Life Sciences Leaflets FREE DOWNLOAD ISSN 2277-4297(Print) 0976–1098(Online) BUTTERFLY FAUNA OF SHIVALIK HILLS AREAS OF KANGRA AND HAMIRPUR DISTRICTS OF HIMACHAL PRADESH IN INDIA ,2٭ VIJAY KUMAR ,1٭ SANGEETA CHANDEL BHAGWATI PRASHAD SHARMA 3 AND REETU PATIYAL 4 1. DIVISIONAL FOREST OFFICER (HQ), HAMIRPUR CIRCLE, HIMACHAL PRADESH, 177001. 2. VETERINARY OFFICER-WILD LIFE, DHAULADHAR NATURE PARK, GOPALPUR, KANGRA, H.P, INDIA, 176059. 3. DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY, Received on: POST GRADUATE DEGREE COLLEGE – HAMIRPUR, 14th July 2014 HIMACHAL PRADESH, 177001. Revised on: 4. 20th July 2014 WILDLIFE DIVISION, HAMIRPUR, HIMACHAL PRADESH, 177001. Accepted on: 24th July 2014 Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Published on: 1st September 2014 ABSTRACT: Volume No. Study was conducted on the butterfly fauna of Shivalik Hills area of Kangra Online & Print 55 (2014) and Hamirpur districts of Himachal Pradesh in India. The study area was divided into three areas, in which one area is high altitude area Gopalpur via Page No. 25 to 38 Palampur up to Billing, second area is the lower part of Kangra districts, from Khundia via Jawalaji, Dehra along the surroundings of the Pong Dam Life Sciences Leaflets reservoir up to Jawali areas in the whole Kangra district and third area in is an international open access print & Hamirpur district. In the present study a total of 98 butterfly species were e journal, peer recorded from the different areas of the Kangra and Hamirpur Districts, which reviewed, worldwide belong to five families i.e. Nymphalidae, Pieridae, Papilionidae, Lycaenidae abstract listed, published every month and Hesperiidae and 66 genera. The Nymphalidae family was the most diverse with ISSN, RNI Free- family in the study area having 45 species and followed by Lycaenidae family membership, with 20 species, Pieridae 15 species, Papilionidae 9 species and and downloads and access. Hesperiidae 9 species. http://lifesciencesleaflets.ning.com/ PEER-REVIEWED Page | 25 Life Sciences Leaflets FREE DOWNLOAD ISSN 2277-4297(Print) 0976–1098(Online) KEY WORDS: Butterfly fauna, Kangra, Hamirpur, Shivalik Hills. INTRODUCTION: Butterfly is a day flying, most familiar insect belonging to the order of Lepidoptera. Butterflies plays an important role in the ecosystem by pollination and also plays major role in food web chain of the reptiles, birds, and also various predatory insects (Sangeeta et. al., 2013). Butterflies are found to inhabit in various environmental conditions varying from hot to cold and dry to moist areas and from low hills to higher altitudes. The estimated species of the butterflies has been reported to be 28000 throughout the world (Robbins and Opler, 1997). Butterfly species are reported to be 242 in Srilanka, 643 in Nepal (Islam et. al., 2011) and in India total no of species reported to be 1500 species (Gay et. al., 1992). In Himachal Pradesh various studies has been done on the butterflies diversities in various areas of the state by various workers as in Kullu and Kinnaur areas Uniyal (2007) recorded 75 species of butterflies, in Sirmour District by Arun (2008) recorded 118 species of butterflies, in Bir-Billing areas of Kangra District by Sangeeta et. al., (2013) reported 50 species, In Lower Shivalik Hills by Thakur and Bhardwa., (2012) recorded 40 species., In District Mandi (Balh valley) by Kumar (2014) recorded 40 species., In District Kangra (Pong Lake) by Mehta et. al., (2002) studied 50 species and in District Chamba by Singh and Banyal (2013) reported 49 species of butterflies. While in the present study 98 butterflies species were recorded from the Shivalik hill areas of the District Kangra and Hamirpur district of the Himachal Pradesh. The present study was done to investigate the abundance of the different species variation in the Kangra and Hamirpur district areas of the Himachal Pradesh altitude ranging from 1500 feet height in Hamirpur district to 8500 high altitude in the Kangra district in the Shivalik hills areas and which in turn will provide support for the conservation of the endangered species in this particular area. STUDY AREA: Kangra District : Kangra is situated in the eastern part of Himachal Pradesh. It is located within the 30° 22' 40" to 33° 12' 40" North Latitude and 75° 45' 55" to 79° 04' 20" East Longitude. To access the Butterfly bio-diversity in Kangra district two different area were selected which represent the whole of district. One is high altitude area i.e. Gopalpur via Palampur & Bir upto Billing, which covers areas from approximately 4000 feet to 8500 feet on the Dhauladhar ranges. Second area is the lower part of Kangra districts i.e from Khundia via Jawalaji, Dehra along the surroundings of the Pong Dam reservoir upto Jawali, covers areas from approximately 1500 feet to 3200 feet. The temperature various from 40 C to 44.50 C. Due to wide variation in altitudinal zonation a variety of animals viz. Himalayan Black bear, pheasant’s viz. Monal, Koklass, Kalij, Western