NATURAL HISTORY

Once I was going to get married to a girl from south India. My prospective wife’s concerned, well-wishing parents asked me what I did for a living. I said I observed butterflies. Poetic, eh? The father said, “No, no! I meant, what do you do for a living?” So. I did not marry that girl, never even saw her again. I still study butterflies for a living, though. I mean, living. True story.

I am a naturalist who is deeply fascinated by diverse groups of organisms. I started as a bird- and mammal-watcher in the late 1980s but since the early 1990s I have devoted myself to the study of natural history and ecology of Indian butterflies. Over the years I have studied seasonal population dynamics, effects of fire and grazing on butterfly diversity, ecological morphometrics, distribution of diversity in the Western Ghats, annual butterfly migrations in southern India, community structure of butterflies in the Anamalai Hills, mimicry, and conservation of butterflies. So far, my major work on Indian butterflies, among the publications listed below, is a book on Peninsular Indian butterflies. Currently I am working on two big projects: a monograph on the Western Ghats butterflies, and a systematic catalog of the Indian butterfly fauna. I have observed and photographed early stages of over 100 butterfly species from the Western Ghats, including numerous first descriptions of early stages. I have also discovered a new species of wrinkled frog, Nyctibatrachus petraeus, and close to 30 new larval host plants of mainly Western Ghats butterflies.

In recent years I have grown increasingly interested in biodiversity of the Eastern Himalayas and northeast India, where I devote most of my natural history time now. Through my work in this area I have added two butterfly species to the known Indian butterfly fauna. I have also rediscovered several species, most prominently the federally protected butterfly Symbrenthia silana (the Scarce Jester), and a lizard, Japalura sagittifera. Visit the page, The age of exploration, discovery and excitement continues ..., for more information and latest discoveries. The accompanying research and publications pages also give further details.

If you have any important natural history records that you want to verify and publish, have unidentified butterflies/pictures, want to study butterflies, need guidance or are interested in any way in any aspects of Indian butterflies, feel free to contact me. If you want to discuss Indian butterflies with Indian butterfly-watchers, subscribe to ButterflyIndia yahoo group.

NATURAL HISTORY PUBLICATIONS

FULL-LENGTH PUBLICATIONS:

Kunte, K. 2005. Species composition, sex-ratio and movement patterns in danaine butterfly migrations in southern India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 102:280-286. PDF file (700KB)

Das, I. and K. Kunte. 2005. New species of Nyctibatrachus (Anura: Ranidae) from Castle Rock, Karnataka State, Southwest India. Journal of Herpetology, 39:465-470. PDF file (180KB)

Kunte, K. 2004. Natural history and reproductive behaviour of Nyctibatrachus cf. humayuni (family Ranidae: Anura). Herpetological Review, 35:137–140. PDF file (112KB)

Kunte, K. 2003. The Anamalai Hills and their significance to the diversity of butterflies of the Western Ghats. Report to Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) for World Heritage Biodiversity Programme (WHBP) of Ministry of Environment and Forests (Govt. of India), funded by a grant from United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Kunte, K. 2000–01. Butterfly diversity of Pune city along the human impact gradient. Journal of Ecological Society, 13&14:40-45. PDF file (3.3MB)

Kunte, K., A. P. Joglekar, G. Utkarsh, and P. Pramod. 1999. Patterns of butterfly, bird and tree diversity in the Western Ghats. Current Science, 77:577-586. PDF file (7.6MB)

Kunte, K. J. 1997. Seasonal patterns in butterfly abundance and species diversity in four tropical habitats in northern Western Ghats. Journal of Biosciences, 22:593-603. PDF file (220KB)

BOOKS:

Kunte, K. 2000. Butterflies of Peninsular India (India: A Lifescape, Series Editor: Madhav Gadgil). Universities Press (Hyderabad) and Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore).

