Sighting of Large Branded Swift Pelopidas sinensis (Mabille, 1877) (Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae) in Delhi, India

Abstract

The Large Branded Swift Pelopidas sinensis is commonly found in the Himalaya and northeastern India, but it hasn’t been documented in northwestern India, characterized by arid or semi-arid climates. Here we highlight a recent observation: three individuals of P. sinensis were sighted in Delhi during July, amidst the monsoon season. This communication not only reports this noteworthy sighting but also explores the potential reasons behind the presence of this butterfly species in Delhi.

Full text

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10.11609/jott.2024.16.3.24819-25018
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26 March 2024 (Online & Print)
16(3): 24819–25018
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25013
Editor: Mahamad Sayab Miya, Western Kentucky University, Kentucky, USA. Date of publicaon: 26 March 2024 (online & print)
Citaon: Chaudhary, R. & S. Madan (2024). Sighng of Large Branded Swi Pelopidas sinensis (Mabille, 1877) (Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae) in Delhi, India. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 16(3): 25013–25015. hps://doi.org/10.11609/jo.8715.16.3.25013-25015
Copyright: © Chaudhary & Madan 2024. Creave Commons Aribuon 4.0 Internaonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducon, and distribuon of
this arcle in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaon.
Funding: None.
Compeng interests: The authors declare no compeng interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors thank Mr. Rohit Aggarwal for giving an opportunity to survey his farm compound. The authors acknowledge Mr. Salil Dua of
Asian Adventures for his help and support during the survey and Parul Daga for giving inputs on plants being grown in the farm compound.
Sighng of Large Branded Swi Pelopidas sinensis (Mabille, 1877)
(Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae) in Delhi, India
Rajesh Chaudhary 1 & Sohail Madan 2
1 Department of Biomedical Science, Acharya Narendra Dev College, Govindpuri, Kalkaji, New Delhi 110019, India.
2 H-62, D Saket, New Delhi 110017, India.
1 rajeshchaudhary@andc.du.ac.in (corresponding author), 2 madan.sohail97@gmail.com
Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2024 | 16(3): 25013–25015
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8715.16.3.25013-25015
#8715 | Received 02 September 2023 | Final received 02 March 2024 | Finally accepted 15 March 2024
OPEN
ACCESS
NOTE
The buery, Large Branded Swi Pelopidas
sinensis, was rst described by Mabille in 1877
from China (Mabille 1877). It is distributed in China
and several southeastern Asian and southern Asian
countries including India (Devyatkin 2012; Huang
2016; Kehimkar 2016; Rehman et al. 2016; Sajan et al.
2022). In India, P. sinensis is found in the Himalaya from
Himachal Pradesh to Arunachal and other northeastern
states (Moore 1882; Swinhoe 1912–13; Wynter-Blyth
1957; Gogoi 2013; Naro 2014; Varshney & Smetacek
2015; Kehimkar 2016; Sondhi et al. 2018; Irungbam
et al. 2020). There are also reports of sighngs of this
buery from Gosekhurd Reservoir near Nagpur in
Peninsular India (Pal et al. 2019), Lalwan Community
Reserve, and Ranjit Sagar Conservaon Reserve, Punjab
(Singh et al. 2021). The Lalwan Community Reserve is
located in the hilly terrains of the Himalaya at the border
of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, whereas and Ranjit
Sagar Conservaon Reserve is at the border of Jammu
& Kashmir and Punjab. However, both the records of
P. sinensis (i.e., from Nagpur and Punjab) cannot be
conrmed due to the absence of pictorial evidence or
unclear representave images provided in the published
arcles (Pal et al. 2019; Singh et al. 2021). In India, the
status of P. sinensis has been reported as common by
Van Gasse (Van Gasse 2021) and Sondhi (Sondhi et al.
2018), and uncommon by Kehimkar (Kehimkar2016).
This species has not been reported from arid and
semi-arid areas of northwestern India. The present
communicaon reported the sighng of P. sinensis from
Delhi–a state with a semi-arid climate. Hence, this is the
rst report of this species from the semi-arid areas of
northwestern India, and it is probably a range extension
of this species.