Tragopan, Cheer, are found. http://lifesciencesleaflets.ning.com/ PEER-REVIEWED Page | 26 Life Sciences Leaflets FREE DOWNLOAD ISSN 2277-4297(Print) 0976–1098(Online) Hamirpur District : Hamirpur is situated between 31°25′N and 31°52′N and between 76°18′E and 76°44′E at an altitude of 2565 feet. Temperature does sometimes cross the 44 degree Celsius mark in summers. The various species of plants and forest trees are generally found in the districts such as Kikar, Khair, Bil, Sirish, Ambla, Neem, Karal, Taur, Kasmal, etc. The species of animals commonly found in the district are namely leopard, hare, wild boar, jackal kakar, monkey and sambhar. Among the birds commonly found are namely chakor, crow, jungli murga, kala titar, safed titar and woodpecker etc. METHODS: To assess the butterfly diversity of Shivalik hills of Hamirpur and Kangra districts, the area was surveyed round the year for 3-4 consecutive years. The studies, related to the butterflies were taken up between years 2010 to year 2013, throughout the year. In Hamirpur the study was restricted in and around Hamirpur city, and in Kangra observations were made in different parts of districts (Fig.1). Butterflies were documented by direct observations, random visits and opportunistic observations. The survey was carried out in the morning and evening hours when the butterflies show the maximum activity. Pollard walk method (Pollard 1977; Pollard and Yates 1993) was followed for observing butterflies, i.e., walking along the fixed paths while recording and counting the species. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The adult butterflies were carefully photographed in the field on natural plant species and identified with the help of relevant literature and references ( K. Issac, 2008 and Kunte, 2008). The butterfly species which were encountered during the study period are listed in Table-1. A total of 98 butterfly species belonging to 66 genera and of five families viz. Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae, were recorded during the present survey in both districts i.e. Kangra and Hamirpur. Nymphalidae family butterflies were the most dominant species 45.91% (45 species), followed by Lycaenidae 20.40 % (20 species), Pieridae 15.30 % (15 species), Hesperiidae 9.18 % (9 species) and Papilionidae 9.18 % (9 species). Similar results were also recorded for different families of butterflies in various parts of the India. Predominance of Nymphalidae has been reported by earlier workers also (Pathania and Anita 2009 ; Thakur et. al., 2002 ; Ninad and Pendharkar, 2010 from Maharastra. Butterflies diversities representation from the family Papilionidae and Hesperiidae was observed to be very low as compared to other families which is similar with the earlier studies recorded by Ramesh et. al., 2010 and Rajagopal et. al., 2011 in the eastern plains areas in Sothern India. The total no of the Butterflies species diversity was found in Kangra district is 90 while 77 were found in the Hamirpur district of the Himachal Pradesh ( Fig. 2 and Fig.3). The diversity of butterflies in an area http://lifesciencesleaflets.ning.com/ PEER-REVIEWED Page | 27 Life Sciences Leaflets FREE DOWNLOAD ISSN 2277-4297(Print) 0976–1098(Online) depends on the different types of mixed plant species, which constitute their major food resources (Mathew and Rahmathulla, 1993). In the present study this variation in the species diversity in the Kangra District might be because of the diversity in flora composition in the Kangra district as Kangra district is having Dhauladhar range and this area of the Dhauladhar region ranging from upper areas of the Palampur, Baijnath, Jawali and Jawalaji areas are not having much covered by buildings or roads etc. as compared to Hamirpur district where there is more area being covered by concerete buildings and roads and also Kangra district is having more forest covers 35.96 % as compared to Hamipur district where it is 21.82% forest cover area (India state of Forest Report, 2011). This increased human activities such as construction of more and more buildings of concretes, other factors like deforestation, pollution, grazing, agricultural practices, and urbanization threatened the habitat of the butterflies by reducing the area of natural habitats of the butterflies which is also considered as one of the main factor causing deleterious impact on butterfly diversity (Tiple et. al., 2007 ; Sangeeta et. al ., 2013). REFERENCES: Arun, P. 2008. Butterflies of Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary, Sirmaur District, Himachal Pradesh, India, The Indian Forester., 10 : 134. Chandel, S., Kumar V., Sharma B.P., Patiyal R. 2013 . Butterfly Species Diversity Of Bir- Billing Area Of Dhauladhar Range Of Western Himalayas In Northern India., Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies., 1 (5): 53-57. Gay, T., Kehimkar, I.D. and Punetha, J.C. 1992. Common butterflies of India. Published for World Wild Fund for Nature-India and Oxford University Press Mumbay 67pp.