SHORT PAPERS:

Larsen, T. B., R. I. Vane-Wright, K. Kunte, V. Nazari. 2009. Case 3488. Papilio danae Fabricius, 1775 (currently Colotis danae; Insecta, Lepidoptera, Pieridae): proposed conservation of prevailing usage by the suppression of Papilio danae Hufnagel, 1766. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, 66:250-255. PDF file (74KB).

Kunte, K. and U. Manthey. 2009. Rediscovery of Japalura sagittifera (Sauria: Agamidae) from the Eastern Himalayas, Arunachal Pradesh: An addition to the Indian herpetofauna. Sauria, 31:49-55. PDF file (800KB, has color figures. This is in a bilingual journal published from Berlin, Germany, so the PDF file has text first in German and then in English. The table and figures are shared between the English and German versions).

Kunte, K., E. Kunhikrishnan, M. Balakrishnan & C. Susanth. 2008. Status and distribution of Appias lalage butterfly (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) in the Western Ghats, south-western India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 105: 354-357. PDF file (1.3MB, has a detailed distributional map).

Kunte, K. 2008. Range extension of the Wavy Maplet Chersonesia intermedia (Nymphalidae, Lepidoptera), from Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 105:108-109. PDF file (100KB)

Kunte, K. 2008. Natural history and early stages of the Western Ghats endemic butterfly Golden Flitter Quedara basiflava (Hesperiidae, Lepidoptera) from south-western India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 105:104-108. PDF file (1.5MB, has color figures).

Kunte, K. 2007. Abnormal growth of Papilio multicaudatus (Two-tailed swallowtail) caterpillars. News of the Lepidopterists' Society, 49:80-81. PDF file (1 MB, has color figures).

Kunte, K. 2006. Additions to known larval host plants of Indian butterflies. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 103:119-122. PDF file (420KB)

Kunte, K. 2006. Litsea pringlei: host plant of Papilio palamedes leontis in Parque Ecologica Chipinque, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. News of the Lepidopterists' Society, 48:40-41. PDF file (2.8MB, has color figures)

Bastawade, D. B., K. Kunte, and A. Captain.2004. Extension of distribution of the Thomisid spider Platythomisus sudeepi Biswas, Thomisidae: Araneae, from north Kanara, Karnataka. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 101:181. PDF file (60KB).

Kunte, K. J. 1998. Common Silverline caterpillar feeding on Cadaba indica. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 95:139. PDF file (650KB).

Kunte K. J. 1998. Common Vine Snake feeding on tadpoles, Hamadryad, 22:124-125. PDF file (96KB)

Kunte, K. J. 1998. Plain Puffin: Behavior, life history and distribution. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 95:137-139. PDF file (650KB)

Kunte K. J. 1996. Grey Musk Shrew (Suncus murinus) feeding on toad. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 93:581. PDF file (44KB)

Kunte, K. J. 1996. Strange behavior of Mottled Emigrant males. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 93:307-308. PDF file (96KB)

NEWS AND VIEWS:

Kunte, K. 2007. About distastefulness and mimicry: A comment on Peter Smetacek's article (J. Lep. Soc., 60:82-85). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society, 61:57.

Kunte, K. and A. Sinha (2000) Courtship and nesting behaviour of the frog, Rhacophorus malabaricus. Current Science, 79:260-261.

MANUALS AND TECHNICAL REPORTS:

Gadgil, M; K. P. Achar; A. Shetty; A. Ganguly; N. Harini; H. R. Bhat; J. Venkatesan; K. Krishna; K. Kunte; K. Moolya; L. Nandagiri; M. B. Nayak; R. J. R. Daniels; S. Joishy; S. Patgar; S. Gunaga; K. A. Subramanian; V. Suri; U. Ghate; Y. Gokhale (2000): Participatory Local Level Assessment of Life Support Systems: A Methodology Manual. Technical Report No. 78; Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

I have also written a best-selling popular natural history book that has received two literary awards.

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