Why in News?

• A butterfly subspecies (Caltoris bromus sadasiva) from the fringes of Akkulam and Vembanad lakes in Kerala has recently been discovered.

Highlights

• It belongs to the skipper butterfly family of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies).
• It is the first documented subspecies of the Bromus swift (Caltoris bromus) butterfly in the Western Ghats and Peninsular India.
• The discovery of Caltoris bromus sadasiva brings the count of butterfly species in the Western Ghats to 336 and the count of skipper butterflies to 83, with the last skipper butterfly discovery being almost 75 years ago.
• Caltoris, an Indo-Australian genus has over 15 species distributed across south-east Asia. Caltoris bromus, one of them, has two other subspecies Caltoris bromus bromus and Caltoris bromus yanuca.
• This is the largest lake in Kerala and the longest Lake in India.
• Vembanad Lake is also known as Vembanad Kayal, Vembanad Kol, Punnamada Lake (in Kuttanad) and Kochi Lake (in Kochi).
• The lake has Its source in four rivers, Meenachil, Achankovil, Pampa and Manimala.
• It is separated from the Arabian Sea by a narrow barrier island and is a popular backwater stretch in Kerala.
• In 2002, it was included in the list of wetlands of international importance, as defined by the Ramsar Convention.
• It Is the second-largest Ramsar site in India only after the Sundarbans in West Bengal.