Three male hesperid bueries were spoed
roosng on foliage in a private farm compound
(28.5444444N, 77.0047222E) on 30 July 2023, at 1700–
1800 h, in Najafgarh, southwestern Delhi. The weather
was humid, the temperature was about 33–34°C, and
the sky was clear. The bueries were photographed,
and the species was idened as P. sinensis by referring
to the literature (Moore 1882; Evans 1932; Wynter-
Blyth 1957; Kehimkar 2016). The farm compound
where the species was sighted is planted with medicinal
herbs, grasses, ornamental plants, and fruit plants. The
compound is surrounded by agricultural elds, and
there ows a perennial canal with the growth of reeds
and aquac ora (Image 2). About 5–6 km from the
site where the bueries were spoed, exists a large
freshwater reservoir––the ‘Najafgarh Lake’. In the rainy

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2024 | 16(3): 25013–25015
Sighting of
Pelopidas sinensis
in Delhi Chaudhary & Madan
25014
JTT
season the land near the lake becomes marshy and is
used to culvate paddy (Image 2).
The buery P. sinensis has dark olive-brown
upperside and paler undersides. Males of P. sinensis
can be dierenated from those of other members
of the same genus found in Delhi (P. mathias and P.
thrax) by larger size, forewings with prominent spots on
upperside, narrow yellowish or whish brand below cell
extending from vein1–spot in space 2. The underside of
hindwings has prominent spots in space 2–6 and cells,
which are usually also noceable on the upperside of the
wings (Moore 1882; Evans 1932; Wynter-Blyth 1957).
The range of distribuon of P. sinensis covers
the part of the globe that is humid or wet (Peel et al.
Image 1. The male Large Branded Swi Pelopidas sinensis photographed in Delhi: A—underside | B—upperside of the same individual.
Image 2. Aerial view of Pelopidas sinensis sighng spot (red circle) and its surroundings (hps://www.google.com/maps).
© Rajesh Chaudhary

Sighting of
Pelopidas sinensis
in Delhi Chaudhary & Madan
Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2024 | 16(3): 25013–25015 25015
JTT
2007; Devyatkin 2012; Sayre et al. 2014; Huang 2015;
Kehimkar 2016). In India, it is found in the Himalaya
up to 2,500 m and in northeastern states (Wynter-
Blyth 1957; Kehimkar 2016; Van Gasse 2021), which
are relavely more humid or moist than northwestern
and western India (Peel et al. 2007; Ari 2010; Kulkarni
et al. 2020). Sighng of this buery in Delhi, with its
semi-arid climate, is therefore unexpected. It is possible
that the sighted individuals of P. sinensis are strays or
chance migrants from their known range of distribuon
and seled temporarily in this humid environment.
Alternavely, the larva and pupa of this buery might
have been accidentally transported from other parts of
India along with the larval host plants, or the chrysalis that
might have been brought accidentally with some object
may have emerged as an adult. It will be interesng to
search for P. sinensis in Delhi and neighbouring areas in
the future to elucidate if it has expanded its range to
the semi-arid areas of India or is a temporary seler in
Delhi. Also, the examinaon of the genitalia of a series
of specimens from Delhi would be useful to support the
ndings further and elucidate infra-specic variaon in
wing marking paerns.
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Dr. R.J. Shiel, University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Dr. Siddharth Kulkarni, The George Washington University, Washington, USA
Dr. Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan, ATREE, Bengaluru, India
Dr. Phil Alderslade, CSIRO Marine And Atmospheric Research, Hobart, Australia
Dr. John E.N. Veron, Coral Reef Research, Townsville, Australia
Dr. Daniel Whitmore, State Museum of Natural History Stugart, Rosenstein, Germany.
Dr. Yu-Feng Hsu, Naonal Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan
Dr. Keith V. Wolfe, Anoch, California, USA
Dr. Siddharth Kulkarni, The Hormiga Lab, The George Washington University, Washington,
D.C., USA
Dr. Tomas Ditrich, Faculty of Educaon, University of South Bohemia in Ceske
Budejovice, Czech Republic
Dr. Mihaly Foldvari, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Norway
Dr. V.P. Uniyal, Wildlife Instute of India, Dehradun, Uarakhand 248001, India
Dr. John T.D. Caleb, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Dr. Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment
(ATREE), Royal Enclave, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Fishes
Dr. Neelesh Dahanukar, IISER, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Dr. Topiltzin Contreras MacBeath, Universidad Autónoma del estado de Morelos, México
Dr. Heok Hee Ng, Naonal University of Singapore, Science Drive, Singapore
Dr. Rajeev Raghavan, St. Albert’s College, Kochi, Kerala, India
Dr. Robert D. Sluka, Chiltern Gateway Project, A Rocha UK, Southall, Middlesex, UK
Dr. E. Vivekanandan, Central Marine Fisheries Research Instute, Chennai, India
Dr. Davor Zanella, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croaa
Dr. A. Biju Kumar, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Dr. Akhilesh K.V., ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Instute, Mumbai Research
Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Dr. J.A. Johnson, Wildlife Instute of India, Dehradun, Uarakhand, India
Dr. R. Ravinesh, Gujarat Instute of Desert Ecology, Gujarat, India
Amphibians
Dr. Sushil K. Dua, Indian Instute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Dr. Annemarie Ohler, Muséum naonal d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
Reples
Dr. Gernot Vogel, Heidelberg, Germany
Dr. Raju Vyas, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
Dr. Pritpal S. Soorae, Environment Agency, Abu Dubai, UAE.
