Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2019; 7(4): 01-11 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 Study of butterfly diversity in college of forestry JEZS 2019; 7(4): 01-11 © 2019 JEZS campus, Sirsi, Uttara Kannada Received: 01-05-2019 Accepted: 05-06-2019 Udaya Kumar K Udaya Kumar K, Ramesh Rathod, Vinayak Pai, Karthik NJ and Nagaraj Department of Silviculture and Shastri Agroforestry, College of Forestry, Sirsi, Karnataka, India Abstract Ramesh Rathod Butterflies are the most fascinating group of insects to humankind, often regarded as flagship species. Assistant Professor, Department They are the good bio-indicators of the ecosystem and are very sensitive to changes in the environment. of Silviculture and Agroforestry, They play an important role in food chain and are valuable pollinators in the local environment. College of Forestry, Sirsi, Butterflies dependent on specific host plant in their developmental stages and hence their diversity Karnataka, India indirectly reflects the plant diversity of a particular area. With this context an investigation was carried out to document and analyze the community structure, richness and diversity of butterflies in forestry Vinayak Pai college campus, Sirsi, during which 84 butterfly species belonging to six families were recorded by Department of Forest Biology and Tree improvement, College following round walk method through visual observations of their wing color, patterns and also referring of Forestry, Sirsi, Karnataka, to field guides. The species diversity was found to be 3.34, calculated by using Shannon diversity index. India Eurema hecabe represents highest percentage (18.49) of abundance followed by Ypthima huebneri (12.72) in the study area. Nymphalidae family consists of maximum number (33) of butterfly species Karthik NJ followed by Lycaenidae (20), Hesperiidae (13), Papilionidae and Pieridae (9 respectively). Department of Silviculture and Agroforestry College of Forestry, Keywords: butterflies, diversity, abundance, sirsi Sirsi, Karnataka, India Introduction Nagaraj Shastri Department of Entomology, Butterflies are the most tantalizing and beautiful creatures among the insect group, they are an [1] GKVK, Bangalore, Karnataka, often regarded as ‘Flagship species’ . Among the insect groups butterflies comes under the India large group called Lepidoptera. The development of butterflies is thought to be from moths and it is closely linked to the evolution of flowering plants. Butterflies depend on many host and nectar plants in their life time for growth and development. Therefore, host or nectar plants availability and their regeneration status study are essential in understanding the butterfly population in depth. Butterflies helps to monitor climate change and environment degradation and are studied as living ecological components of wide importance. They play an important role in the food chain and act as valuable pollinators in the local environment. Butterflies are sensitive biota, and are severely affected by environmental variations and [2] changes in habitat structure . They respond to disturbances and changes in the habitat quality [3] and landscape structure variations . Habitat enrichment has been found to play a vital role in conserving butterfly species and their abundance. Throughout the world butterflies are seen large in number (About 45,000 species) mainly in tropical belt, which are categorized into 6 different families [4], however they are not found in Antarctica. India is known for its rich heritage of biological diversity, ranking among the top ten species-rich nations, showing high [5] endemism . In India, about 1504 species of butterflies have been identified and documented [6]. In India, Western Ghats is considered as one of the most diversified areas containing a wide variety of species of butterflies [14], hosting 336 species, of which approximately 12% are endemic to the area, and 59 species are legally protected in India [7]. Our study area, College of Forestry, Sirsi is located in the heart of Central Western Ghats. With the above stated background, our study was carried out to calculate the density and abundance of butterflies as percentage compositions of the different families and to analyze the species diversity indices in our campus. Correspondence Udaya Kumar K Materials and Methods Department of Silviculture and Our campus, College of Forestry, Sirsi, is situated at an elevation of 600m above MSL, having Agroforestry, College of the coordinates 14o 35’59’’N; 74o 50’58’’E. This lush green campus though small in area is Forestry, Sirsi, Karnataka, India rich in its biodiversity, housing many endemic and endangered species of flora and fauna ~ 1 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies towards Having a biologically