You are on page 1of 7

ISSN 0970-3721

Ann. Entomol., 31(1) : 47-53 (2013)

DIVERSITY OF BUTTERFLIES (LEPIDOPTERA: INSECTA) FROM THREE


ROAD SIDE SITES AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDINAL ZONES OF DISTRICT
NAINITAL (UTTARAKHAND) INDIA
by
N.C. Joshi1 and Sunder Singh
Department of Zoology, DAV (P.G) College,
Dehradun (U.K) - 248001, India
E-mail: ssr25@ymail.com

Abstract
Anthropogenic activities affect the distribution and diversity of any species in
any area. The goal of this study is to study the effects of anthropogenic activities on the
species diversity of Lepidoptera in three of the mainsites on the entrance gate of Kumaoun
hills in western HimalaV~s, The species composition and species diversity of insects
vari~ in all the three study sites showing the effect of temperature and disturbances
associated with other ecological and climatic parameters. In the present study a total of
484 individuals belongir\~ to 68 species of 11 families were identified. Among which
Pieridae was found to be the most dominant family with 215 individuals and constituting
44.42 % of the total abundance and the most dominant family in terms of species richness
wastound
havi~9 45 to
species.
be maximum
Shannon
for wiener
the undisturbed
diversity site
indeX,
andabundance
minimum for
and
thespecies
disturbed
richness
site.
Key word~nthropogenic,
index

diversity, Lepidoptera, Kumaoun, Himalaya, Shannon wiener diversity

Introduction
Lepidoptera are regarded as one of the
important component of biodiversity (New and
collins, 1991) and are the second largest order
among insects made up of approximately
1,50,000 species so far known to the literature.
These include moth (Hetrocera) and butterflies
(Rhopalocera) of which 70,820 are butterflies
according to more recent estimate (Shields,
1989). Although several estimate have been
made from time to time, ranging from a low of
13,000 (Owen, 1971) to the maximum of 20,000
(Vane Wrights, 1978) earlier.
Butterflies
are widely recognised
as
potentially valuable ecological indicators. Their
presence can prove that habitats are suitable
and indicate that certain conditions have been
met. The degree of diversity depends upon the
adaptability of a species to a particular micro
habitat. Anthropogenic activities can cause a

great variation in diversity of insects. The


dimension, population size and diversity of the
species are most significant biological elements
of an ecosystem (Bliss, 1962). India is known
for its rich heritage of biological diversity, having
already documented over 92, 000 species of
fauna (Alfred et al., 1997) and 45,000 species of
flora (Mudgal and Hajra, 1999) in its 10
biogeographic regions.
Studies upon relationships between insect
diversity and habitat characteristics have been
made by different workers in different parts of
the world (Wolda, 1987; Leps and Spitzer, 1990;
Mathew, 1994; Blair and Launer, 1997; Joshi et
al., 1999; Humphrey et al. 1999; Mathew et al.,
2000; Kitahara and Sei, 2001 ; Jukes et al., 2002
and Kalita and Barua, 2002; Joshi and Arya, 2007;
Addai and Baidoo, 2013). No information is
available on butterflies of Nainital district in
general and studied sites in particular. Therefore,

Received on : 28/08/2012
'Department of Science,
Haldwani (U.K) -263139,

Accepted on : 02/04/2013
Humanities and Mathematics, Amrapali
India E-mail:ncjoshi83@yahoo.com.

Institute of Technology

and Sciences,

N.C.Joshiand SunderSingh

48 ,

here an attempt is made to understand how the


distribution and variation in butterfly diversity
changes in heterogenous habitats with different
ecological parameters in various sites in the
western Himalayan region.
Materials and Methodology
The present study was carried out during
October 201 0 to May 2011 , in Nainital district of
Uttarakhand situated at height of 1938m from
the sea level. The data was collected in and
around
Jeolikote
(2920'29.85"
Nand
7932'45.13"E) Ranibagh (2918'39.68" Nand
7932'45.13"E)
and
Kathgodam
town
(2916'13.56" Nand 79032'52.64"E).
1. Collection
of insect samples
and
preservation: An extensive and!regular monthly
collection ofientomofauna
was made during
October 2010 to March 2011, Collection of
insects was carried out using thk Hand picking
method (Jonathan, 1990); net sweeping method
(Arora, 1990).and tree beating method (Ghosh,
1990). Net steeping