Prof. Dr. Wayne J. Fuller, Near East University, Mersin, Turkey
Prof. Chandrashekher U. Rivonker, Goa University, Taleigao Plateau, Goa. India
Dr. S.R. Ganesh, Chennai Snake Park, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. Himansu Sekhar Das, Terrestrial & Marine Biodiversity, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Birds
Dr. Hem Sagar Baral, Charles Sturt University, NSW Australia
Mr. H. Byju, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. Chris Bowden, Royal Society for the Protecon of Birds, Sandy, UK
Dr. Priya Davidar, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry, India
Dr. J.W. Duckworth, IUCN SSC, Bath, UK
Dr. Rajah Jayapal, SACON, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. Rajiv S. Kalsi, M.L.N. College, Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, India
Dr. V. Santharam, Rishi Valley Educaon Centre, Chioor Dt., Andhra Pradesh, India
Dr. S. Balachandran, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
Mr. J. Praveen, Bengaluru, India
Dr. C. Srinivasulu, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India
Dr. K.S. Gopi Sundar, Internaonal Crane Foundaon, Baraboo, USA
Dr. Gombobaatar Sundev, Professor of Ornithology, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Prof. Reuven Yosef, Internaonal Birding & Research Centre, Eilat, Israel
Dr. Taej Mundkur, Wetlands Internaonal, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Dr. Carol Inskipp, Bishop Auckland Co., Durham, UK
Dr. Tim Inskipp, Bishop Auckland Co., Durham, UK
Dr. V. Gokula, Naonal College, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. Arkady Lelej, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia
Dr. Simon Dowell, Science Director, Chester Zoo, UK
Dr. Mário Gabriel Sanago dos Santos, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro,
Quinta de Prados, Vila Real, Portugal
Dr. Grant Connee, Smithsonian Instuon, Royal, VA, USA
Dr. P.A. Azeez, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Mammals
Dr. Giovanni Amori, CNR - Instute of Ecosystem Studies, Rome, Italy
Dr. Anwaruddin Chowdhury, Guwaha, India
Dr. David Mallon, Zoological Society of London, UK
Dr. Shomita Mukherjee, SACON, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. Angie Appel, Wild Cat Network, Germany
Dr. P.O. Nameer, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala, India
Dr. Ian Redmond, UNEP Convenon on Migratory Species, Lansdown, UK
Dr. Heidi S. Riddle, Riddle’s Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary, Arkansas, USA
Dr. Karin Schwartz, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.
Dr. Lala A.K. Singh, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
Dr. Mewa Singh, Mysore University, Mysore, India
Dr. Paul Racey, University of Exeter, Devon, UK
Dr. Honnavalli N. Kumara, SACON, Anaikay P.O., Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. Nishith Dharaiya, HNG University, Patan, Gujarat, India
Dr. Spartaco Gippoli, Socio Onorario Società Italiana per la Storia della Fauna “Giuseppe
Altobello”, Rome, Italy
Dr. Justus Joshua, Green Future Foundaon, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. H. Raghuram, The American College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. Paul Bates, Harison Instute, Kent, UK
Dr. Jim Sanderson, Small Wild Cat Conservaon Foundaon, Harord, USA
Dr. Dan Challender, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
Dr. David Mallon, Manchester Metropolitan University, Derbyshire, UK
Dr. Brian L. Cypher, California State University-Stanislaus, Bakerseld, CA
Dr. S.S. Talmale, Zoological Survey of India, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Prof. Karan Bahadur Shah, Budhanilakantha Municipality, Kathmandu, Nepal
Dr. Susan Cheyne, Borneo Nature Foundaon Internaonal, Palangkaraja, Indonesia
Dr. Hemanta Kaey, Wildlife Sciences, Tarleton State University, Texas, USA
Other Disciplines
Dr. Aniruddha Belsare, Columbia MO 65203, USA (Veterinary)
Dr. Mandar S. Paingankar, University of Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India (Molecular)
Dr. Jack Tordo, Crical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Arlington, USA (Communies)
Dr. Ulrike Streicher, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA (Veterinary)
Dr. Hari Balasubramanian, EcoAdvisors, Nova Scoa, Canada (Communies)
Dr. Rayanna Hellem Santos Bezerra, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Brazil
Dr. Jamie R. Wood, Landcare Research, Canterbury, New Zealand
Dr. Wendy Collinson-Jonker, Endangered Wildlife Trust, Gauteng, South Africa
Dr. Rajeshkumar G. Jani, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India
Dr. O.N. Tiwari, Senior Scienst, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Instute (IARI), New
Delhi, India
Dr. L.D. Singla, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, India
Dr. Rupika S. Rajakaruna, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Dr. Bahar Baviskar, Wild-CER, Nagpur, Maharashtra 440013, India
Reviewers 2020–2022
Due to pausity of space, the list of reviewers for 2020–2022 is available online.
