Butterfly
diversity in relation to nectar food plants from Bhor Tahsil, Pune District,
Maharashtra, India
R.K. Nimbalkar 1,
S.K. Chandekar 2 & S.P. Khunte 3
1 Department of Zoology, Vinayakrao
Patil Mahavidyalaya, Vaijapur, Aurangabad District, Maharashtra 423701, India
2 Department of Zoology, Annasaheb
Magar Mahavidyalaya, Pune, Maharashtra 411028, India
3 Department of Botany, Mahatma Phule
College, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra 411017, India
Email: rknimbalkar@gmail.com 1, sonalkchandekar@rediffmail.com2 (corresponding author)
Date of
publication (online): 26 March 2011
Date of
publication (print): 26 March 2011
ISSN
0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Krushnamegh Kunte
Manuscript details:
Ms # o2612
Received 23 October 2010
Finally accepted 05 December
2010
Citation: 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.
Copyright: © R.K. Nimbalkar, S.K. Chandekar & S.P. Khunte 2011. Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this
article in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by
providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements: Mrs. S.K. Chandekar expresses a deep sense of gratitude to the
Director, Board of College and University Development, Pune University, for
Research Grant. We are thankful to
Dr. K.A. Subramanian, Mr. A.D. Tiple and Dr. J.S. Wadatkar, for their help in
confirming identification of butterfly species. We are also thankful to the Regional Meteorological Centre
of Government of India, Mumbai 400099 for providing the rainfall data.
Abstract: Floral attributes are well known to influence nectar
feeding butterflies. However, there is paucity of information on food resources
of adult butterflies as compared to that of larvae. The present study was carried out from Bhor Tahsil of Pune
District, Maharashtra, India, during August 2007 to August 2009. A total of 64 butterfly species were
recorded. Family Nymphalidae dominates in the study area, followed by
Lycaenidae, Pieridae, Hesperiidae and Papilionidae. Nineteen nectar food plants were identified belonging to 10
plant families. Plants of the
Asteraceae family are more used by butterflies as nectar food plants. Visits of butterflies were more
frequent to flowers with tubular corollas than to non-tubular ones, to flowers
coloured red, yellow, blue and purple than those coloured white and pink and to
flower sources available for longer periods in the year. Species abundance reached the peak in
the months during August to November. A decline in species abundance was observed from the months December to
January and continued up to the end of May. Our findings are important with respect to monitoring
butterfly and plant diversity and defining conservation strategies in the Bhor
Tahsil.
Keywords: Bhor
Tahsil, butterfly diversity, nectar food plants, seasonal distribution.
This article is part of the
peer-reviewed Proceedings of the 3rd Asian Lepidoptera Conservation
Symposium (3ALCS-2010) jointly organized by the IUCN SSC South Asian
Invertebrate Specialist Group (SAsISG); Department of Zoology, Bharathiar
University; Zoo Outreach Organisation and Wildlife Information Liaison
Development, held from 25 to 29 October 2010 at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. http://www.zooreach.org/3alcs2010.html
For image, tables -- click here
The
problems of environmental damage and degradation of natural resources have
received increasing attention throughout the country. Pune
District is one of the important industrial districts in the state of
Maharashtra. The increased
industrialization and urbanization has manifold effects on the ecology of this
region. It has 14 tahsils, out of
which Bhor Tahsil was selected for the study of butterfly diversity in relation
to nectar food plants. Bhor Tahsil
is famous for historical places, tourist places and dams.
Butterflies
are scaled wing insects belonging to the order Lepidoptera of class
Insecta. There is an intimate
association between butterflies and plants and their lives are exceptionally
interlinked (Feltwell 1986), which leads to different patterns in their
distribution depending on the availability of their food plants.
Feeding
is a significant activity and food may often be the most decisive factor
affecting distribution, abundance and movements of animals. In butterflies, this has a special
relevance because food and mode of feeding are different in the larval and
adult stages (Kunte 2000).