were carried out to collect

the
insect Vfto
. The
collected
were
transferred
bottles
containinginsects
ethyl acetate
soaked cotton. All the specimens were brought
to the laboratory
for further studies. The
specimens were stretched, pinned and oven dried
at 60C for 72 hour and then set into wooden
boxes and labelled. The specimen which could
not be identified in the laboratory on the basis of
available keys, were sent to Entomological
Section of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun
and Entomological Biodiversity and Behaviour
lab., Department of Zoology & Environmental

Sciences, Gurukula Kangri University, Haridwar


for their identification.
2. Measuring diversity of butterflies: The
insect data collected in the field over the study
period was analyzed and charted for species
richness (the number of species), abundance (the
number of individuals),
and equitability
(evenness). Using Shannon's diversity index (H)
the species diversity of lepidopteran insects was
calculated as follows:
s

=-

L
1=1

pi log pi

Evenness (E) was measured as:


E = H/log(S)
Where,
H' = symbol for the diversity in a sample of
S species or kinds
Pi = relative abundance of ith species or
kinds measures, = nlN and
N = total number of individuals of all kinds
n; = number of individuals of ith species
In= log to base 2
S = the number of species in the sample
Resul.ts and Discussion
(1) Temperature:
The
maximum
temperature was recorded in the month of
October in all study sites whereas minimum
temperature
was recorded in the month of
January. The data has been presented
in
Table 01.

Table 01: Monthly variation in temperature (0C) and humidity (%) during the study period
(October 201 0- March 2011).
S.No.

9.4
66
1
28.2
8.3
62
9.1
74
H -201021.2
November
December
52
55
64
15.2
11.6
0.2
3.4
64
63
15.3
March
58
42
62
69
69
11.5
19.4
4.2
0.6
58
23.6
19.4
October
65
HT
2
24.8
H
Month
2.4
72
Site
2 1
Site
3
T
January-2011
February

Ann. Entomol., 31(1): 47-53 (2013)

Diversity of Butterflies from three road side sites at different altitudinal zones of district Nainital

Table 02: Lepidopteran species recorded from different study sites


-- I'Boisduva1
+++
-++
'!
+
- 1+inachus
+++
S.No.Kallima
Precis
almana
lemomas
almana
canida
hieria
hie
ria
Precis
Pieris
atlites
brassicae
Linn
Linn
~, ,.Argyreus
Vanessa
Site
indica
3aurota
Herbrt
Curetis
bulis
Terias
Site
hecabe
2caschmirensis
hecabe
De
Niceville
Linn
dubernardi
chumbiensis
NiceviIIe - Site
Pareronia
valeria
F.
Precis
orithyia
Anopheis
Delias
Colias
(Ranibagh)
electo
cacharis
jieldi
aurota
Drury
Menestries
Phalonta
Pieris
iphata-iphata
alcippe
alcippoides
Niceville
Dodona
Atella
phalantop
durga
Nephis
yerburys
But
Taxonomic
Composition
Egrulis
marion
-~,
Argyreus
Genopteryx
(Kathgodam)
sp.
rhamni
hippie
nepalensis
hyperlsius
Appias
Aporio
aguthonyphryrce
albina
darada
+-De
Cupha
erymanthis
Pareronia
valeria
hippia
F. De
Hebomoia
indra
glaucippe
moore
Linn
Ixias
pyrenafamiliais
ButFabr
pyranthe
dubernardii
Niceville
20
1

49

50

N.C. Joshi and Sunder Singh

---++
+++
<
+
S.No. Catopsilia
Site
2Chrysippus
Prantica
sita
Leada
ismeni
Site
3balada
pyranthe
Linn
Taxonomic
Composition
Lampides
Eurema
sp
bocticus
(Ranibagh)
(Kathgodam)
HlPdes
flernara
Parage
Phalenta
Danaus
Rhesalasp.
Catopsilia
Graphium
shakaro
kavana
gullatus
sp.
alcippe
crocale
c/oanthus
Koll
Koll
Drury
11
Nqrathurafulla
Princeps
Papilio
Euploea
Danus
L!!Jhe
Parides
Eupterote
Prantica
Ypthima
Yapthima
algae
d.
philoxinus
balda
corealgae
demoleus
polytes
Demoleus
lineosa
litura
Koll
Stoll
core
b.romulus
ignara
balda
romulus
Linn
Gray
Linn
riley
Cramer
Papiliosp.
Spodotera
Vrapteryx
polytes
obuleatea
sp.
Cramer
4'2
40verma