Journal of Threatened Taxa is indexed/abstracted in Bibliography of Sys-
temac Mycology, Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts,
EBSCO, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Index Fungorum, JournalSeek,
Naonal Academy of Agricultural Sciences, NewJour, OCLC WorldCat,
SCOPUS, Stanford University Libraries, Virtual Library of Biology, Zoologi-
cal Records.
NAAS rang (India) 5.64
Print copies of the Journal are available at cost. Write to:
The Managing Editor, JoTT,
c/o Wildlife Informaon Liaison Development Society,
43/2 Varadarajulu Nagar, 5th Street West, Ganapathy, Coimbatore,
Tamil Nadu 641006, India
ravi@threatenedtaxa.org
The opinions expressed by the authors do not reect the views of the
Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaon Liaison Development Society,
Zoo Outreach Organizaon, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher,
the host, and the partners are not responsible for the accuracy of the polical
boundaries shown in the maps by the authors.

www.threatenedtaxa.orgwww.threatenedtaxa.org
The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaon globally by
publishing peer-reviewed arcles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org.
All arcles published in JoTT are registered under Creave Commons Aribuon 4.0 Internaonal License
unless otherwise menoned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproducon, and distribuon of arcles in
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OPEN ACCESS
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
March 2024 | Vol. 16 | No. 3 | Pages: 24819–25018
Date of Publicaon: 26 March 2024 (Online & Print)
DOI: 10.11609/jo.2024.16.3.24819-25018
Editorial
Celebrang 25 years of building evidence for conservaon
– Sanjay Molur, Pp. 24819–24820
Arcles
Idenfying plants for priority conservaon in Samar Island Natural Park forests
(the Philippines) over limestone using a localized conservaon priority index
– Inocencio Escoton Buot, Jr., Marne Ga Origenes, Ren Divien Del Rosario Obeña,
Jonathan O. Hernandez, Noba F. Hilvano, Diana Shane A. Balindo & Edelyn O.
Echapare, Pp. 24821–24837
Status of orisc diversity and impact of development on two sacred groves
from Maval Tehsil (Maharashtra, India) aer a century
– Kishor Himmat Saste & Rani Babanrao Bhagat, Pp. 24838–24853
Faunal inventory and illustrated taxonomic keys to aquac Coleoptera
(Arthropoda: Insecta) of the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India
– Sayali D. Sheth, Anand D. Padhye & Hemant V. Ghate, Pp, 24854–24880
Communicaons
A checklist of wild mushroom diversity in Mizoram, India
– Rajesh Kumar & Girish Gogoi, Pp. 24881–24898
New plant records for the ora of Saudi Arabia
– Abdul Wali Al-Khulaidi, Ali M. Alzahrani, Ali A. Al-Namazi, Eisa Ali Al-Faify,
Mohammed Musa Alfai, Nageeb A. Al-Sagheer & Abdul Nasser Al-Gifri,
Pp. 24899–24909
Seagrass ecosystems of Ritche’s Archipelago in the Andaman Sea harbor
‘Endangered’ Holothuria scabra Jaeger, 1833 and ‘Vulnerable’ Acnopyga
mauriana (Quoy & Gaimard, 1834) sea cucumber species (Echinodermata:
Holothuroidea)
– Amrit Kumar Mishra, R. Raihana, Dilmani Kumari & Syed Hilal Farooq,
Pp. 24910–24915
Stypopodium Kütz. - a new generic record for India from the Bay of Bengal
– Y. Aron Santhosh Kumar, M. Palanisamy & S. Vivek, Pp. 24916–24922
First report of Macrochaetus sericus Thorpe, 1893 and Lecane tenuiseta
Harring, 1914 (Rofera: Monogononta) from Jammu waters (J&K), India
