen sciences, documenting my encounters with butterflies on my visit to Maharashtra Nature Park last October with Prathmesh Parmar. Moreover, the additional information presented exists to provide ease in accessing this spatiality of jargon. Maharashtra Nature Park over the Mithi River used to be a dumping yard for waste until remastering into its current identity in 1994, and thereafter, transformed into the sole retainer of green geography in Dharavi. Housing various fauna and flora, and even graciously hosting numerous migratory birds, it is truly a pocket of biodiversity. Uniquely, this park holds importance to education with it becoming an essential spot for studying various sciences in different levels of education. It is empirically proven that it is generally agreed upon by the visitors that this place has made them more environmentally aware and sensitive. Among the resident fauna is an evidently growing diversity (generally through more documentation) in butterflies. Perhaps, the easiest to encounter, photograph, and appreciate. Citizen sciences generate research output through the contribution of non-professionals. The Butterflies of India website, a culmination of the efforts of citizen sciences, has eased the process of butterfly identification for the nation exponentially through their search optimization through photos. Butterflies are classified in the Lepidoptera, among the most widespread orders of insects. Identified by four wings covered in scales, leading to colour. These creatures transform through the process of metamorphosis, beginning as the wingless larvae, caterpillar. The year 2008 saw a significant increase in the documentation on the Butterflies inhabiting Maharashtra Nature Park from 39 to 72 species. Currently, the highest recorded number of species documented at the location is 78. The subsequent entries are the butterflies I encountered on my visit.
The first entry is Acraea Terpsicore (also referred to as the Tawny Coster).
Acraea Terpsicore
Acraea Terpsicore
The second entry is Catopsilia Pomona (also referred to as the Common Emigrant, also referred to as the Lemon Emigrant).
Catopsilia Pomona
The third entry is Euploea Core (also referred to as the Common Crow, or the Common Indian Crow).
Euploea Core
The fourth entry is Junonia Atlites (also referred to as the Grey Pansy).
The fifth entry is Moduza Procris (also referred to as the Commander).
The sixth entry is Tirumala Limniace (also referred to as the Blue Tiger, or the Oriental Blue Tiger)
References:
See Nelson Rodrigues, Butterflies of Mumbai (2012).
See Devyani Singh and Goldin Quadros, A Study of Maharashtra Nature Park for its role in Environmental Education National Conference on Biodiversity : Status and Challenges in Conservation – ‘FAVEO’ 219-223 (2013).
See Sachin Chorge, et al., Butterfly diversity of Maharashtra nature Park Conference: Wonderful world of Insect (2008).
See Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 3.03. Indian Foundation for Butterflies and National Centre for Biological Sciences https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org (last visited Apr 8, 2022).
See Kanak Singh, Maharashtra Nature Park – only green space available in the congested slum settlement, Indian Express, 2022, https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/ maharashtra-nature-park-only-green-space-available-in-the-congested-slum-settlement-7781805/ (last visited Apr 8, 2022).
About the Author:
Altamash Kadir is a Photographer, his interests include Nature, Postmodernity, and Surrealism, and is the winner of the ‘change in perspective’ category at 2015’s Majhi Metro Photography Competition. He is a Master’s Candidate in Economics at Mumbai School of Economics and Public Policy and holds his B.L.S. LL.B. from Government Law College, Mumbai. His research in law has been featured in various academic journals and edited books, notably Journal on Dispute Resolution and International Journal of Legal Studies and Research by NUJS, International Law Journal by SPIL, and Cases and Materials on Competition Law by DSNLU. In the capacity of a hobbyist, he aspires toward entomology, ornithology, and millipede sciences.