--'iR 1
++
Site
+

47
66
55
63
42
64
65
54
51

Ann. Entomol., 31 (1) : 47-53 (2013)

Diversity of Butterflies from three road side sites at different altitudinal zones of district Nainital

(2) Humidity: The maximum humidity was


recorded in the month of October (77%) in site
3, where as it was recorded minimum in the month
of March in site 1 (42%). The detailed data has
been presented in Table 01.
As shown in Table 2, a total of 24 common
species were reported from all the study sites
including Atella pha/antop Drury, Vanessa
caschmirensis, Pieris iphata iphata, Precis hieria
hieria, Vanessa indica Herbrt, Pieris canida,
Genopteryx rhamni nepa/ensis, Terias hecabe
hecabe Linn., Hebomoia g/aucippe Linn., /xias
pyrena
fami/iais
But, Pieris dubernardi
chumbiensis De Niceville, Pieris dubernardi De
Niceville,
Co/ias e/ecto fie/di Menestries,
Catopsi/ia pyranthe Linn., Catopsi/ia croca/e,
Eup/oea core core, Danaus GrlJrysippus, Danus
algae Stoll, $pthima ba/da b., Lampides bocticus,
Heodes kavana KolI, Princep~ po/ytes romulus
C'ramer, Princeps sp. and Vrapferyx obu/eatea.
A total of 68 species were recorded from all
the three study sites. A maximum of 58 species
were reporttd from site 1 followed by site 2 and
site 3. Max um number of species belonged to
a minimutlf
species
were
from
family
Pie dae 40
(45)
followed
by reported
Nymphalidae
(39), Papilionidae (15), Danaidae (13), Lycaenidae
(8), Satyridae (7), Noctuidae (5), Hoemetidae (3),
Melanites
and Hesperidae
(2 each) and
Eupterolidae (1).
Maximum number of individuals belonged
to Family Pieridae (32.14%),
followed by
Nymphalidae (27.86%), Papilionidae (10.71%),
Danidae (9.29%), Lycaenidae (5.71%), Satyridae
(5.00%) and other families viz., Noctuidae,
Hesperidae, Hoemetidae,
Eupterotidae and
Melanites contribution a small percentage.
A total of 484 lepidopteran individuals were
collected from all the study sites during the study
Table 03:
Site No.

period among which maximum number of


individuals were collected from site 1 (206)
followed by site 2 (143) and minimum number of
individuals were collected from site 3 (135).
Overall maximum
number of individuals
belonged to Pieridae (215, 44.42%) followed by
Nymphalidae (97, 20.04%), Papilionidae (51,
10.54%), Danaidae (45, 9.30%), Lycaenidae (28,
5.79%), Satyridae (23, 4.75%), Noctuidae (11,
2.27 %), Hoemetidae (5, 1.03%), Hesperidae (4,
0.83%), Melanites (3, 0.62%) and Eupterolidae
(2,0.41%).
The Shannon diversity (H) was found to be
maximum in site 2 (1.886) followed by site 1
(1.844) and site 3 (1.735). Maximum number of
individuals and species were recorded from site
1 as it was the least disturbed site which was
followed
by site 2 which has
moderate
disturbance. Whereas, minimum number of
individuals, species and decline in diversity was
recorded in site 3 as it was the most disturbed
site among the three study sites.
It has been estimated that approximately
1450 species of Lepidopteran fauna (Insecta:
Rhopalocera) exists in the country, which include
about 325 species from Garhwal Himalayas
(Mackinnon and de Niceville, 1997, 98; Ollenbach,
1930-31) and 350 species from Kumaon hills
(Hannyngton, 1910-11).
Singh (1963) reported 5 species belonging
to 4 families of order Lepidoptera from NorthWest Himalaya. Joshi (1989) has reported 7
species belonging 4 families of this order from a
grass land at Naukuchiatal, Nainital. Arora et. at.
(1995) reported 223 species of butterflies
belonging to 9 families from Western Himalayas,
Uttar Pradesh. Sargeev (1998) reported that
moderate human disturbance due to which a
heterogeneous landscape was created, increased

