CONSERVATION
IUCN Redlist category Least Concern (IUCN 2020)
Rationale for redlist categorization Atrophaneura varuna is listed as Least Concern. It has a vast extent of occurrence, exceeding 5 million km2. The species is also known to occupy different habitats across its distribution in mostly India, Myanmar, and Malaysia and uses commonly occurring host plants. However, the species does show local rarity in some localities (including an Endangered status in Bangladesh), with evidence of local threats possibly owing to this uncommonness. There are likely declines in parts of its range, such as in parts of Nepal (B. Khanal pers. comm. February 2019). The species is however likely to occur in a number of protected areas across its large distribution. To safeguard the future populations of this species against any future threats, improved research on threats and impacts would be beneficial. (IUCN 2020)
Threat category Species mortality|Species disturbance,Ecosystem conversion|Ecosystem degradation|Indirect ecosystem effects (IUCN 2020)
Cause of stress Housing & urban areas,Commercial & industrial areas,Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming (IUCN 2020)
Described Threats There is very little information on the threats to this species in the literature. Although found in trade, it is unknown whether this has a significant impact on the species. Across the range of this species however, there may be localised threats in particular localities, regions or affecting certain subspecies. There has been severe forest cover loss within the species' range in this century, with much of Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos seeing approximately 7.3 million hectares being lost during the 2000-2017 period (Hansen et al. 2013). Within Northeast India, habitat disturbance is common, brought on by cultivation, settlements, grazing from domestic livestock; 95% of forest has been cleared within the ecoregion (WWF 2018b). In Bangladesh, where the species is rare and listed as Endangered, similar threats have been reported, including heavy industrialisation, increase in the local human population, cutting trees for fuelwood and charcoal, overexploitation, and pollution due to agriculture (WWF 2018b). In Nepal, un-managed exploitation of forest resources, unsustainable harvesting, deforestation and habitat loss, settlements, road expansion, physical constructions without pre-assessment are some of the major impacts to this species and are the main threats for its decline (B. Khanal, pers. comm. Feb 2019). Across Bangladesh, urbanisation and deforestation (the larval host plant of this species is known to have medicinal values) are suggested to becoming an increasing threat towards this species (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species of Bangladesh 2015). (IUCN 2020)
Commercial use Specimens of the subspecies zaleucus can be found on insect collector websites, and are thus implicated in trade (information accessed in October 2018). (IUCN 2020)
Kind of conservation needed Site/area management,Awareness & communications,Training,Formal education (IUCN 2020)
Applied conservation actions In a previous status assessment of the world's swallowtails, this species was considered to be not threatened (Collins and Morris 1985). It is listed as Endangered (B2ab(iii)) in the National Red List of Bangladesh (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species of Bangladesh 2015). This species has not been included in Nepal's protected species list nor in its National Red Data Book (BPP 1995). Updating this Red Data Book is highly essential in the present context whereby the country is under pressures from urbanisation and development and implementations of tourism promotion activities in various regions across Nepal (B. Khanal pers. comm. February 2019). Extensive survey and assessment of habitat areas of this species are equally important (B. Khanal pers. comm. February 2019).
The species is likely to occur in a number of protected areas (UNEP-WCMC 2018), such as Balpakram National Park and Baghmara Reserve Forest in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya (Kunte et al. 2012) and Kameng Protected Area Complex in western Arunachal Pradesh, India (Sondhi and Kunte 2016). Within Bangladesh, there are seven protected areas in which the species may occur, covering an area of 2,700 km2 (WWF 2018c): it has, for example, been recorded in Satchari National Park (Hasan et al. 2018). These areas are however known to lack in training, staff and infrastructure (WWF 2018c). Better protected area management is therefore likely to be beneficial. Similarly, within Northeast India, there are three protected areas covering an area of 1,102 km2 (WWF 2018b). Generally within the Indomalayan realm, the regions covered by protected areas have increased by approximately 50% since 1986, according to a 1997 report (Asian Bureau for Conservation 1997).
In addition, regular monitoring and implementation of awareness raising programs in different geographical regions are needed to help improve understanding on the significant value of butterflies among the local communities, at least in certain regions of Nepal (B. Khanal pers. comm. February 2019). At present, the deforestation rate is high in the country so biodiversity survey are needed to ensure species are protected in time (B. Khanal pers. comm. February 2019). (IUCN 2020)
REFERENCES
- Asian Bureau for Conservation. 1997. Protected Areas Systems Review of the Indo-Malayan Realm. Available at: www.documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/662261468770093129/pdf/multi-page.pdf. (Accessed: 16th October 2018).
- BPP. 1995. Nepal Red Data Book. Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu.
- Collins, N.M. and Morris, M.G. 1985. Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. The IUCN Red Data Book. IUCN, Gland and Cambridge.
- Hansen, M.C., Potapov, P.V., Moore, R., Hancher, M., Turubanova, S.A., Tyukavina, A., Thau, D., Stehman, S.V., Goetz, S.J., Loveland, T.R., Kommareddy, A,. Egorov, A., Chini, L., Justice, C.O. and Townshend, J.R.G. 2013. High-resolution global maps of 21st-century forest cover change. Science 342: 850-853.
- Hasan, M.A.U., Neha, S.A., Baki, M.A. and Babu, M.Q. 2018. An inventory of butterfly species in relation to food sources and climatic factors influencing their diversity and richness in a semievergreen forest of Bangladesh . Arthropods 7(3): 53-68.
- IUCN. 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-3. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 10 December 2020).
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species of Bangladesh. 2015. Red List of Bangladesh Volume 7: Butterflies. IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Bangladesh Country Office, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- Kunte, K., Sondhi, S., Sangma, B. M., Lovalekar, R., Tokekar, K., and Agavekar, G. 2012. Butterflies of the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, northeastern India: their diversity and conservation. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(10): 2933-2992.
- Sondhi, S. and Kunte, K. 2016. Butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the Kameng Protected Area Complex, western Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(8): 9053?9124.
- United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). 2018. Protected Planet. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net. (Accessed: 16th October 2018).
- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 2018b. Southern Asia: Northeastern India. Available at: www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/im0142. (Accessed: 15th October 2018).
- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 2018c. Southern Asia: Bangladesh and India. Available at: www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/im1406. (Accessed: 15th October 2018).