MIMEUSEMIA CEYLONICA

16th March, 2023 Environment

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Context: Two researchers from Tamil Nadu have spotted a rare moth species for the first time in India in the buffer zone of the Kalakkad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) after it was last sighted 127 years ago — at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka in 1893.

Details:

About:

Mimeusemia ceylonica is a moth species belonging to the subfamily Agaristinae and family Noctuidae.
It was first illustrated and described by English entomologist George Hampson in 1893.

About KMTR:

The Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu is one of the protected areas having diverse flora and fauna.
This region has got vegetation types which gradually changes from dry thorn forest to dry deciduous, moist deciduous and a patch of West coast wet evergreen forests on the higher reaches of the reserve.
KMTR was declared as the “First Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu” and the 17th Tiger Reserve of the country.
KMTR consists of 895 sq.km of core area consisting of two adjacent sanctuaries namely Kalakad Wildlife Sanctuary, Mundanthurai Tiger Sanctuary in Tirunelveli District and part of Veerapuli and Kilamalai Reserve Forests in Kanyakumari District.
Mundanthurai Tiger Sanctuary was declared as Nation’s first Tiger Sanctuary during 1962 with a pioneering vision by Tamil Nadu much before Tiger conservation was a National focus.
Kalakad Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1976 primarily for the conservation of Lion Tailed Macaque.
River Thamirabarani and 13 other rivers originate from KMTR and the rivers form the lifeline of Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Virudhunagar, Kanyakumari districts both for drinking water and agriculture. Hence, KMTR is called popularly as River Sanctuary.