Ann. Entomol., 31(1) : 47-53 (2013) ISSN 0970-3721 DIVERSITY OF (: INSECTA) FROM THREE ROAD SIDE SITES AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDINAL ZONES OF DISTRICT NAINITAL (UTTARAKHAND) INDIA

by N.C. Joshi1 and Sunder Singh Department of Zoology, DAV (P.G) College, Dehradun (U.K) – 248001, India E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Anthropogenic activities affect the distribution and diversity of any species in any area. The goal of this study is to study the effects of anthropogenic activities on the species diversity of Lepidoptera in three of the main sites on the entrance gate of Kumaoun hills in western Himalayas. The species composition and species diversity of varied in all the three study sites showing the effect of temperature and disturbances associated with other ecological and climatic parameters. In the present study a total of 484 individuals belonging to 68 species of 11 families were identified. Among which was found to be the most dominant family with 215 individuals and constituting 44.42 % of the total abundance and the most dominant family in terms of species richness having 45 species. Shannon wiener diversity index, abundance and species richness was found to be maximum for the undisturbed site and minimum for the disturbed site.

Key words: Anthropogenic, diversity, Lepidoptera, Kumaoun, Himalaya, Shannon wiener diversity index

Introduction great variation in diversity of insects. The Lepidoptera are regarded as one of the dimension, population size and diversity of the important component of biodiversity (New and species are most significant biological elements collins, 1991) and are the second largest order of an ecosystem (Bliss, 1962). India is known among insects made up of approximately for its rich heritage of biological diversity, having 1,50,000 species so far known to the literature. already documented over 92, 000 species of These include moth (Hetrocera) and butterflies fauna (Alfred et al., 1997) and 45,000 species of (Rhopalocera) of which 70,820 are butterflies flora (Mudgal and Hajra, 1999) in its 10 according to more recent estimate (Shields, biogeographic regions. 1989). Although several estimate have been Studies upon relationships between made from time to time, ranging from a low of diversity and habitat characteristics have been 13,000 (Owen, 1971) to the maximum of 20,000 made by different workers in different parts of (Vane Wrights, 1978) earlier. the world (Wolda, 1987; Leps and Spitzer, 1990; Butterflies are widely recognised as Mathew, 1994; Blair and Launer, 1997; Joshi et potentially valuable ecological indicators. Their al., 1999; Humphrey et al. 1999; Mathew et al., presence can prove that habitats are suitable 2000; Kitahara and Sei, 2001; Jukes et al., 2002 and indicate that certain conditions have been and Kalita and Barua, 2002; Joshi and Arya, 2007; met. The degree of diversity depends upon the Addai and Baidoo, 2013). No information is adaptability of a species to a particular micro available on butterflies of Nainital district in habitat. Anthropogenic activities can cause a general and studied sites in particular. Therefore,

Received on : 28/08/2012 Accepted on : 02/04/2013 1Department of Science, Humanities and Mathematics, Amrapali Institute of Technology and Sciences, Haldwani (U.K) -263139, India E-mail1: [email protected], 48 N.C. Joshi and Sunder Singh here an attempt is made to understand how the Sciences, Gurukula Kangri University, Haridwar distribution and variation in diversity for their identification. changes in heterogenous habitats with different ecological parameters in various sites in the 2. Measuring diversity of butterflies: The western Himalayan region. insect data collected in the field over the study period was analyzed and charted for species Materials and Methodology richness (the number of species), abundance (the The present study was carried out during number of individuals), and equitability October 2010 to May 2011, in Nainital district of (evenness). Using Shannon’s diversity index (H¢) Uttarakhand situated at height of 1938m from the species diversity of lepidopteran insects was the sea level. The data was collected in and calculated as follows: around Jeolikote (29020'29.85'' N and 79032'45.13''E) Ranibagh (29018'39.68'' N and 79032'45.13''E) and Kathgodam town (29016'13.56'' N and 79032'52.64''E). 1. Collection of insect samples and preservation: An extensive and regular monthly Evenness (E) was measured as: collection of entomofauna was made during E = H/log(S) October 2010 to March 2011. Collection of Where, insects was carried out using the Hand picking method (Jonathan, 1990); net sweeping method H = symbol for the diversity in a sample of (Arora, 1990) and tree beating method (Ghosh, S species or kinds th 1990). Net sweeping were carried out to collect Pi = relative abundance of i species or kinds measures, = n/N and the insects. The collected insects were i N = total number of individuals of all kinds transferred into bottles containing ethyl acetate th ni = number of individuals of i species soaked cotton. All the specimens were brought ln= log to base 2 to the laboratory for further studies. The S = the number of species in the sample specimens were stretched, pinned and oven dried at 600C for 72 hour and then set into wooden Resul.ts and Discussion boxes and labelled. The specimen which could (1) Temperature: The maximum not be identified in the laboratory on the basis of temperature was recorded in the month of available keys, were sent to Entomological October in all study sites whereas minimum Section of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun temperature was recorded in the month of and Entomological Biodiversity and Behaviour January. The data has been presented in lab., Department of Zoology & Environmental Table 01.