– Deepanjali Slathia, Supreet Kour & Sarbjeet Kour, Pp. 24923–24929
Spider diversity (Arachnida: Araneae) at Saurashtra University Campus, Rajkot,
Gujarat during the monsoon
– Jyol K. Dave & Varsha M. Trivedi, Pp. 24930–24941
Records of three gobioid shes (Acnopterygii: Gobiiformes: Gobiidae)
from the Gujarat coast, India
– Piyush Vadher, Hitesh Kardani, Prakash Bambhaniya & Imyaz Beleem,
Pp. 24942–24948
Species distribuon modelling of Baya Weaver Ploceus philippinus in Nagaon
District of Assam, India: a zoogeographical analysis
– Nilotpal Kalita, Neeraj Bora, Sandip Choudhury & Dhrubajyo Sahariah,
Pp. 24949–24955
Diversity and species richness of avian fauna in varied habitats of Soraipung
range and vicinity in Dehing Patkai Naonal Park, India
– Anubhav Bhuyan, Shilpa Baidya, Nayan Jyo Hazarika, Sweeta Sumant, Bijay
Thakur, Amit Prakash, Nirmali Gogoi, Sumi Handique & Ashalata Devi,
Pp. 24956–24966
D’Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, a signicant yway and a preferred
stopover (refuelling) site during the return migraon of the Amur Falcon Falco
amurensis (Radde, 1863)
– Tapak Tamir, Abprez Thungwon Kimsing & Daniel Mize, Pp. 24967–24972
Breeding of the ‘Crically Endangered’ White-rumped Vulture Gyps
bengalensis in the Shan Highlands, Myanmar
– Sai Sein Lin Oo, Nang Lao Kham, Marcela Suarez-Rubio & Swen C. Renner,
Pp. 24973–24978
Nurturing orphaned Indian Grey Wolf at Machia Biological Park, Jodhpur,
India
– Hemsingh Gehlot, Mahendra Gehlot, Tapan Adhikari, Gaurav & Prakash
Suthar, Pp. 24979–24985
Short Communicaons
New records of forty-nine herbaceous plant species from lateric plateaus
for Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra, India
– D.B. Borude, P.P. Bhalekar, A.S. Pansare, K.V.C. Gosavi & A.N. Chandore,
Pp. 24986–24991
First report of moth species of the family Tineidae (Lepidoptera) in
regurgitated pellets of harriers in India
– S. Thalavaipandi, Arjun Kannan, M.B. Prashanth & T. Ganesh, Pp. 24992–
24995
Notes
Capturing the enchanng glow: rst-ever photographs of bioluminescent
mushroom Mycena chlorophos in Tamil Nadu, India
D. Jude, Vinod Sadhasivan, M. Ilayaraja & R. Amirtha Balan, Pp. 24996–24998
Extended distribuon of Clemas wighana Wall. (Ranunculaceae) in the
Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh – a hitherto endemic species of the
Western Ghats, India
– Debasmita Dua Pramanick & Manas Bhaumik, Pp. 24999–25002
Smilax borneensis A.DC. (Smilacaceae): an addion to the ora of India
– Kishor Deka, Sagarika Das & Bhaben Tan, Pp. 25003–25005
Recent record of True Giant Clam Tridacna gigas from the Sulu Archipelago
and insight into the giant clam sheries and conservaon in the
southernmost islands of the Philippines
– Richard N. Muallil, Akkil S. Injani, Yennyriza T. Abduraup, Fauriza J. Saddari,
Ebrahim R. Ondo, Alimar J. Sakilan, Mohammad Gafor N. Hapid & Haidisheena
A. Allama, Pp. 25006–25009
A record of the Hoary Palmer Unkana ambasa (Moore, [1858]) (Insecta:
Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from Assam, India
– Sanath Chandra Bohra, Manmath Bharali, Puja Kalita & Rita Roy, Pp. 25010–
25012
Sighng of Large Branded Swi Pelopidas sinensis (Mabille, 1877)
(Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae) in Delhi, India
– Rajesh Chaudhary & Sohail Madan, Pp. 25013–25015
Rodent - a part of culture and revoluon in India
– Hiranmoy Chea & Murali Krishna Chatakonda, Pp. 25016–25018
Threatened Taxa
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