Lepidopteran Community Structure during the study period

1.735
1.886
1.844
135
143
40
42
58
1.161
1.083
1.045
206
Abundance(N)
Evenness
Diversity
Richness
(H) (S) (E)

51

52

N.C. Joshi and Sunder Singh

the diversity of Orthopteran


insects, while
excessive man made activities Le. grazing,
ploghing ~nd logging destroyed the landscape
and decreased the diversity. Joshi et al. (1999)
reported that the Acridid diversity was sensitive
to grazing. Kithara and Sei (2001) studied the
effects of human land use and disturbance on
butterfly communities in the cool temperate zone
of central Japan and reported that the butterfly
communities
in semi-natural
(undisturbed)
habitats had higher species richness and
diversity than those in human-modified (highly
disturbed) ones. Uniyal (2002) reported 35
species of butterflies belonging to 25 genera and
4 families from Nanda Devi Bio Sphere Reserve,
India.
Least number of species aM individuals
were recordedM1site 3 (Kathgodam town) as it
is a sub urban area and the cOrl)l')1onand only
way to enter Kumaoun hills. It hav~ heavy traffic
load as all the vehicles going up hills to Kumaoun
have to pass through this city; thus it is the most
Temperature
.site 3 was normally found to be
always great
the other
two sites;
may
disturbed
si$e. an
mong
the three
studythissites.
also be a reason for the variation in the diversity
and evenness of species. Maximum number of
species i.e. species richness was found to
maximum in site 1 followed by site 2 and site 3.
Thus the present study points out that that
disturbance due to anthropogenic activities and
variation in temperature cause a great variation
in the diversity, evenness and richness of insect
species. These factors thus may also be causing
biodiversity loss of the present study area.
Refrences
Addai, G. and Baidoo P. K (2013) The effects of forest
destruction on the abundance, species richness
and diversity of butterflies in the Bosomkese
Forest Reserve, Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana,
Journal of Applied Biosciences 64: 4763 - 4772
Alfred, J. R. B. and Subha Rao, N. V. (1997). Biodiversity
(fauna) in India: an overview. ENVIS Newsletter,

4: 2-6.
Arora, G. S. (1990). Collection and preservation of animals
(Lepidoptera). Zool. Surv.lnd., Calcutta, pp. 131138.
Arora, G. S., Ghosh, S. K., Chaudhary, M. (1995). Fauna
of Western
Himalaya
(Lepidopteran:

Rhopalocera). Himalaya Ecosystem Series:


Fauna of Western Himalaya Part I (l.S.I.), Uttar
Pradesh, pp. 61-73.
Blair, A.B. and Launer, A.E. (1997). Butterfly diversity and
Human land use: Species assemblages along
an urban gradient. Biological conservation, 80:
113-125.
Blair, Robert B. (1999) birds and butterflies along an urban
gradient:
surrogate
taxa for assessing
biodiversity? Ecological Applications 9: 164-170
Bliss, L.C. 1962. Net primary production of Tundra
ecosystems.
(Die Stoffproduktion
der
Pfanzendecke, H. Leith, eds.). Gustav Fischer
Velag. Stuttgart, 35-48.
Ghosh, A. K. (1990). Collection and Preservation of
Animals. Zool. Surv. India, Calcutta, 71-80.
Hannyngton, F. (1910-1911). The butterflies of Kumaon.
Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 20 (3): 871-872.
Humphrey, J,W., Hawes, C., Peace, A.J., Ferris, K.A. and
Jukes, M.R.(1999). Relationship between insect
diversity and habitat chracteristics in plantation
forests. For. Ecol. Manag., 113: 11-21.
Jonathan, J. K. (1990). Collection and preservation of
animals (Hymenoptera).
Zoo.Surv. India,
Calcutta, 147-150.
Joshi, P.C.(1989). Energy and nutrient dynamics of above
ground insects in a grassland ecosystem. Ph.D.
thesis, Kumaon University, Nainital, India.
Joshi, P.C., Lockwood, J.A., Vashishth and Singh, A.
(1999). Grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acridoidea)
community dynamics in a most deciduous
Forest in India. J. Orthoptera Res., 8: 17-23.
Joshi, P.C. and Arya, Manoj (2007). Butterfly communities
along altitudinal gradients in a protected forest
in the Western Himalayas, India. Nat. Hist. J.
Chulalongkorn Univ. 7 (1).1-9.
Kitahara, M. and Sei, K. (2001). A comparision of the
diversity and structure of butterfly communties
is semi-natural and human-modified grassland
habitats at the foot of Mt. Fuji, central Japan.
Biodiversity and Conservation, 10: 331-351.
Kitahara, M. and Sei, K. (2001). A comparision of the
diversity and structure of butterfly communties
is semi-natural and human-modified grassland
habitats at the foot of Mt. Fuji, central Japan.
Biodiversity and Conservation, 10: 331-351.
Leps, J. and Spitzer, K. (1990). Ecological determinants of
butterfly
communities
(Lepidoptera
Papilionidae)in the Tam Dao Mountains,Vietnam.
Acta Entomol. 87: 182-194.
Mackinnon, P. W. and Niceville, de L. (1997). A list of
butterflies of Mussorie in the western Himalayas
and neighboring region. Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist.
Soc., 11: 205-211.
Mackinnon, P. W. and Niceville, de L. (1998). A list of
butterflies of Mussorie in the western Himalayas
and neighboring region. Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist.
Soc., 11: 268-289, 585-605.
Mathew, G. (1994). Insect diversity in tropical forests: A

Ann. Entomol., 31(1) : 47-53 (2013)

Diversity of Butterflies from three road side sites at different altitudinal zones of district Nainital
study with reference to butterflies and moths
r (Insecta: Lepidoptera)in the Silent valley National
'Park (Kerala). Advances In Forestry Research
In India, XI: 134-171.
Mathew, G., Anto, M. and Brijesh, C.M. (2000). Butterflies
of Kerala. Biodiversity and Ecology, concepts
and fact. Editated by M. Sivadasan and K.V.
Mohanan : 45-49.
Mudgal, V. and Hajra, P. K. (1999). Floristic diversity and
conservation strategies in India, I-III.
New,T. R. & Collins, N. M. (1991). Swallowtail butterflies an action plan for their conservation. Gland:
International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Ollenbach, O. C. (1930-1931). Butterflies collecting
grounds of Mussoorie. Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist.
Soc., 34: 836-840.
Owen, D. F. (1971). Species diversity in butterflies in a
tropical garden. Biological Conservation 3
(3):191-198.
Sargeev, M.G. (1998). Conserva~n
of Orthoptera
biological diversity relative to landscape change
in temperate Eurasia. J. Insect. Con., 2: 247252.

i,

53

Shannon, C. E. and Weaver, W. (1949). The Mathematical


Theory of Communication. University Illinois
Press, Urbana, IL.
Shields, O. (1989). World no. of butterflies. J. Lep. Soc.,
431(3): 178-183.
Singh, S. (1963). Entomological survey of Himalaya. Part
XXIV - Fourth and final annotated check-list of
the insects from the north-west (Punjab)
Himalaya. Agra Univ. Jour. Research, 12: 363393.
Singh, A.P.and Pandey, R. (2004). A model for estimating
butterfly species richness of areas across the
Indian sub- continent: species proportion of
Papilionidae as an Indicator. Journal of the
Bombay Natural History Society, 101:79-89.
Uniyal, V. P.(2002). Nanda Devi Expedition (Report). Wild
Life Institute, Dehradun, India, 17 pp.
Vane-Wright, R.1.(1978). Ecology and evolution [meeting
held on 14thDecember 1977]. Antenna, London 2
(2): 47-48.
Wolda, H. (1987). Altitude, habitat and tropical insect
diversity. Biological J. Linean Society, 30: 313323.

Published by : Surya International Publications, 4-B, Nashville Road, Dehra Dun (Uttarakhand), India

You might also like