Sightings of the witch (Lepidoptera: Araotes lapithis) in Northeast Bangladesh

Biogeographically situated between the Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese subregions, Bangladesh is home to over 400 species of butterflies. Lacking sufficient surveys of butterflies, the distribution and occurrence of many species in the country are still not well known. Hence, reports on the sightings of any poorly known butterfly species may help to develop a baseline for designing precise research and open windows for conservation efforts. The global distribution of the witch (Araotes lapithis Moore, 1858) butterfly ranges throughout south and southeast Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines and Indonesia. There are few records of the species from different states of northeast India including Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, and West Bengal.