Full Length
Research Paper
Diversity of Butterflies of the Sahyadri College Campus, Shivamogga
District, Karnataka, India
H.A.Sayeswara[1]
Department of
Zoology, Sahyadri Science College, Shivamogga, Karnataka, India
ARTICLE
DETAILS ABSTRACT
1. Introduction
Butterflies are most
tantalizing beautiful creatures among the insect group; they are often regarded
as Flagship species (Gowda et al., 2011).Butterflies are lovely and graceful insects provide
economic and ecological benefits to the human society. They are valuable
pollinators when they move from plant to plant gathering nectar. They are also
good indicators of environmental quality as they are sensitive to changes in
the environment (Aneesh et al., 2013). They respond to disturbances and changes in the
habitat quality and landscape structure variations (Kochar
and Williams, 2000). Habitat enrichment has been found to play a vital role in
conserving butterfly species and their abundance.
Throughout the world
butterflies are seen in large number mainly in tropical belt, which are
categorized in to 6 different families (Ehrlich, 2008), 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
endemism (Dayananda, 2014). India has more than 1400
species of butterflies, 330 of them in the Western Ghats alone, and of which 37
are endemic (Kunte, 2000). Butterflies are seasonal
in their occurrence.
They are common for only
a few months and rare or absent in other months. In this paper an attempt is
made to study the diversity and status of butterflies in Sahyadri
College campus at Shivamogga.
2.
Materials and Methods
2.1
Study area
Shivamogga (13o 55’
18’’ N, 75o 34’ 12’’ E) is heart land of Karnataka, located on the
banks of river Tunga. Sahyadri
College Campus (13o 55’ 2’’ N, 75o 35’ 35’’ E) is one of
the biggest colleges in Shivamogga. The campus has a
variety of flowering plants. The campus has a total area of about 79.01 acres.
2.2
Butterfly collection
Butterflies were sampled
for a period of twelve months from February 2022 to January 2023. Field
observations were made once in a week. The survey was done every Sunday between
10.00 to 16.00 hours on Sahyadri College Campus.
Observations were made through Pollard walk method by counting all the
butterflies found in 10 meters, beside the observation, visual count method was
also adopted (Gupta et al., 2012; Kunte et al.,
2012) during good weather conditions. Butterflies were observed, captured,
identified and released immediately at the spot of capture. The butterflies
which were difficult to identify the field were collected as voucher specimens
using a hand net. The dead specimens were kept in butterfly collection box.
2.3
Determination of Abundance
The species were further
divided in to 3 categories: Very common (VC), Common(C) and Rare(R) on the
basis of their count from the study area. Any species with count less than 10
times placed in rare category, count between 10 and 15 were placed in common
category, while species with count more than 20 times were placed in very
common category.
2.4
Identification of butterflies
The key characters used
for identification were color pattern, wing span and
mode of flight. Identifications were carried out by using the literature
(Evans, 1932), Photographic guides of Smith (2006), Van dr
Poel & Wangchuk (2007)
and internet references (www.flutters.org; www.ifoundbutterflies.org).
3.
Results and Discussion
A total of 32 species of
butterflies belonging to 25 genera and 5 families were recorded (Table 1&
Fig. 1). Among the 5 families, Nymphalidae dominated
the list with 13 species, Paplionidae with 7 species,
Pieridae with 5 species, Lycaenidae
with 4 species and Hesperide with 3 species. It was
found that 7 species of butterflies are very common, 18 species are common and
7 species are rate in occurrence in Sahyadri College
campus (Fig. 2). Prasanna kumar
et al. (2013) recorded 84 species of
butterflies from tropical habitats of the Eastern Ghats in Andra
Pradesh. Pramod Kumar et al. (2007) recorded 57 species of butterflies from the
Tiger-Lion safari, Thyavarekoppa, Shivamogga.
Raghavendra Gowda et al. (2011) reported 54 species of
butterflies from Lakkavalli range of Bhadra wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka. Venkata
Raman (2010) reported 70 species of butterflies in Eastern Ghats. Sayeswara (2018) reported 36 species of butterflies from
Gandhi park of Shivamogga, Karnataka. Ashwini and Sudha (2024) reported
14 species of butterflies from Shankararao Mohite Mahavidyalay Akluj campus of Malshiras, Tahsil, Solapur
district.
A total of 32 species of
butterflies belonging to 25 genera and 5 families were recorded. A total of 11
genera 13 species of butterflies were recorded in the family Nymphalidae. The genus Hypolimnas and Junonia
was represented by two species each, while Acraea, Danaus, Elymnias,
Euploea, Melanitis, Neptis, Tirumala, Phalantha and Ypthima were represented by a single species each. Paplionidae population represents 3 genera and 7 species.
