Indian cities need butterflies

Rapid urbanization is transforming biodiversity across India, yet biodiversity remains weakly integrated into urban planning and governance. We recently documented 360 butterfly species across 23 Indian cities, more than a quarter of the approximately 1318 species recorded from India, demonstrating that urban landscapes can retain substantial native diversity. Rather than revisiting that evidence, this correspondence translates it into specific recommendations for urban biodiversity monitoring and governance. We argue that butterflies should be incorporated into routine urban biodiversity assessment because their diversity responds to habitat quality, host-plant availability, resource continuity, and landscape connectivity. India’s expanding citizen-science networks provide an important foundation for generating these data at city scale. We propose linking butterfly records to measurable indicators, including native larval host and nectar plants, pesticide use, habitat connectivity, and seasonal abundance, that could serve as a sensitive, potential early-warning signal of ecological change and a practical benchmark for evaluating urban greening. Such monitoring is intended to inform assessment and planning, complementing rather than replacing targeted conservation action for species of concern. Recognizing butterflies within urban planning would help place biodiversity alongside infrastructure, housing, and other priorities of sustainable urban development.