Flight of the Fluffy Tit

 Mud-puddling is a conspicuous behavior amongst Lepidoptera and other creatures, mainly insects, where they seek out nutrients needed for survival from moist things such as mud, rotting leaf cover or carrion. Follow the account of a surprise sighting of a butterfly puddling in a region it doesn’t belong to.

The Fluffy Tit or Indian Fluffy Tit (Zeltus amasa Hewitson) has a distribution across India from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh, the northern part of West Bengal, North-East India and part of Western Ghats. While it has many photographic records in North Bengal, there are very few from the Southern part of Bengal.

Our story begins at the end of year 2018. On the afternoon of 30^th December, 2018, we were in Purulia district of West Bengal on our Christmas holiday. The area was the border between Jharkhand (Dalma part) and West Bengal. We stopped beside a small stream for some rest and suddenly we found a butterfly, mud-puddling on the riverbank. The creature gave us a plenty time to take some exquisite shots. We were delighted because that was an Indian Fluffy Tit and a male individual. That was, most probably, the 2^nd photographic documentation of that particular butterfly species from South Bengal region.

The Fluffy Tit is mostly found from the Terrai region to 1000 m altitude. It inhabits the open areas, forest edges, gardens and wet ground. It has two long, fluffy tails, and that’s why the name. The male underpart is pale ochreous-brown with dark markings. Upperside is pale blue with broad black apex.

Fluffy tit is one of the gem species of the butterfly of India. The finding of such a gem from an unusual region confirms the strong ecology of that particular area.

Other Contributors

Krishna Mahanti, Member – Green Plateau, Simlapal, Bankura, WB.

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Anirban Mandal, Zonal Secretary- Green Plateau, Bankura, West Bengal.

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