Jaipur: India's 1328th butterfly species has been discovered in Rajasthan during the ongoing 'Big Butterfly Month', which is being celebrated from September 5. Butterfly expert and teacher Mukesh Panwar, a resident of Sagwara in Dungarpur district, discovered this species named Spealia Zebra.
Panwar, a member of the Vagad Nature Club who has been researching butterflies for the last 15 years, saw the Spealia Zebra at Dhanraj Farm House in Sagwara on November 8, 2014. He clicked a photo and sent it to the Butterfly Research Institute in Bhimtal, Uttarakhand, for identification. After a nearly six-year-long research process, institute Director Peter Smetachouk announced that it is India's 1328th butterfly.
Smetachouk said that this butterfly, which flies at a high speed, has a width of 2.5 centimetres. The Spialia Zebra species is normally found in Pakistan.
Panwar, who is doing research on butterflies of Rajasthan, has seen and identified around 111 species of butterflies.
