"Some of Wild Island’s favourite spices such as nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon, depend on pollination - the act where pollen from one flower is taken to another to fertilise and help the plant make fruits and seeds. Spices such as cinnamon bark are not from the tree’s fruits or seeds, but pollinators play an important role in their reproduction. Among these pollinators, we find a whimsical creature: the butterfly.
There are around 245 butterfly species with 26 being unique to the island (endemic) alone. The highest sightings of endemic butterflies in Sri Lanka are in the highlands and wet zone with distribution turning sparse towards the coast. This is determined mainly by the distribution of food plants for butterflies when they are in the larval stage.
Here are our favourite endemic butterflies in Sri Lanka.
1. Sri Lankan Birdwing Troides Darsius
This large black-winged beauty has a golden yellow patch on its hind wing. It is considered Sri Lanka’s largest butterfly and national butterfly. The low country wet zone is where it is abundant.
2. Sri Lankan Lesser Albatross Appias Galene
More frequent in the dry zone, this white beauty has round forewings and the edge of its hind wings is not pointed as in the common albatross. It is found in numbers in the dry zone.
3. Sri Lankan Tree Nymph Idea Iasonia (Vulnerable)
The silvery stunner has black veins and patches creating a mesmerising pattern. Forest-loving, it can be found around streams and ponds and has a distribution confined from the wet zone to lower highlands and intermediate zone. It has a gliding pattern.
4. Sri Lankan Blue Oak Leaf Kallima philarchus (Endangered)
A master of camouflage, with its wings closed you might mistake it for a dry leaf. Its upper surface is shiny blue with a light blue patch and a blackish-brown band running along the edge of its forewing and hind wing. In females the same colours are dusky. It is mostly found in the wet zone forests.
5. Sri Lankan Tree Brown - Lethe Daretis
Found only in cloud forests in the highest mountains, the Sri Lankan Tree Brown camouflages itself against tree trunks with lichen and moss. Its hindwing is serrated and has a short tail at the bottom end. Its remarkable features are the eyespots on the forewing and outer wing.
Deforestation and habitat destruction threaten butterflies and other pollinators that are responsible for most of the food we love and enjoy. Without animal pollination foods will be lost or be rare and expensive to obtain. Awareness and Education can lead to changed behaviour helpful towards butterfly conservation."
