Abstract
The history of butterfly collecting on the islands is detailed, highlighting the contributions of both amateur and professional entomologists. In the light of the recent revival of interest in butterflies in India in general and islands in particular, we present a checklist of the butterflies of these islands. For the first time in many years we take a critical look at the butterflies recorded as occurring on the Andaman and Nicobar islands. We distinguish between species that are known to occur definitely on these islands versus those which are stragglers and those which have been reported on the basis of erroneous identification. We also indicate which species/subspecies are endemics and present an overview of the knowledge of the life histories, larval food plants and natural history that is known of these butterflies. A bibliography of the butterflies of the Andaman and Nicobar islands is included.References
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