RESEARCH • BIODIVERSITY Discovery life, Volume 6, Number 15, January 2014 434 5 – discovery EISSN 2278 42 54 – ISSN 2278 life Butterflies diversity of Seshachalam biosphere reserve, Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India Bubesh Guptha M1☼, Kishore S2, Sivarama Prasad NV3 1. Wildlife Biologist, Bio-Lab of Seshachalam Hills, Wildlife Management Circle, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh - 517 507, India 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India 3. Asst. Conservator of Forests, Bio-Lab of Seshachalam Hills, Wildlife Management Circle, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh - 517 507, India ☼Corresponding author: Wildlife Biologist, Bio-Lab of Seshachalam Hills, Wildlife Management Circle, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India, E- mail: [email protected] Publication History Received: 23 October 2013 Accepted: 11 December 2013 Published: 1 January 2014 Citation Bubesh Guptha M, Kishore S, Sivarama Prasad NV. Butterflies diversity of Seshachalam biosphere reserve, Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India. Discovery life, 2014, 6(15), 3-17 ABSTRACT Seshachalam hills, is the first Biosphere Reserve in Andhra Pradesh, located in southern Eastern Ghats of Chittoor and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh. It is spread over 4755.99 Km2. The vegetation is a unique mix of the dry deciduous and moist deciduous types. A detailed survey of butterflies was conducted from August 2011 to August 2013. The objective of the survey is to determine the presence and status of butterflies. The reserve area has different habitats like scrub jungle, open forest, grass land, dense forests and mud puddle. Each zone was explored on the basis of possibility and availability of butterflies. A total of 96 species of butterflies were recorded under five families. The family Nymphalidae and Lycaenidae were found dominant with 32 species and 22 species, respectively, followed by Pieridae (19 species), Hesperiidae (14 species) and Papilionidae (9 species) were recorded. More number of species was observed in Talakona followed by Tirumala, SS Kona, Balapalli, Mamandur, Jungle Book and Divyaram. Observed species were grouped in five categories on basis of number of sighting in the field. The butterflies were categorized as Very Common (VC) 20% (19 species), Common (C) 37% (36 species), Uncommon (UC) 16% (15 species), Occasional (O) 18 % (17 species) and Rare (R) 9 % (9 species). In our observation more number of butterflies preferred open forest (36%), followed by Scrub jungle (36%), dense forest (21%), grass land (5%) and mud puddle (1%). Out of 96 species, seven species namely Pachliopta hector, Hypolimnas bolina, Castalius rosimon, Euchrysops cnefus Lampides boeticus,Cepora nerissa and Euploea core are Scheduled species. Kew Words: Lepidoptera, Seshachalam, Habitat, Status, Abundance, Andhra Pradesh 3 Bubesh Guptha et al. Page Butterflies diversity of Seshachalam biosphere reserve, Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India, Discovery life, 2014, 6(15), 3-17, www.discovery.org.in www.discovery.org.in/dl.htm © 2014 Discovery Publication. All Rights Reserved 1. INTRODUCTION Insects comprise more than half of earth’s diversity of species (May, 1992). Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) the lovely and graceful insects provide economic and ecological benefits to the human society. Having multihued colors on their wings, they enhance the earth’s beauty incontestably, and add immense aesthetic value to the ambient environment. They accomplish pollination, a key stone ecological process in natural sustainability throughout the world. Being development on vegetation on both as adults and larvae, they involve themselves in complex feeding relationships with green plants. As adults they require a succession of adequate nectar resources. Nectar provides energy for flight, which is vital to find makes and to disperse the species. As larvae, butterflies are typically host specific and often show a “Botanical instinct” in that closely related butterfly species choose closely related plants. As such butterflies provide the best rapid indicators of habit quality and also they are the sensitive indicators of climatic change (Ramana, 2010). They have been studied systematically since the early 18th century and about 19,238 species are documented worldwide by (Heppner, 1998). There are about 1,504 species of butterflies in Indian Subcontinent (Gaonkar, 1996; Smetacek, 1992; Kunte, 2009 & Roy et al, 2010). 334 butterflies were reported from the Western Ghats, (Tiple & Khurad, 2009) and 150 from the Eastern Ghats (Gunathilagaraj et al, 1998). 