Akila Weerakoon
Research Scientist/SLWCS

Butterflies can be good indicator species to assess habitat quality and general environmental health because butterflies respond immediately to the slightest disturbance or changes to their habitats. The entire life cycle of butterflies is dependent on plants therefore butterfly diversity reflects the overall plant diversity in a given area. Due to this high dependency on plants these fascinating and fragile creatures are severely affected by any negative impacts or drastic changes to the environment.

Wasgamuwa is fortunate to have a wide variety of diverse habitats and we have been able to observe many species of beautiful butterflies when conducting transects. We began to collect data on butterflies in April, 2018. The species that were observed during transects are in addition to the seventeen species of butterflies that we have recorded in the Butterfly Sanctuary we are creating with support from the prestigious house of luxury Ayruvedic personal and body care products, Spa Ceylon.

We have now identified in total 31 species of butterfly species belonging to 5 families. According to the information currently available for Wasgamuwa, 52 species of butterflies have been recorded from Wasgamuwa which includes 8 endemic species. We feel this list is not complete, and now with a systematic study in place we hope the number of butterflies species recorded in Wasgamuwa will increase.

The following 14 species of butterflies belonging to five families have been identified in various habitats in Wasgamuwa within the past eleven months:

Hesperiidae

• Tropic Dart (Potanthus satra)

Lycaenidae

• Common Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa)
• Indian Cupid (Everes lacturnus)
• Plains Cupid (Chilades pandava)
• Centaur Oakblue (Arhopala centaurus)

Nymphalidae

• Common Evening Brown (Melanitis leda)
• Dark Brand Bushbrown (Mycalesis mineus)
• Medus Brown (Orsotriaena medus)
• Baron (Euthalia aconthea)
• Tamil Lacewing (Cethosia nietneri)
• Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis similis)

Papilionidae

• Common Rose (Pachliopta hector)
• Common Mime (Papilio clytia)

Pieridae

• Common Gull (Cepora nerissa)

In addition we have identified the following host plants of butterfly larvae:

• Asian ticktrefoil (Desmodium heterocarpon)
• Queen Sago (Cycas sp.)
• Dambu (Lepisanthes tetraphylla)
• Cashew (Anacardium occidentale)
• Mango (Mangifera indica)
• Hondala (Adenia hondala)
• Jungle Flame (Ixora coccinea)
• Golden Dewdrop (Duranta repens)
• Dog’s Tail (Stachytarpheta urticifolia)
• Ceylon Caper (Capparis sp.)

The observations of butterflies in the various habitats in Wasgamuwa are providing important information about host plant species. We plan to propagate these plants in our nursery to enrich our Butterfly Sanctuary to attract these pretty flying jewels.

For those who are interested in learning more and contributing to the conservation of Sri Lanka's butterflies we recommend the two books by Dr. George Michael van der Poorten and Nancy van der Poorten.

The Butterfly Fauna of Sri Lanka (2016)
Field Guide to the Butterflies of Sri Lanka (2018)

The books are available at all leading bookshops in Colombo and online at: http://lepodonbooks.com/

Please stay alert for further updates on the progress of our Sri Lanka Butterfly Conservation Project.

Big, rumbling thanks to our Corporate Partners for their kind support and to everyone who has donated and supported our wildlife conservation efforts!
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Photo Credits:

Akila Weerakoon/SLWCS
Chandima Fernando/SLWCS
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