Udaipur gets butterfly park, home to rare Zebra Skipper

Udaipur: The city renowned for its natural beauty now has one more natural attraction. On Monday, a butterfly park was inaugurated here by Assam governor Gulab Chand Kataria and forest, environment, and climate change minister Sanjay Sharma. The park, located in Amberi area of the city, is home to the rare Zebra Skipper butterfly, found nowhere else in India.
Butterfly expert Mukesh Panwar from Sagwara in Dungarpur district, instrumental in creating the park, highlighted its distinctive feature: the Zebra Skipper butterfly, scientifically named Ernesta zebra. Panwar’s research, published in Bionaut (December 2023), detailed the life cycle of this butterfly, including its egg, larva, pupa stages, and its host plant, Melhania futteyporensis. This plant, listed as endangered, has been found within the park.
Discovered by Panwar in 2020 in Dungarpur, the Zebra Skipper was initially classified under the genus Spielia and named Spielia Zebra. The butterfly is typically observed in the park from August to December. tnn