Butterflies
and their caterpillars are dependent on specific host plants for foliage,
nectar and pollen as their food. Thus butterfly diversity reflects overall plant diversity, especially,
that of herbs and shrubs in the given area. Herbs and shrubs start their life cycle in the beginning of
the monsoon and complete it by the end of the postmonsoon season. While some shrubs like Lantana camara shows flowering throught out the year.
Earlier,
various workers like Kunte (1997) studied seasonal patterns in butterfly
abundance and species diversity in four tropical habitats in the
northernWestern Ghats. These four
sites are close to Pune City within a radius of 20km. Kunte (2001) studied the butterfly diversity of Pune City
along the human impact gradient; Rane & Ranade (2004) studied butterflies of Tamhini-Dongarwadi area,
Mulshi, Maharashtra; Padhye et al. (2006) studied season and landscape wise
distribution of butterflies in Tamhini, northern Western Ghats of India; Sharma
(2009) studied the fauna of Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra; Tiple
et al. (2006) studied factors influencing nectar plant resource visits by
butterflies and implications for conservation on Amravati University
campus. Further, Tiple et al. (2009) investigated butterfly-flower
morphological interrelationships for 108 butterfly species and 20 plants at
Nagpur.
Material and Methods
Bhor is
located 54km away from Pune City in a south-westerly direction. It is situated between 18045’N
& 73015’E. It has
an elevation of about 591.43m. Bhor Tahsil has an irregular shape, having an area of 892km2,
bordered by Tahsil Khandala of Satara District on the east, Mahad of Raigad
District on the west, Wai of Satara District on the south and Velhe, Haveli and
Purandar tahsils on the north (Image 1).
The flora
of Bhor Tahsil has a great diversity which includes many exotic species. The climate is moist but healthy. The vegetation is mainly of dry
deciduous type and scrub type. It
is due to moderate and irregular rainfall. The actual rainfall in Bhor Tahsil during the period August
2007 to August 2009 was 2603mm, as provided by the Regional Meteorological
Centre, Mumbai.
The study
area was fully explored during August 2007 to August 2009 and then probable
areas were decided. To study the
seasonal patterns/diversity in butterfly abundance in relation to nectar food
plants, the entire year was divided into three seasons. The three seasons of the year are
premonsoon from February to May, monsoon from June to September and postmonsoon
from October to January. The study
area was visited twice in each season during the two years i.e. 2007–2008
and 2008–2009. In the said
investigation the selected sites were surveyed mainly between 0730 and 1230 hr.
Butterfly species were identified directly in the field visually with the help of
field guides followed by photography, in difficult cases, rarely by
capture. Collection was restricted
to those specimens that could not be identified directly. All scientific names
follow Varshney (1983) and common English names follow Wynter-Blyth (1957). Classification of butterflies is after
Gaonkar (1996). Benthum &
Hooker (1862) system of classification is followed for plants. GPS readings and biotopes of a few
sites in Bhor Tahsil area are given in Table 1.
Results
During
the course of study, 64 species of butterflies belonging to five families were
recorded in Bhor Tahsil. Out of 64
species, six belong to Papilionidae, eleven to Pieridae, 23 to Nymphalidae,
seventeen to Lycaenidae and seven to Hesperiidae. Species belonging to the family Nymphalidae were the most
dominant (36%) followed by Lycaenidae (27%), Pieridae (17%), Hesperiidae (11%)
and Papilionidae (9%).
The
status recording was as follows: VC - very common (75–100 sightings), C -
common (50–75 sightings), NR - not rare (25–50 sightings), R - rare
(5–25 sightings) and VR - very rare (1–5 sightings). Among the 64 species 15 were found very
common, 27 species common, 17 species not rare and five species were found
rare. None of the species were
observed in very rare category from the study area. Six species (Pachliopta
hector, Neptis jumbah, Hypolimnas
misippus, Lampides boeticus, Euchrysops cnejus and Acytolepis puspa) come under protection of the Indian Wildlife (Protection)
Act 1972. Out of the 64 species 27
species were recorded from botanical and nursery gardens, 55 from forest areas,
33 from grasslands, 58 on plantations and 51 from scrub biotope. Results are
indicated in Table 2. Nectar food
plants of butterfly species and floral characteristics of plants are indicated
in Table 3. Mud puddling is
usually observed in males. However, females of Hypolimnas bolina and Hypolimnas misippus were also observed while mud puddling
(Table 4).
