Studies on the Diversity of Butterfly Fauna in and Around Kolli Hills, Namakkal District, Tamilnadu
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Int. J. Adv. Res. Biol. Sci. (2017). 4(8): 45-50 International Journal of Advanced Research in Biological Sciences ISSN: 2348-8069 www.ijarbs.com DOI: 10.22192/ijarbs Coden: IJARQG(USA) Volume 4, Issue 8 - 2017 Research Article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22192/ijarbs.2017.04.08.007 Studies on the Diversity of Butterfly fauna in and around Kolli Hills, Namakkal district, Tamilnadu Palanivel Kalaivani1* and Chinnappan Gunasekaran2 1 2Unit of Conservation Biology, Department of Zoology, Bharathiar University Coimbatore - 641046, Tamil Nadu, India *Corresponding Author Abstract Lepidoptera are second largest order of arthropods and making them particularly useful for biodiversity surveys. A lush patch of forest and vegetation land is situated in the Eastern Ghats of Kolli Hills Namakkal District. Butterflies were collected for five months survey recorded from December 2016 to April 2017. The specimens collected were analyzed to study the general population trend and the guild structure. The 46 butterflies species in 22 genera belonging to 4 families clearly indicate a high diversity of butterflies distributed in the study field. Of these, Nymphalidae was the dominant family with 17 species. The butterflies collected during the study were classified into different study sites in Kolli hills. Keywords: Butterfly, Kolli Hills, Population, Eastern Ghats, Guild. Introduction Biodiversity is the variety of life describing the number model organisms for the study of aposematism, and variability in relation to ecosystem in which the polymorphism, mimicry, speciation, and insect-plant occur. The butterflies are the best indicator of these interactions. Butterflies, together with birds and changes and can be used as surrogate to assess the vascular plants, represent the most frequently conservation threat to the biodiversity. Insects are monitored taxonomic groups (Thomas, 2005), which excellent organisms for community and ecosystem is mostly due to their extreme popularity among studies as they act as biological indicators, pollinators, amateur naturalists. seed dispersers, herbivores, predators and prey. Coleoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera are the most The butterfly fauna of India is rich with over 1500 species insect orders, while the recent estimates suggest species which is close to 9% of the total butterfly that the order Lepidoptera have more number of species species of the world. Out of these about 417 species (Shobana, 2012).Butterflies belong to the order called are reported from the western Himalayan region. Lepidoptera, which means “scaly wings” in Greek. Contrary to most other groups of insects, butterfly’s Lepidoptera are beneficial as pollinators, silk splendor beauty and diversity have engrossed both producers, indicators of environment. The diversity of Scientist and naturalist’s focus. Their bright colors, insects varies in different ecosystems and they perform marvelous shapes and graceful flight give pleasure to their role consequently. Due to their tremendous everyone (Perveen and Ahmad, 2016). success and variability, lepidopterans make excellent 45 Int. J. Adv. Res. Biol. Sci. (2017). 4(8): 45-50 Butterflies are taxonomically and ecologically well attention from the scientific community. Very few known (Mihoci et al., 2011). They are the important studies reported include (Kadavul & Parthasarathy., group of insects because they take part in the key 1999). Vegetation mapping using remote sensing data stone ecological process of pollination. Butterflies has more advantages over conventional ground survey pollinate more than fifty economically important crops method and it has been well exploited in many studies (Borges et al., 2003). To a large extent, butterflies (Pant et al. 1992; Porwal & Pant 1989; Prowal & Roy (being a pollinating agent) contribute to the growth, 1992; Roy et al. 1985; Unni et al. 1983). Most of these maintenance and expansion of flora in the tropical studies had been carried out only for forest mapping regions where these insects show high abundance and and no phyto-sociological studies were carried out species diversity (Bonebrake et al., 2010). The which is an inseparable component of the forest butterfly's life cycle consists of four stages namely ecosystem. egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have very specific food and habitat Conservation and sustainable utilization of requirements at different stages of their life cycle. The biodiversity are very essential for the survival of larvae of butterflies are associated with plants but mankind in this universe. Biological diversity is cause only little damage to the hosts. The adults act as increasingly recognized as a vital parameter