• They look rather plain at first sight, but these butterflies are thrilling scientists and enthusiasts alike.
• The black windmill butterfly Byasa crassipes  was found in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dibang Valley in the Lower Dihang Valley district, where the controversial Dibang Dam is proposed to be built.
• It was a seven-hour-trek to sight a rare bird in the wild that led nature enthusiast to the even more uncommon scarce siren butterfly Hestina nicevillei in the Daranghati Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh in 2012.
• Both butterfly species are listed under Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act (1972), which ensures the insects the same protection as that given to tigers.

Source:TH