Blue Mormon Declared Maharashtra’s State Butterfly
Author:
First published in Sanctuary Asia,
Vol. 35
No. 7,
July 2015
 
Photo: Saurabh Sawant
Widely referred to as India's ‘Butterfly Man', Isaac Kehimkar, General Manager, Programmes of the Bombay Natural History Society, and Sanctuary's Green Teacher of the Year 2015 said, “I am glad that the State Government has given due recognition to a species that represents the forests of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra. Let us appreciate that the State Government has recognised lesser fauna, while others are chasing big charismatic species."
This butterfly is a typical forest dweller of the Western Ghats where its larval host plant (wild lemon) grows in abundance in the hills.  In the Western Ghats it flies among the Haapus (Alphonso) mango and cashew plantations of the Konkan belt.  It is a dweller of wet hill forests. Unlike the Lime butterfly, Blue Mormons are not considered  pests to citrus plantations as farmers do not grows lemon and limes in the Konkan region where the Blue Mormon flies.  Blue Mormon populations have always been very sparse.
