Welcome to the Butterflies of India website!

Celebrate the beauty and diversity of butterflies through natural history, research and citizen science
Document the biology of rare, endemic and endangered species, and help their conserve their habitats and populations
Spread love for butterflies and other biodiversity, create a more eco-sensitive society

Latest contributions

Species of the Day

Species Name

Ypthima inica – Lesser Three-ring

No. of Contributions

35 Posts

Latest News

News: Butterflies of India Family Grows Larger!
Our membership has grown over 2,500 contributors as of Nov. 2021.

News: New Species Added to Indian Butterfly Fauna
New species added to Indian butterfly fauna

News: Indian Butterfly Monitoring Scheme launched
Indian Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (iBMS; https://ibms-network.in) launched

News: Butterflies of India website turns 10 years old!
Butterflies of India website turns 10 years old!

Welcome to the Butterflies of India website!

This is an online peer-reviewed resource, a citizen science platform, where ordinary citizens as well as working scientists participate in gathering scientific data and building this free, authoritative resource on Indian butterflies. It is designed to: (a) disseminate comprehensive information on the biology of Indian butterflies, (b) encourage study of their natural history and ecology, (c) gather population and distributional data in a centralized database, and (d) spread awareness about their conservation.

With over 125,000 reference images, this is the largest library of meticulously curated images of butterflies of the Indian Region. The data help map the detailed distribution and seasonal occurrence of species, but the images also capture morphological variation, nectar plants, larval host plants, predators and parasitoids, etc., making it a critical resource on the biology of butterflies for amateur butterfly-watchers and professional biologists alike.

Don't miss our sister websites under the umbrella of the Biodiversity Atlas – India project, listed below!

Website by the numbers

1131

No. of Species Pages

116054

No. of Observations

144880

No. of Images

8774

No. of Contributors

574

No. of Checklists

291

No. of 30-min Counts

5

No. of Local Projects

1273

No. of Larval Host Plants

529

No. of Nectar Plants

2

No. of Identification Keys

1996297

No. of website visits

65

No. of unique visitors

Features

OBSERVATION MANAGER

Organise and back up your butterfly observations, field notes and data, and images on a secure platform

INDIGENOUS PLATFORM

Home-grown citizen science platform, custom-made for the country, hosted in a national research institution

COMPREHENSIVE DATABASE

Learn about and contribute to all aspects of butterfly biology, in addition to occurrence records in space and time

STRONG COMMUNITY

Join India’s largest community of butterfly-watchers, biologists, educators and conservationists.

LOCAL PROJECTS

Start a project to study and conserve butterflies in your area. Get featured on this website.

BECOME A REGIONAL COORDINATOR

Organize regional groups, and coordinate research and outreach activities across all corners of India

VOLUNTEER FOR BOI

Volunteer for outreach, education and conservation of Indian butterflies

Butterflies of India Mobile App

Use this app as a field guide for identification of butterflies, to know about their biology, to organize your field observations, and to contribute to this citizen science platform. Download from Google Play store. iOS version to be released in the future.