{"id":117420,"date":"2026-08-05T17:37:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=117420"},"modified":"2026-08-05T17:38:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:08:55","slug":"indias-first-comprehensive-catalogue-of-lepidoptera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indias-first-comprehensive-catalogue-of-lepidoptera\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s First Comprehensive Catalogue of Lepidoptera, Key Findings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has completed its <\/span><b>first comprehensive national catalogue of Lepidoptera<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, documenting the country\u2019s butterfly and moth diversity after nearly 12 years of research by the <\/span><b>Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Published in the international peer-reviewed journal <\/span><b>Zootaxa<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the catalogue brings together scattered records collected over more than a century and provides an updated database for biodiversity research, ecological studies and conservation planning<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Lepidoptera<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Lepidoptera<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an <\/span><b>insect order <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that includes <\/span><b>butterflies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>moths<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and represents one of the most diverse groups of insects.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lepidoptera species are characterised by their <\/span><b>scaled wings<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and are found across diverse ecosystems.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They perform important ecological functions as <\/span><b>pollinators, herbivores and decomposers.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They also form an important part of food chains by <\/span><b>providing food for birds, bats and other insect-eating animals.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>About India\u2019s First Comprehensive Lepidoptera Catalogue<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>India\u2019s first comprehensive Lepidoptera Catalogue<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a landmark scientific effort that brings together scattered information on butterflies and moths into a single national reference.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The catalogue was <\/span><b>prepared by Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> scientists <\/span><b>Navneet Singh and Rahul Joshi<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through nearly 12 years of field surveys, museum studies and detailed literature verification.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The work has been compiled into 22 volumes, with the final volume completing the documentation of Indian Lepidoptera diversity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It provides updated information on species classification, distribution and taxonomy, resolving gaps that existed in scientific records for more than 100 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The catalogue covers India\u2019s butterfly and moth diversity across different ecosystems, creating a reliable baseline for future biodiversity studies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Key Findings of India\u2019s First Comprehensive Lepidoptera Catalogue<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s First Comprehensive Lepidoptera Catalogue highlights India\u2019s rich Lepidoptera diversity and strengthens scientific understanding of butterfly and moth species.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has recorded <\/span><b>13,703 species of Lepidoptera <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(butterflies and moths), which is <\/span><b>around<\/b> <b>8.25% of the world\u2019s known species.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These species are spread across different ecosystems, from the Himalayas to the <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/western-ghats\/\" target=\"_blank\">Western Ghats<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/tropical-forests\/\" target=\"_blank\">tropical forests<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, showing India\u2019s diverse habitats.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The recorded diversity includes <\/span><b>1,417 butterfly species and 12,286 moth species<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, indicating that moths make up the larger share of Indian Lepidoptera.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The catalogue classifies these species into 3,705 genera, 240 subfamilies, 102 families and 31 superfamilies, helping scientists understand their relationship and diversity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A major section of the catalogue covers <\/span><b>Geometroidea moths<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an important group of mostly night-active moths that help in pollination when many daytime pollinators are inactive.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has 2,205 species of Geometroidea moths, belonging to 479 genera, 13 subfamilies and four families, accounting for about 8.8% of the world\u2019s known Geometroidea diversity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among Geometroidea moths, Geometridae is the most diverse family with 2,100 species, followed by Uraniidae (95 species), Epicopeiidae (9 species) and Pseudobistonidae (1 species).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most species-rich groups within Geometroidea include Ennominae (895 species), Larentiinae (565 species) and Geometrinae (309 species).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>India\u2019s First Comprehensive Lepidoptera Catalogue Significance<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The comprehensive inventory strengthens India\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/biodiversity\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>biodiversity<\/strong><\/a> conservation efforts and scientific research.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Improved Biodiversity Knowledge<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Provides an updated reference for identifying and studying butterfly and moth species.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Conservation Planning<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Helps researchers and policymakers design better strategies for protecting species and their habitats.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Climate Change Monitoring<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Enables tracking of changes in species distribution caused by environmental and climatic variations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Agriculture and Forestry Support<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Accurate taxonomic information helps in understanding moth species that may impact crops and forests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Global Biodiversity Research<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Positions India among countries with a well-documented and scientifically verified biodiversity database.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>About Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Zoological Survey of India has been instrumental in documenting India\u2019s animal diversity.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Established in 1916, ZSI functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/climate-change\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Climate Change<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It undertakes taxonomic research, biodiversity surveys and ecological studies across the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lepidoptera catalogue reflects ZSI\u2019s role in creating scientific databases essential for biodiversity conservation and environmental management.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India\u2019s first Lepidoptera catalogue records 13,703 butterfly and moth species, supporting biodiversity conservation, taxonomy, climate research, and ecology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":117378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[9287],"class_list":["post-117420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-general-studies","tag-indias-first-comprehensive-catalogue-of-lepidoptera","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117420"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117425,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117420\/revisions\/117425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}