diverse natural environment for the individuals represented from each species) into a single this study. numerical value. Using Shannon diversity index, the species diversity of butterflies in our campus was calculated to be 3.34, The species namely, Eurema hecabe (Common Grass Yellow) represents highest percentage (18.49) of abundance followed by Ypthima huebneri (Common Four-ring) (12.72), Aeromachus pygmaeus (Pygmy Scrub Hopper) (6.51), Delias eucharis (Common Jezebel) (4.94) and Catopsilia Pomona (Common Emigrant) (3.59) in the study area (Table 1). The Family Nymphalidae consists of maximum number (33) of butterfly species followed by Lycaenidae (19), Hesperiidae (13), Papilionidae (9), Pieridae (9) and Riodinidae (1) (Table 2) and their percent occurrence of butterfly species under Methodology different families were graphically represented (Fig. 1). The A regular survey was carried out twice in a week, by round result of this survey at Forestry college campus shows that, walk method during morning hours from 9 am to 12 pm and the family Nymphalidae is abundant among the six families. in afternoon from 2 pm to 4 pm, for 3 months from July to The rich diversity of the butterflies in the campus can be September. The survey area consists of playground, open attributed to the floristic diversity of the campus which nursery, plantations, paddy field and other walking paths. The provides suitable larval host plants, nectar plants and butterflies were recorded by direct visual encounter and protection from predators. In three months duration from July photographic evidences and identified by using the field to September, by adding up the total number of counts, it was guides namely ‘The Book of Indian Butterflies by Isaac seen that Common grass yellow was the most observed [8] Kehimkar’ and ‘A guide to the Butterflies of Western Ghats butterfly with a maximum count of 247 followed by common [9] (India)’ written by Milind Bhakare and Hemant Ogale . four ring (170) (Fig. 2). Some rare butterflies such as Clipper Diversity indices were calculated by using Shannon-Wieners and Orchid tit were observed with a minimum count number formula. of 2 each (Fig. 3) and butterflies species found in the campus were photographed and pictorially depicted (Fig. 4). This variation in the counts is mainly due seasonality, availability H of host plants and adaptability character of the butterflies. Dayanand reported that, a total of 115 species of butterflies H = Shannon diversity index belonging to 78 genera and 5 families were recorded in which [10] Pi = fraction of the entire population made up of species i (Pi= Nymphalidae contributed to maximum number of species . ni/N) Higher abundance of Nymphalidae can be due to the presence S = numbers of species encountered of flowers belonging to families Fabaceae, Rutaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Compositae and Rubiaceae. Lekshmi Priya Data collection stated that, flowers belonging to families Euphorbiaceae, Checklists of butterflies observed along with their frequencies Compositae, Rubiaceae and Verbinaceae can result in higher [11] (number of individual species encounters) were prepared in Nymphalid diversity , this is on par with the present study. the field, later compiled and subjected to statistical analysis. The host plants play a vital role in butterflies growth and development by providing food, especially caterpillars are [12] Butterfly count requirements: Notebook, Pen, Mobile, fully dependent on host plants . The diversity and richness Camera (Nikon), & Field guide. of butterflies are dependent on availability of nectar and host plants. Different nectar and host plants present in the campus Results and Discussion were recorded (Table 3 and 4 respectively) and butterflies A total of 84 butterfly species belonging to six families were approach to a particular nectar plant is visually observed and recorded through visual observations of their wing color, pictorially depicted (Fig.5) along with early stages of patterns and also referring to field guides. Diversity indices butterflies on their host plants found in the campus were also attempt to incorporate both richness [15] (Total number of pictorially depicted (Fig.6). different species) and abundance or evenness (how equally Table 1: Showing the Relative abundance of butterflies present in the campus Hespiriidae-Skippers Total no individuals Distribution of Sl. No Common name Scientific name Status sighted density pattern (%) 1 Common banded Awl Hasora chromus Common 5 0.37 2 Brown Awl Badamia exclamationis Not rare 3 0.22 3 Indian skipper Spialia galba Common 19 1.42 4 Tricolored pied flat Coladenia indrani Common 1 0.07 5 Suffused snow flat Tagiades gana Not rare 4 0.30 6 Water snow flat Tagiades litigiosa Not rare 2 0.15 7 Tamil grassdart