2. STUDY AREA Figure 1 Map showing the locations of the study area of Seshachalam Hills, Andhra Pradesh, India Seshachalam hills, the first Biosphere Reserve in Andhra Pradesh, are located in southern Eastern Ghats of Chittoor and Kadapa districts. It is spread over 4755.99 Km2, the reserve locates in southern Eastern Ghats and spread over the Seshachalam hills of Kadapa district and Tirumala hills of Chittoor district. Tirumala hills which are popularly known as the seven hills of Lord Sri Venkateswara. The elevation ranges from 150 to 1,130 m, the terrain is undulating, with deep forest-covered valleys. Most of the rainfall is received from the northeast monsoon and a little from the southwest monsoon. The vegetation is a unique mix of the dry deciduous and moist deciduous types. The biosphere reserve is home to six endemic plant species: Cycas beddomei, Pterocarpus santalinus, Terminalia pallida, Syzygium alternifolium, Shorea tambaggia and Boswellia ovalifoliolata. It is the richest floristic hot spot harboring many endemic and rare plants. The entire sanctuary is an uninhabited large chunk of dry deciduous Red Sanders bearing forest, forming catchments to Swarnamukhi and Penna rivers, both in Chittoor and Kadapa districts. 4 Bubesh Guptha et al. Page Butterflies diversity of Seshachalam biosphere reserve, Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India, Discovery life, 2014, 6(15), 3-17, www.discovery.org.in www.discovery.org.in/dl.htm © 2014 Discovery Publication. All Rights Reserved 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS Preliminary observation was conducted to identify areas with large population of butterflies. Seven locations were selected which were visited every week (Figure 1) from August 2011 to August 2013. Observations were made through transects each of 500 m length with 5-10 m on either side. Some species which are difficult to identify, were caught by hand net and released after identification. Every week eight transects were covered from 0700-1130hr & 1400-1700hr. Abundance of butterflies and in different habitats were recorded. Mostly photographic documents was done. Species identification was made using various field guides and other available literature (Antram, 2002; Evans, 1932; Gunathilagaraj, 1998; Haribal, 1992 & Kunte, 2000). 3.1. Diversity Analysis The following indices are used to analyze the data for richness, abundance and evenness. a. Alpha diversity Richness Indices: (Unambiguous and straight forward index of species richness) Margalef index, S - 1 R1 = --------------- 1n (n) where, s = the total number of species n = the total number of individuals b. Species Diversity The two most widely used indices were calculated as follows Simpson’s index s 2 λ = ∑ Pi i=1 th Where Pi is the proportional abundance of the i species, ni Pi = --------- , i = 1, 2, 3, .......................S N Where ni = the number of individuals of the species N = known total number of individuals for all species Shannon Wiener index S* ’ H = -- ∑ (Pi 1n Pi ) i=1 Berger-Parker index This index was considered by May (1975) to be one of the best. It is a simple measure of the numerical importance of the most abundant species. Let d = Nmax/N, where Nmax is the number of individuals in the most abundant species and N is the total number of individuals in the sample. The Berger-Parker index is then simply 1/d. McIntosh index D = N-U / N-Sqrt(N), where N is the total number of individuals in the sample and U is given by the expression : 5 Bubesh Guptha et al. Page Butterflies diversity of Seshachalam biosphere reserve, Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India, Discovery life, 2014, 6(15), 3-17, www.discovery.org.in www.discovery.org.in/dl.htm © 2014 Discovery Publication. All Rights Reserved Table 1 Checklist of Butterflies in Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve, Eastern Ghats Butterflies of Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve Distribution at study areas Legal status Habitat Sl.No Common Name Scientific Name Status (IWPA, 1972) preferences Balapalli Tirumala Talakona SS Koona SS Divyaramu Mamandur Jungle BookJungle Family: Papilionidae 1 Common Rose Pachliopta aristolochiae Fabricius O OF, SJ, DF + + + + + + + 2 Crimson Rose Pachliopta hector Linnaeus Schedule I Part IV C OF, SJ, DF + + + + + + + 3 Lime Butterfly Papilio demoleus Linnaeus VC OF, SJ, DF + + + + + + + 4 Common Mormon Papilio polytes Linnaeus C OF, SJ, DF + + + + + + + 5 Common Banded Peacock Papilio crino R DF, MP + + + + + + + 6 Blue Mormon Papilio polymnestor O OF, SJ, DF + - + + - - + 7 Spot Swordtail Graphium nomius O OF, MP - + + - + + + 8 Common Bluebottle Graphium sarpedon UC OF, SJ, DF + + - + + - + 9 Tailed Joy Graphium agamemnon UC OF, SJ, DF + + + + - - + Family: Pieridae 10 Lemon Emigrant Catopsilia crocale Cramer C OF, SJ, DF + + + + + - + 11 Common Emigrant Catopsilia pomona Fabricius VC OF, SJ, DF + + + + - + - 12 Mottled Emigrant Catopsilia pyranthe Linnaeus VC OF, SJ, DF - + + + - - + 13 Common Grass Yellow Eurema hecabe Linnaeus C SJ, OF + + - + + + + 14 Small Grass