Butterfly diversity in heterogeneous habitat of Bankura, West Bengal, India
Main Article Content
Abstract
Butterfly diversity was observed in different habitats of Bankura District, West Bengal, India. This district is located at the junction of Chotanagpur plateau and Gangetic plain; it contains a variety of transitional habitats. We found 117 butterfly species from our covered survey area. The highest species recorded in the present study belonged to family Lycaenidae (30.76%) and Nymphalidae (29.91%) followed by Hesperiidae (16.23%), Pieridae (13.67%), Papilionidae (8.54%), and Riodinidae (0.85%), respectively. Based on sighting we found that 12.82% of all the butterflies recorded were abundant in nature while 21.36% were very common, 41.88% were frequent, and 23.93% were rare. Cluster analysis and other diversity indices gives us an overall idea about environmental health. The pattern of diversity change from plain to plateau gradient gives important insight about ecological edge effect. High species number in relation with low individual numbers were found in forest habitat. This preliminary study showed that heterogeneous habitats could harbour many butterflies and need proper conservation efforts to sustain it.
Article Details
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
References
Bonebrake, T.C., L.C. Ponisio, C.L. Boggs & P.R. Ehrlich (2010). More than just indicators: a review of tropical butterfly ecology and conservation. Biological conservation 143(8): 1831–1841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2010.04.044
Champion, H.S. & S.K. Seth (1968). A Revised Survey of Forest Types of India. Manager of Publications, Delhi, Dehradun, 404pp.
Dronamraju, K.R. (1960). Selective visits of butterflies to flowers: a possible factor in sympatric speciation. Nature 186(4719): 178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2010.04.044 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2010.04.044
Ehrlich, P.R. & P.H. Raven (1964). Butterflies and plants: a study in coevolution. Evolution 18(4): 586–608. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1964.tb01674.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1964.tb01674.x
Harrington, R. & N. Stork (1995). Insects in a Changing Environment. Academic Press, London, 535pp.
Harsh, S. (2014). Butterfly diversity of Indian institute of forest management, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Journal of Insects 2014: 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/254972 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/254972
Kocher, S.D. & E.H. Williams (2000). The diversity and abundance of North American butterflies vary with habitat disturbance and geography. Journal of Biogeography 27(4): 785–794. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00454.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00454.x
Koh, L.P. (2007). Impacts of land use change on South-east Asian forest butterflies: a review. Journal of Applied Ecology 44(4): 703–713. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2007.01324.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2007.01324.x
Kunte, K. (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. Universities Press (Hyderabad) and Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore), 147pp.
Mirza, Z.A. & A. Mondal (2018). A new genus Gravelyia with two species of the family Nemesiidae (Araneae: Mygalomorphae) from India. Acta Arachnologica 67(1): 43–48. https://doi.org/10.2476/asjaa.67.43 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2476/asjaa.67.43
Mukherjee, K. & D. Ghosh (2018). Common Banded Peacock: Record of new larval host plant of Papilio crino from Bankura, West Bengal. Zoo’s Print 33(12): 11–14.
Mukherjee, K. (2019). Red Helen of the evergreen forests found for the first time in western West Bengal. Zoo’s Print 34(5): 23–24.
Mukherjee, S., S. Banerjee, G.K. Saha, P. Basu & G. Aditya (2015). Butterfly diversity in Kolkata, India: An appraisal for conservation management. Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity 8(3): 210–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2015.08.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2015.08.001
New, T.R. (1991). Butterfly conservation. Oxford University Press. 1–224pp.
Nimbalkar, R.K., S.K. Chandekar & S.P. Khunte (2011). Butterfly diversity in relation to nectar food plants from Bhor Tahsil, Pune District, Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(3): 1601–1609. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2612.1601-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2612.1601-9
Öckinger, E. & H.G. Smith (2006). Landscape composition and habitat area affects butterfly species richness in semi-natural grasslands. Oecologia 149(3): 526–534. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0464-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0464-6
Öckinger, E., Å. Dannestam & H.G. Smith (2009). The importance of fragmentation and habitat quality of urban grasslands for butterfly diversity. Landscape and Urban Planning 93(1): 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2009.05.021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2009.05.021
Öckinger, E., A.K. Eriksson & H.G. Smith (2006). Effects of grassland abandonment, restoration and management on butterflies and vascular plants. Biological Conservation 133(3): 291–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2006.06.009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2006.06.009
Pollard, E. (1977). A method for assessing changes in the abundance of butterflies. Biological Conservation 12(2): 115–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(77)90065-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(77)90065-9
Rajasekhar, B. (1995). A study on butterfly populations at Guindy national park, Madras. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society 92(2): 275–278.
Roy, U.S., M. Mukherjee & S.K. Mukhopadhyay (2012). Butterfly diversity and abundance with reference to habitat heterogeneity in and around Neora Valley National Park, West Bengal, India. Our Nature 10(1): 53–60. https://doi.org/10.3126/on.v10i1.7751 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/on.v10i1.7751
Stefanescu, C., S. Herrando & F. Páramo (2004). Butterfly species richness in the north‐west Mediterranean Basin: the role of natural and human‐induced factors. Journal of Biogeography 31(6): 905–915. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2004.01088.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2004.01088.x
Summerville, K.S. & T.O. Crist (2001). Effects of experimental habitat fragmentation on patch use by butterflies and skippers (Lepidoptera). Ecology 82(5): 1360–1370. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2001)082[1360:EOEHFO]2.0.CO;2
Thomas, J.A. (2005). Monitoring change in the abundance and distribution of insects using butterflies and other indicator groups. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 360(1454): 339–357. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2004.1585 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2004.1585
Tiple, A.D., V.P. Deshmukh & R.L.H. Dennis (2006). Factors influencing nectar plant resource visits by butterflies on a university campus: implications for conservation. Nota Lepidoptera 28: 213–224.
Wilson, R.J., C.D. Thomas, R. Fox, D.B. Roy & W.E. Kunin (2004). Spatial patterns in species distributions reveal biodiversity change. Nature 432(7015): 393. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03031 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03031
Wynter-Blyth M.A. (1957). Butterflies of the Indian region. Bombay Natural History Society. Bombay, 523pp.