Wildlife and Nature Protection Society monthly lecture to focus on butterflies of Sri Lanka

The Wildlife and Nature Protection Society’s monthly lecture series on 18 February at 6.00 p.m. at the Met Department Auditorium, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7 will focus on “Butterflies of Sri Lanka and their origins.”

The presenter is Dr. George Michael van der Poorten, Ph.D. “What awaits the butterflies in Sri Lanka in the island’s rapidly changing landscape? Will these fascinating creatures survive the next century? Where did these butterflies come from and how did the butterfly species arrive on our shores, and what processes facilitated their passage here?” These are some of the question that Dr. van der Poorten will address in this presentation.

He has studied the butterflies of Sri Lanka for the last 50 years and during the past 11 years, he has undertaken an intensive field study with the intent to document the biology of all the butterflies in the island to provide information needed for the conservation of butterflies in Sri Lanka. During that time, he has discovered and described two species new to Sri Lanka: the Orange Migrant (Catopsilia scylla) and the Yellow Palm Dart (Cephrenes trichopepla), both native to Australia and introduced into Sri Lanka accidentally. Both butterflies are now quite widespread across the country.  

He edited the Butterfly Conservation Action Plan (BuCAP) which is the first taxon-specific plan prepared in Sri Lanka and authored the 2012 Red List report of threatened species in Sri Lanka in terms of  butterfly fauna. His new book, ‘The Butterfly Fauna of Sri Lanka’, which he has written with his wife Nancy, is currently in press. The book is set to be a landmark publication and will certainly fill in much of the gaps in our understanding of conservation needs of butterflies of Sri Lanka and is set to be a definitive work in the field for many years to come.