Susanth, this is a classic Nilgiri Four-ring phenotype. Thanks for sharing this photograph and the information. The individual in your next email is also quite distinctively marked.
My Palni Four-ring pictures posted on the website are from Peppara, across a couple of valleys from Ponmudi, taken in April. Cheers, Krushnamegh. ________________________________ From: Susanth c <[email protected]> Reply-To: butterflyindia <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:20:56 -0500 To: butterflyindia <[email protected]> Conversation: [ButterflyIndia] Fwd: Nilgiri Fourring Subject: Re: [ButterflyIndia] Fwd: Nilgiri Fourring Dear krushnamegh Thanks for your detailed mail mentioning the field characteristics of Niligiri Fourring.Nilgiri Fourring is abundant at Ponmudi during Monsoon and Post monsoon months.The presence of Nilgiri fourring is low in dry months.My earlier posting picture was taken during 13th April 2008.Palani fourring is also seen at Ponmudi during wet season.But i cant get a chance to photograph Palani fourring from Ponmudi Hills.Here I post the image of Nilgiri Fourring DSF(?)I taken during 18th May 2008. with warm regards Susanth On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 7:07 PM, Kunte, Krushnamegh <[email protected]> wrote: Unni, I am inclined to identify this as the Palni Four-ring rather than the Nilgiri Four-ring. Do you have the upper side of this specimen? Soubadra and Ullasa, what do you think? Krushnamegh. From: Unni Pulikkal <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> > Reply-To: butterflyindia <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> > Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 21:01:00 -0500 To: butterflyindia <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [ButterflyIndia] Fwd: Nilgiri Fourring I am sorry that I could not post it earlier. I made this shot at Nelliyampathy Hills in Oct 2009. The species is strictly confined to the grassy-rocky terrain of the hills and seems it never enters the adjoining shola forests. Happiness to you! unni www.imagery.in <http://www.imagery.in> <http://www.imagery.in> ................................................. Dr.Unni Krishnan Pulikkal ARPS Pady P.O., Kodaly, Thrissur Dt., Kerala, India PIN.680699 Cell: 9446508102 Res: +91 480 2740735 ................................................. The Butterfly Art Foundation, India www.bafindia.org <http://www.bafindia.org> <http://www.bafindia.org> ................................................. On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 10:07 PM, Kunte, Krushnamegh <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> > wrote: Susanth, thanks for posting this image once again. This is the picture I have in my reference collection and the one I was referring to in my previous email. This is a classic wing pattern of the Nilgiri Four-ring (Ypthima chenui): prominent, broad yellow rings around ocelli on both fore- and hindwings, and much whiter underside. The Palni Four-ring (Ypthima ypthimoides) has much darker underside, and has very thin, somewhat obscure yellow rings around ocelli (this from Evans’ book). These characters are clearly seen in my pictures on the BOI website. Thanks for confirming the locality of your photograph. David Raju also just sent me Toms Augustine’s pictures of the species from near Thekkedy, so we have independent sightings from at least two areas. This piqued my curiosity once again, so I went back to some old literature to find out what others were saying about the distribution of these species. Wynter-Blyth was vague about the exact distribution of the Nilgiri Four-ring, so I wasn’t sure what he meant. But then Gaonkar’s Western Ghats list clearly states that “Ypthima chenui is found both south and north of the Palghat Gap 82. Ypthima ypthimoidesis found only south of the Palghat Gap”. So I guess this distributional pattern is well represented in museum specimens. I have personally never seen the Nilgiri Four-ring south of the Palghat Gap, though. I wonder why the Palni Four-ring is so common south of the Palghat Gap but the Nilgiri Four-ring is common in its north. Do you see the Nilgiri Four-ring commonly at Ponmudi? I do not recall seeing your other picture that’s used in Isaac’s book, so I do not know why I would have identified it as the Nilgiri Four-ring. With best wishes, Krushnamegh. ------------------------------------------------- Krushnamegh Kunte, PhD Post-doctoral Research Fellow FAS Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University 52 Oxford St., Northwest Lab Room 458.40-3 Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Ph: (617) 496-0078, Cell: (512) 577-1370, Fax: (617) 495-2196 Email: [email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> Other emails: [email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> , [email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> Personal website: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~kunte/index.htm Indian Foundation for Butterflies: http://ifoundbutterflies.org/ Google profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/krushnamegh From: Susanth c <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> > Reply-To: butterflyindia <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> > Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2011 22:19:19 -0500 To: butterflyindia <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> > Cc: "C. Susanth" <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> > Subject: [ButterflyIndia] Fwd: Nilgiri Fourring Dear Krushnamegh, Here I again post my earlier Nilgiri Fourring posting in ButterflyIndia..This picture was confirmed as Nilgiri fourring by you and my earlier picture I send to Isaac's Book also confirmed as Nilgiri Fourring by you. My fourring pictures are taken from Ponmudi Hills.I havent taken any fourring picture from Palaghat gap. My Nilgiri Fourring u mentioned as Palani Fouring in Issack's book was taken from Athirumala, on the way to Agasthyakoodam peak during the year 2002-03 If you need my fourring pictures for more identification/clarification i will mail it to you. with warm regards Susanth ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Susanth c <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> > Date: Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 9:49 AM Subject: Nilgiri Fourring To: [email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> Cc: [email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> , [email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> , [email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> , "C. Susanth" <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> <http://[email protected]> > Hai All, Here I attached the image of Nilgiri Four-ring-Ypthima chenui an endemic butterfly to Western Ghats taken from Ponmudi Hills(Trivandrum,Kerala) during 2008.I am thankful all members of Warblers and Waders for their field support and encouragement.I am also thankful to Krushnamegh for provide details and identification tips of Nilgiri four-ring and its kin Palani four-ring. With warm regards Susanth -- Enjoy
