A recent discovery of Ludlow's Bhutan Glory (Bhutanitis ludlowi) in Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary expands its distribution now to Arunachal Pradesh in India. The Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary is located closest to Daifam, now named as Jomotsangkha in the fareast of Bhutan (As it appears on Google Earth).
Image from Google Earth showing Tobrang and Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary
The butterfly was photographed in the 1st-2nd week of September of this year by some Indian photographers. During that time, it was mistaken as Bhutan Glory (Bhutanitis lidderdalii) and included in the species page of Bhutan Glory in the website http://ifoundbutterflies.org/54-bhutanitis-dp3 of the Indian Foundation of Butterflies. But later when Mr.Saito Motoki of the Butterfly Society of Japan saw the photographs, he identified it as a female of Ludlow's Bhutan Glory. Mr Saito was involved in last year's joint research of the species in Tobrang, Trashiyangtse.
Picture: Ludlow's Bhutan Glory from Arunachal Pradesh
(Photo Courtesy:http://ifoundbutterflies.org/54-bhutanitis-dp3)
I peronally feel that this sighting of our National Butterfly in India is of great importance to its conservation and species survival. Prior to this sighting, there has been concerns among some Bhutanese who were worried as to what will we do if this butterfly go extinct from that small area of Tobrang to which it was believed to be endemic. Now that we have confirmed its presence in Arunachal Pradesh, our worry of its ability to survive in other areas is gone and also the focus of thought of collectors who desperately wanted to get their hands on this butterfly is at least for now spread even to India.