Table 01: Monthly variation in temperature (oC) and humidity (%) during the study period (October 2010– March 2011). S.No. Month Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 TH T H T H 1. October –2010 21.2 65 22.4 72 24.8 74 2. November 15.3 52 13.4 64 15.2 55 3. December 9.4 58 10.2 63 11.6 64 4. January–2011 9.1 66 10.6 58 11.5 69 5. February 19.4 58 18.3 62 19.4 62 6. March 23.6 42 24.2 64 28.2 69

Ann. Entomol., 31(1) : 47-53 (2013) Diversity of Butterflies from three road side sites at different altitudinal zones of district Nainital 49 Table 02: Lepidopteran species recorded from different study sites S.No. Taxonomic Composition Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 (Jeolikote) (Ranibagh) (Kathgodam) 1. FAMILY- NYMPHALIDAE 1 Nephis yerburys But + + + 2 Precis almana almana +- + 3 Cupha erymanthis +- - 4 Atella phalantop Drury + + + 5 Precis lemomas +- + 6 Precis orithyia +- - 7 Vanessa caschmirensis ++ + 8 Pieris iphata-iphata ++ + 9 Precis hieria hieria ++ + 10 Egrulis marion +- - 11 Dodona durga -+ + 12 Vanessa indica Herbrt + + + 13 Curetis bulis +- - 14 Phalonta alcippe alcippoides De Niceville + - + 15 Egrulis marion +- - 16 Argyreus hyperlsius -+ - 17 Kallima inachus Boisduval - + + 18 Argyreus sp. ++ - 19 Precis atlites Linn + + + 2. FAMILY PIERIDAE 20 Pieris canida ++ + 21 Delias cacharis Drury + - - 22 Genopteryx rhamni nepalensis -+ + 23 Terias hecabe hecabe Linn + + + 24 Anopheis aurota aurota +- - 25 valeria hippie Fabr - + - 26 Appias indra moore +- - 27 Hebomoia glaucippe Linn + + + 28 Appias albina darada +- + 29 Ixias pyrena familiais But + + + 30 Pareronia valeria hippia F. + - - 31 Pieris dubernardi chumbiensis De Niceville + + + 32 Pareronia valeria F. + - - 33 Pieris dubernardi De Niceville + + + 34 Pieris brassicae Linn + - + 35 Aporio aguthonyphryrce +- - 36 Pieris pyranthe dubernardii De Niceville +- + 37 Colias electo fieldi Menestries ++ + 50 N.C. Joshi and Sunder Singh S.No. Taxonomic Composition Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 (Jeolikote) (Ranibagh) (Kathgodam) 38 Catopsilia pyranthe Linn + + + 39 Catopsilia crocale ++ + 40 Phalenta alcippe Drury + + - 41 Eurema sp +- - 3. FAMILY DANAIDAE 42 Euploea core- core ++ + 43 Danaus Chrysippus ++ + 44 Danus algae Stoll ++ + 45 Prantica algae -+ + 46 Prantica sita ++ - 4. FAMILY SATYRIDAE 47 Yapthima balada balda -+ - 48 Parage shakaro Koll + - - 49 Lethe verma Koll + + - 50 Ypthima balda b. ++ + 5. FAMILY LYCANIDAE 51 Lampides bocticus ++ + 52 Narathura fulla ignara riley ++ - 53 Heodes kavana Koll + + + 6. FAMILY HESPERIDAE 54 Pernara gullatus +- + 7. FAMILY PAPILIONIDAE 55 Princeps polytes romulus Cramer + + - 56 Princeps demoleus Linn + - + 57 Princeps sp. ++ + 58 Papilio polytes romulus Cramer + + - 59 Papilio d. Demoleus Linn + - + 60 Papilio sp. -- + 61 Graphium cloanthus -+ + 62 Parides philoxinus Gray + - - 8. FAMILY EUPTEROTIDAE 63 Eupterote lineosa +- - 9. FAMILY HEOMETIDAE 64 Vrapteryx obuleatea ++ + 10. FAMILY MELANITES 65 Leada ismeni ++ - 11. FAMILY NOCTUIDAE 66 Spodotera litura ++ - 67 Rhesala sp. +- + 68 Spodotera sp. -+ - TOTAL SPECIES PRESENT 58 42 40 Ann. Entomol., 31(1) : 47-53 (2013) Diversity of Butterflies from three road side sites at different altitudinal zones of district Nainital 51 (2) Humidity: The maximum humidity was period among which maximum number of recorded in the month of October (77%) in site individuals were collected from