The sighting of the moth was a pleasant surprise for Dr R M Sharma, the assistant zoologist. ``The Indian Atlas Moth is one such species which is not very rare but is seldom seen,'' he says.

And coincidentally the sighting was in the first week of this month during which the wildlife week was observed. It was the first sighting by the ZSI western regional station at Akurdi and it had not been recorded in the study area of the zoologists here.

Not only was the moth sighted, its eggs were also found. Explaining its significance, Dr Sharma said that it was a positive indication that the Bhimashankar forest was rich in flora and fauna, because the moth depends on specific host plants for its survival. ``It is certainly a pleasant sign as all over we hearreports of the destruction of forests,'' he says.

Bhimashankar sanctuary famous for sheltering the ``Indian Giant Squirrel' in its verdant fragmented patches, also harbours a number of rare butterflies and moths too, which sustain on food plants existing in this forest cover, he added.

The female moth sighted at Bhimashankar had a wingspan of 21 centimetres. Dr Sharma explained that these moths are related to tussar silk moths and commonly known as emperor moths, giant silkworms, non-mulberry silk moths or wild silkworms. Out of 1100 species listed from the world, about 40 occur in India.

Moths and butterflies are of the Lepidoptera group (scale winged insects), but they have been divided more for convenience as the division is artificial, based on superficial differences.

The Atlas Moth or Attacus atlas as known by its zoological name is the only species occurring in India which producers wild silk, ``Fagara,'' commercially not viable. ``It is so-called because its wings appear in the shape ofmaps,'' Dr Sharma says and adds that it is fairly distributed in Indian forests, but moths in general have not been studied in detail except those which are commercially raised for producing silk.

An interesting thing about the Indian Atlas Moth is that they do not feed at all in their adult life which lasts for about two weeks, but depends on fat reserves built up when it was a caterpillar. The distinct stages of the life-cycle (lasting for two months) of a moth are egg to larva, to pupa, and to adult.

Dr Sharma said that more studies about the distribution and population of the Indian Atlas Moth at Bhimashankar could be taken up by the department of forests.