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Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Short Communication A checklist of butterfly fauna of Bankura Town, West Bengal, India Ananya Nayak 26 September 2020 | Vol. 12 | No. 13 | Pages: 16868–16878 DOI: 10.11609/jot.4882.12.13.16868-16878 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. 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Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2020 | 12(13): 16868–16878 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4882.12.13.16868-16878 #4882 | Received 11 February 2019 | Final received 29 July 2020 | Finally accepted 28 August 2020 S h o r A checklist of buterfy fauna of Bankura Town, West Bengal, India t C o Ananya Nayak m m Department of Zoology, Bankura Sammilani College, Kenduadihi, Bankura, West Bengal 722102, India. u [email protected] n i c a t Abstract: The present study on buterfies was conducted in diferent i fowers, buterfies consttute an efectve and potental o habitat types in Bankura Town along the banks of Gandheswari and pollinator group along with other insect pollinators of the n Dwarakeswar rivers for 24 months from January 2017 to December 2018. The results of the study recorded the presence of 1,273 world. These beautful foral visitors contribute to the individuals of buterfies belonging to 57 species and 42 genera pollinaton of more than 75% of the leading global food in six families. The study recorded 20 species of buterfies under Nymphalidae, 14 species under Lycaenidae, 10 species under Pieridae, crops and thereby saving US$235–577 billion per year eight species under Hesperiidae, six species under Papilionidae, (Breeze et al. 2016; Grooten & Almond 2018). and only one species under Riodinidae. The present study provides In recent tmes several authors have reported on the a preliminary report on the buterfy diversity of Bankura Town which in turn may generate awareness among the local people and diversity of buterfy populaton in diferent ecosystems government about the importance of these essental pollinators and under many districts of West Bengal (Chowdhury 2014; their conservaton. Mandal 2016; Samanta et al. 2017). No comprehensive Keywords: Diversity, Dwarakeswar, Gandheswari River, Lepidoptera, report on buterfy diversity from any part of Bankura Nymphalidae, pollinator, riverside vegetaton. District, however, has been reported to date. The present study was conducted in the municipality areas of Bankura Town and several villages located near the Bankura, the fourth largest district of West Bengal river banks Gandheswari and Dwarakeswar of Bankura I is located in the western part of the state. It covers an community development block (Fig.1). area of 6,882km2 and is bounded by Paschim Medinipur and Hooghly districts in the east, Purulia District in the Study area west, and Bardhaman District in the north and east. The Bankura Town (23.25N & 87.07E) with an average town is well-connected with its surrounding districts by elevaton of 78m, is located in Bankura District and has two state (SH-2, SH-9) and two natonal highways (NH-14 a narrow alluvial strip along the lateritc and red soils and NH-314). Two rivers, Gandheswari and Dwarakeswar (Ghosh & Guchhait 2015). Bankura District belongs to a fow from the north-east to the south-west in courses tropical savannah climate that represents a hot summer roughly parallel to one another. (April–May), monsoon (June–September) and winter Being very frequent visitors of a wide variety of (November–February). The town experiences a hot and Editor: Monsoon J. Gogoi, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India. Date of publicaton: 26 September 2020 (online & print) Citaton: Nayak, A. (2020). A checklist of buterfy fauna of Bankura Town, West Bengal, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(13): 16868–16878. htps://doi. org/10.11609/jot.4882.12.13.16868-16878 Copyright: © Nayak 2020. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: Self-funded. Competng interests: The author declares no competng interests. Acknowledgements: The author would like to express his sincere thanks to Anupran Nayak, sargeant of Indian Air Force, Barrackpore Air Force Staton and Debabrata Mukherjee and Sourav Bhatacharyya, students of Department of Zoology, Bankura Sammilani College for their immense help during the feldwork in the study area. 16868 J TT Buterfy checklist of Bankura Town, West Bengal Nayak Figure 1. Geographical locaton of the study area: Bankura Town and adjoining areas (Map data: India and West Bengal from Wikipedia; Bankura District from Census of India 2011, Govt of India; Bankura Town @2019 Google). humid weather except during the three months of winter. (Image 1 and 2). In summer the temperature rises to a maximum of 48°C Riverside vegetaton: It includes a wide variety of and in winter the temperature barely goes below 7°C. natural fora of the river basin (e.g., wild sugarcane, Relatve humidity is generally high throughout the year. Acacaia sp., Solanum xanthocarpum, Calotropis The study area encompasses a heterogeneous gigantea), scrubland (e.g., Calotropis gigantea, Datura landscape characterized by diverse patches of aquatc metel, Justcia adhatoda) and trees (e.g., Alstonia and terrestrial ecosystems including riverside vegetatons scholaris, Azadirachta indica, Terminalia arjuna, Ficus of the two rivers, roadside plantatons, habitats on benghalensis) along the riverbanks, agro-ecosystems railway embankments, grasslands, barren lands, bushes (e.g., paddy feld and other crop plants) and plantatons of weeds, gardens, agricultural lands, ponds, two rivers, by human habitatons (e.g., Carica papaya, Cocos and diferent forms of human habitaton which ranges nucifera, Moringa oleifera, Psidium guajava). from a single setlement to densely populated city areas Roadside plantatons: These are characterized by Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2020 | 12(13): 16868–16878 16869 J TT Buterfy checklist of Bankura Town, West Bengal Nayak Image 1. Dwarakeswar River and adjoining areas near Bankura Town, one of the study sites. © Ananya Nayak. Image 2. Gandheswari River and adjoining areas near Bankura Town. © Ananya Nayak 16870 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2020 | 12(13): 16868–16878 J TT Buterfy checklist of Bankura Town, West Bengal Nayak distnct vegetaton assemblages dominated by weedy Kasambe 2018) and previously published works (viz., plant species (e.g., Argemone mexicana, Cuscuta refexa, Sondhi et al. 2013; Chowdhury 2014; Mandal 2016; Lantana camara, Parthenium hysterophorus) and other Samanta et al. 2017) and website on Indian buterfies trees like Albizia lebbeck, Azadirachta indica, Bombax (ifoundbuterfes.org). Surveys were conducted in all ceiba, Borassus fabellifer, Butea monosperma, Cassia possible types of buterfy habitats mentoned in the fstula, Phoenix sylvestris, Tamarindus indica, Acacia study area. The study has classifed the encounter rates auriculiformis, and Eucalyptus teretcornis. of each species in four groups- Very Common (number Railway embankments: These artfcial habitats observed >30), Common (15–30), Uncommon (8–14), around the railway tracks harbour species-rich plant and Rare (1–7). We analysed our data with Microsof communites including various fowering plants and Ofce Excel, 2010. None of the species was captured or invasive plant species (e.g., Parthenium hysterophorus, killed during the entre period of the study. Lantana camara, Hypts suaveolens) that consttute an important part of biodiversity in the urban landscape. Results Home garden: These habitats are represented by The present study has observed a total of 1,273 several ornamental plants (e.g., Catharanthus roseus, buterfies belonging to 57 species and 42 genera in Chrysanthemum indicum, Clitoria ternatea, Combretum diferent habitats of Bankura Town and adjoining areas indicum, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Ixora coccinea, Rosa (Images 3–8). The results showed that Nymphalidae sp., Tagetes erecta, T. patula) and a number of common