Sikkim Biodiversity: Where nature smiles: 2014

Thursday, 25 December 2014

Tanaecia julii (Common Earl - Female) - Sikkim Butterfly

Tanaecia julii (Common Earl - Female)

Place : Shantinagar, Singtam, East Sikkim

Date: November 7, 2014

Pic: Shital Pradhan

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Family: Nymphalidae

Genus: Tanaecia

Species: T. julii

Binomial name: Tanaecia julii

Other Names: Common Earl

Special feature: This butterfly is brown in colour with its peculiar blue-edged lower wings. The male is easily identified by having the blue band of the upper-side hind wing not extending onto the fore wing.

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

Enicurus scouleri (little forktail) - Sikkim Bird

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Muscicapidae

Genus: Enicurus

Species: E. scouleri

Binomial name: Enicurus scouleri Vigors, 1832

Other Names: little forktail

Special feature:

Thursday, 18 December 2014

Fagopyrum tataricum (Tartary buckwheat) - Sikkim flora

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Angiosperms

Order: Caryophyllales

Family: Polygonaceae

Subfamily: Epidendroideae

Genus: Fagopyrum

Species: F. tataricum

Binomial name: Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn

Other Names: duckwheat, India buckwheat, India wheat, green buckwheat or bitter buckwheat

Special feature: Tartary buckwheat is bitterer, but contains more rutin than common buckwheat. It also contains quercitrin.

Tartar buckwheat was domesticated in east Asia, and is also cultivated in Europe and North America. While it is an unfamiliar food in the West, it is still eaten in the Himalayan region today. (Source: Wikipedia)