A significant addition has been made to India’s butterfly records with the first confirmed sighting of Euthalia malaccana Fruhstorfer, 1899, from Basar, Leparada district of Arunachal Pradesh. This elusive species, previously considered doubtful in its Indian presence, has now been officially documented.
The butterfly was photographed and discovered by Roshan Upadhaya, a police constable posted in Basar, who is also known as the Butterfly Man of Arunachal Pradesh. The identification was validated by Dr Taslima Sheikh, a citizen science expert, based on photographic evidence.
The collaborative finding has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication on April 3, 2025, in SHILAP Revista de Lepidopterología, a Q2-ranked international journal dedicated to the study of butterflies and moths.
The discovery extends the known range of Euthalia malaccana from Southeast Asia into the Indian subcontinent and adds to the documented diversity of Indian Lepidoptera. It also highlights the contribution of citizen-led efforts in biodiversity documentation.