Ten
families of plants are used by butterflies as nectar food plants, as recorded
from the study area: six plants of the family Asteraceae, two plants of each
family Asclepiadaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Fabaceae and Verbenaceae, while only
one plant of each family Amaranthaceae, Apocynaceae, Malvaceae, Rubiaceae and
Thymeleaceae. Visits of butterflies
were more frequent to flowers of herbs and shrubs rather than to flowers of
trees (Table 4).
Discussion and Conclusions
The
species abundance rose from the beginning of the monsoon, from the months June
to July and reached a peak in the months from August to November. A decline in species abundance was
observed from the months December to January and continued up to the end of
May. A previous study
(Wynter-Blyth 1956) had identified two seasons as peaks, March-April and
October for butterfly abundance in India. However, our finding observed peak period in the months from August to
November, in line with the findings of Kunte (2000). Bhusal & Khanal (2008) reported that there is a
significant correlation between species diversity and spring season, indicating
the abundances of diverse species was positively affected by approaching warmer
days, high relative humidity and more rainfall. These factors help to flourish diverse vegetations, which
are vital food sources for many butterfly species. Gutierrez & Mendez (1995) suggested that the abundance
of butterflies is not affected by altitudes but it is more related to the
availability of food plants. A
similar seasonal variation in species abundance was observed by Prajapati et
al. (2000) in Daman of Makawanpur District
of central Nepal. Plants have
importance in increasing the butterfly diversity and their abundance in the
area. In study area, maximum
species of butterflies were recorded on plantation biotope, followed by forest
and scrub biotope. However,
grassland and botanical and nursery gardens are not observed as rich biotopes;
heavy grazing pressure on grassland and use of pesticides in gardens have
adversely affected diversity of butterflies in these biotopes. The nectar flowering plants visited by
butterflies, as observed in our findings, namely Carissa congesta, Asclepias
curassavica, Calotropis gigantea, Senecio bombayensis, Vernonia divergens,
Wedelia uticaefolia, Zinnia eleganas, Cassia auriculata, Urena lobata,
Mussaenda glabrata and Gnidia glauca are not reported by Tiple et al. (2006, 2009) in their study area of
Amravati University Campus and Nagpur, Central India, respectively. The herbs from the study area namely Celosia argentea, Tridax procumbens and Tephrosia purpurea are more used by butterflies, probably due to the fact that
the flowering period of these herbs is throughout the year. The shrubs namely Calotropis gigantea and Lantana
camara also
have a flowering period throughout the year, so they are more used by
butterflies as their food plants. A few species of butterflies were observed feeding on either animal
droppings or on ripe fruits or while mud puddling (Table 4). Mud puddling is usually observed in
males, but in our findings females of Hypolimnas bolina and Hypolimnas
misippusbutterfly species were observed doing mud puddling. Mathew & Binoy (2002) reported that females of Appias albina darada were found to be very much active in
mud puddling. The requirement of
more water and salt could be the reason for this.
Monitoring
and mapping biodiversity is the first step in systematic conservation planning
(Margules & Pressey 2000). In
the study area, events like grazing pressure, influx of tourists, construction
of highways, use of pesticides and change in land use pattern, are mainly
responsible for diversity loss of both butterflies and plants. Members from family Lycaenidae largely
feed on grasses and cattle grazing affected their diversity and abundance. In the United Kingdom grazing by cattle
and sheep has been practiced as a management tool (Pollard 1991) and there is
ample scope for such practices in India. A total of five species of butterflies from the study area are
designated rare while describing their status and justifies its inclusion in
scheduled list suggesting the need for strict conservation measures (Table
2). As reported by Kunte (2000),
an objective revision of the scheduled list will be very useful in providing
appropriate and adequate legal protection to Indian butterflies.
Our
findings are more important for monitoring butterfly diversity and nectar food
plant diversity to improve the ecological utility of butterflies as indicator
taxa and pollinating agents and defining conservation strategies in the study
area.
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