site 1 (206) 3, where as it was recorded minimum in the month followed by site 2 (143) and minimum number of of March in site 1 (42%). The detailed data has individuals were collected from site 3 (135). been presented in Table 01. Overall maximum number of individuals As shown in Table 2, a total of 24 common belonged to Pieridae (215, 44.42%) followed by species were reported from all the study sites Nymphalidae (97, 20.04%), Papilionidae (51, including Atella phalantop Drury, Vanessa 10.54%), Danaidae (45, 9.30%), Lycaenidae (28, caschmirensis, Pieris iphata iphata, Precis hieria 5.79%), Satyridae (23, 4.75%), Noctuidae (11, hieria, Vanessa indica Herbrt, Pieris canida, 2.27 %), Hoemetidae (5, 1.03%), Hesperidae (4, Genopteryx rhamni nepalensis, Terias hecabe 0.83%), Melanites (3, 0.62%) and Eupterolidae hecabe Linn., Hebomoia glaucippe Linn., Ixias (2, 0.41%). pyrena familiais But, Pieris dubernardi The Shannon diversity (H¢) was found to be chumbiensis De Niceville, Pieris dubernardi De maximum in site 2 (1.886) followed by site 1 Niceville, Colias electo fieldi Menestries, (1.844) and site 3 (1.735). Maximum number of Catopsilia pyranthe Linn., Catopsilia crocale, individuals and species were recorded from site Euploea core core, Danaus Chrysippus, Danus 1 as it was the least disturbed site which was algae Stoll, Ypthima balda b., Lampides bocticus, followed by site 2 which has moderate Heodes kavana Koll, Princeps polytes romulus disturbance. Whereas, minimum number of Cramer, Princeps sp. and Vrapteryx obuleatea. individuals, species and decline in diversity was A total of 68 species were recorded from all recorded in site 3 as it was the most disturbed the three study sites. A maximum of 58 species site among the three study sites. were reported from site 1 followed by site 2 and It has been estimated that approximately a minimum of 40 species were reported from 1450 species of Lepidopteran fauna (Insecta: site 3. Maximum number of species belonged to Rhopalocera) exists in the country, which include family Pieridae (45) followed by Nymphalidae about 325 species from Garhwal Himalayas (39), Papilionidae (15), Danaidae (13), Lycaenidae (Mackinnon and de Niceville, 1997, 98; Ollenbach, (8), Satyridae (7), Noctuidae (5), Hoemetidae (3), 1930–31) and 350 species from Kumaon hills Melanites and Hesperidae (2 each) and (Hannyngton, 1910–11). Eupterolidae (1). Singh (1963) reported 5 species belonging Maximum number of individuals belonged to 4 families of order Lepidoptera from North- to Family Pieridae (32.14%), followed by West Himalaya. Joshi (1989) has reported 7 Nymphalidae (27.86%), Papilionidae (10.71%), species belonging 4 families of this order from a Danidae (9.29%), Lycaenidae (5.71%), Satyridae grass land at Naukuchiatal, Nainital. Arora et. al. (5.00%) and other families viz., Noctuidae, (1995) reported 223 species of butterflies Hesperidae, Hoemetidae, Eupterotidae and belonging to 9 families from Western Himalayas, Melanites contribution a small percentage. Uttar Pradesh. Sargeev (1998) reported that A total of 484 lepidopteran individuals were moderate human disturbance due to which a collected from all the study sites during the study heterogeneous landscape was created, increased

Table 03 : Lepidopteran Community Structure during the study period Site No. Diversity (H) Abundance (N) Evenness (E) Richness (S)

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