to assess incidental, wild pollinators and help in pollination of global and environmental changes. It is essential to many native plants. The larvae as well as adults are document the butterfly fauna of all regions of the food for many predators like lizards and birds. country to ensure the survival of these fascinating Monitoring the change in abundance and assessing the creatures for future generations. A baseline faunal distribution of butterflies’ acts as a potential tool for inventory for Eastern Ghats Kolli Hills to document assessing large scale biodiversity trends. temporal changes in butterfly fauna over time must be Consequently, in the present-day scenario, many essential. Keeping in mind the importance of butterfly species are‐ under a real threat due to biodiversity information this study will be vital to plan depletion of the natural cover for various proper conservation measures for the survival of developmental activities. butterflies’ species. The main objective of the present study is to document the butterfly species diversity, to Butterflies are used in scientific research, this is due to record the seasonal variations among four different their manageable size, and the fact that most are months on the selected butterfly families. The readily identifiable, even on the wing; they are also attributes of the present study can be out looked from relatively easy to rear in captivity. They show symbiotic the dimensions of conservation strategy. This relationships with the flowering plants, where the plants particular study on biodiversity of butterflies in Kolli provide nutritional resources to the animals both in the Hills, agriculture area would encourage the nectar form for adult butterflies, and plant tissues such as conservation of the pollinator species and an indicator leaves, and soft stems for the caterpillars, the plants also species. This indirectly provides a strong rapport for provide shelter from predation a factor which increases the maintenance of healthy standards of the campus butterfly diversity and abundance. and also for the sustainable maintenance. Taxonomy is the identification of species based on the In Tamil Nadu the major forest areas are distributed in morphological characters. Since it requires vast to western and Eastern Ghats. When compared knowledge about the varied organisms and their Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats experiences heavy characters, relatively the taxonomists are very few pressure from all side from the people for fuel wood, worldwide. Survival of the species depends on the fodder, medicinal plants and illicit felling, thereby type of habitat and host it prefers. Diversity of losing its forest cover at an unprecedented rate. butterflies depends on the presence of its host plant. According to (Champion & Seth , 1968) the vegetation Relying on the above-mentioned difficulties, the of Eastern Ghats comes under Tropical dry deciduous present study aims to resolve the lepidopteron type. However, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests (Butterfly) species and to understand the interaction are also occurring in the high altitude of various hills. between the species and using DNA barcoding and Though Forest Survey of India estimates forest cover Phylogenetic assessment with the following status of entire India for every two years there are objectives. To study the butterfly diversity in Kolli some limitations in their assessment. The scale is on Hills and access the species diversity, of butterfly 1:250,000 and the classified map will state only the species in study area. forest density not the types. With reference to phyto- sociological study eastern Ghats attain very poor 46 Int. J. Adv. Res. Biol. Sci. (2017). 4(8): 45-50 Materials and Methods fixed routes, known as transects, which are divided into smaller sections, throughout the butterfly season Study area: under good weather condition that meet minimum criteria. Counts should ideally be made once every The Kolli hills is situated in Eastern Ghats regions and week. Present Diversity survey recorded from comes under the Nammakkal district, Tamil Nadu December 2016 to April 2017. All species transects state. The Kollihills became taluk and forms a part of are labor intensive and require a commitment to carry Namakkal district. Semmedu is the headquarters of out weekly recording, throughout the main period in Kolli hills. The mountains are covered with evergreen Kolli hills area. forests, but increasing areas of forests have been cleared for farming. Important farm products of the Transect walk mountain ranges include coffee, tea, jackfruit, pineapple, black pepper and other spices. Rice and Transects methods took about 45-60 minutes to walk other minor millets form the staple food of the tribal and are about 1-2 km in length. A route (transect walk) people who inhabit these mountains.