Travancore Nature History Society
Publications
Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India
Authors: Nitin Ravikanthachari, V. C. Balakrishnan, Paresh Vishwanath Churi, S. Kalesh
We present a systematic, updated checklist of larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot. This includes recent new records, with a total of approximately 834 plant species/groups belonging to 88 families that are used by 320 butterfly species of the Western Ghats (the host plant records for 16 species are unknown). A reverse list is also provided as a reference to plant species-wise plant-butterfly associations.This work highlights the diversity of plant species on which the endemic and other butterfly species of the Western Ghats depend.