The genus Papilio was represented by three species, while
Graphium and
Pachliopta were represented by two species each. Pieridae population comprises 4 genera and 5 species of
butterflies. The genus Catopsila was represented by two species, while Delias, Eurema and Anaphaeis
were represented by a single species each. Lycaenidae
population comprises 4 genera and 4 species. The genus Jamides, Zizeeria, Castalius
and Alphnaeus
were represented by single species each. Hesperidae
was represented by 3 genera and 3 species. The genus Hesperia, Spialia and Borbo were represented by a single
species.
Table 1. List of
Butterflies of Sahyadri College Campus, Shivamogga
|
Sl. No. |
Name of Butterfly(Scientific
name) |
Common name |
Status |
|
FAMILY - PAPLIONIDAE |
|||
|
1 |
Graphium agamemnon L. |
Tailed Jay |
C |
|
2 |
Graphium nomius Esper |
Spot
Swordtail |
C |
|
3 |
Papilio demoleus L. |
Common Lime
Butterfly |
VC |
|
4 |
Papilio polytes L |
Common
Mormon |
C |
|
5 |
Papilio polymnestor Cra. |
Blue Mormon |
R |
|
6 |
Pachliopta hector L. |
Crimson
Rose |
C |
|
7 |
Pachliopta aristolochiae Fab. |
Common Rose |
R |
|
FAMILY - NYMPHALIDAE |
|||
|
8 |
Acraea violae Coster |
Tawny Coster |
C |
|
9 |
Danaus chrysippus L. |
Plain Tiger |
C |
|
10 |
Elymnias hypermnestra L |
Common Palmfly |
VC |
|
11 |
Euploea core Cra. |
Common Crow |
R |
|
12 |
Hypolimnas bolina L. |
Great Eggfly |
R |
|
13 |
Hypolimnas misipus L. |
Danaid Eggfly |
C |
|
14 |
Junonia almana L. |
Peacock
Pansy |
C |
|
15 |
Junonia hierta Fab. |
Yellow
Pansy |
C |
|
16 |
Melanitis leda L. |
Common
Evening Brown |
C |
|
17 |
Neptis hylas L. |
Common
Sailor |
C |
|
18 |
Tirumala limniace Cra. |
Blue Tiger |
C |
|
19 |
Phalantha phalantha Druy |
Common
Leopard |
VC |
|
20 |
Ypthima baldus Fab. |
Common Four
Ring |
VC |
|
FAMILY - PIERIDAE |
|||
|
21 |
Catopsila Pomona Fab |
Lemon
Emigrant |
C |
|
22 |
Catopsila pyranthe L. |
Mottled Emigant |
C |
|
23 |
Delias eucharis Drury |
Common
Jezebel |
R |
|
24 |
Eurema blenda L. |
Three Spot
Grass Yellow |
VC |
|
25 |
Anaphaeis aurota Fab. |
Pioneer
White |
VC |
|
FAMILY - LYCAENIDAE |
|||
|
26 |
Jamides bochus Stoll |
Dark
Cerulean |
C |
|
27 |
Zizeeria karsandra Moore |
Dark Grass
Blue |
VC |
|
28 |
Castalius rosiman Fab. |
Common Pierrot |
C |
|
29 |
Alphnaeus vulcanus Fab. |
Common Silverline |
R |
|
FAMILY - HESPERIDAE |
|||
|
30 |
Hesperia comma L. |
Skipper
Butterfly |
C |
|
31 |
Spialia Skipper L. |
India
Skipper |
R |
|
32 |
Borbo cinnara Wallace |
Rice Swift |
C |
C - Common,
VC – Very common, R - Rare
Fig: 1 Graph shows the species
composition of families.
Fig: 2 Graph shows the
occurrence of species
4. Conclusion
The
present study reports for the first time preliminary information on butterfly
species diversity of Sahyadri College campus at Shivamogga, which can be used in monitoring ecosystem
health, stability and functioning of the study area (Mandal, 2016). The species
richness and diversity of butterflies is higher in the study area. The growth
of natural trees and flowering plants provide a better food. Sources of food
for all stage of butterflies form the reason for richness of butterflies. From
our observations we conclude that, the butterfly community varied significantly
among different habitats. Vegetation type played a major role in diversity
patterns of butterfly communities. Butterfly habitat protection should be given
the first priority in any conservation programme. Attempts should be made to
initiate conservation of butterflies in the National parks and Sanctuaries.
5. Acknowledgement
The authors express
their gratitude to Principal, Sahyadri Science
College, Shivamogga for
facilities and encouragement.
6.
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