A study on the diversity of butterflies in selected landscapes of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati campus, Assam, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8254.17.2.26515-26529Keywords:
Conservation ecology, diversity, ecological indicator, flowering plants, Kamrup District, Lepidoptera, northeastern India, seasonal variation, species richness, urbanizationAbstract
A study has been carried out to find out the diversity of butterflies at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati campus, Assam India from September 2019 to March 2022. In the present study, a total of 82 species with a total of 1,378 individuals of butterflies belonging to six families, namely, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae, Nymphalidae, Hesperiidae, and Riodinidae have been recorded. During the survey, the maximum number of butterflies were observed in the old E-type site and D-type site and its adjoining areas, where there are abundant flowering, host, and nectar-collecting plants and wildflowers, and a minimum number of butterflies were listed from old and new guest house site and transit campsites. Among four study years, 2020 had the highest genera and species number followed by the year 2021. From the present study it can be concluded that despite urbanization, there is a good diversity of butterflies. Therefore, the implementation of appropriate and effective conservation methods is of utmost importance in order to protect the diversity.
References
Ali, I. & S.K. Basistha (2000). Butterfly diversity of Assam State Zoo-Cum-Botanical Garden. Zoos’ Print Journal 15(5): 264–265. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.ZPJ.15.5.264-5
Betrus, C.J., E. Fleishman & R.B. Blair (2005). Cross-taxonomic potential and spatial transferability of an umbrella species index. Journal of Environmental Management 74(1): 79–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2004.08.010
Bhuyan M., P.R. Bhattacharyya & P.B. Kanjilal (2005). Butterflies of the Regional Research Laboratory Campus, Jorhat, Assam. Zoo’s Print Journal 20(6): 1910–1911. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.ZPJ.1010.1910-1
Bohra, S.C. & J. Purkayastha (2021). An insight into the butterfly (Lepidoptera) diversity of an urban landscape: Guwahati, Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(2): 17741–17752. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6122.13.2.17741-17752
Bora, A. & L.R. Meitei (2014). Diversity of butterflies (Order: Lepidoptera) in Assam University campus and its vicinity, Cachar District, Assam, India. Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences 5(3): 328–339.
Boruah, A. & G.N. Das (2017). Butterflies (Lepidoptera) of Dangori Reserve Forest, Upper Assam, India. Zoo’s Print 32(11): 12–23.
Das, G.N., Z.F. Fric, S. Panthee, J.S. Irungbam & M. Konvicka (2023). Geography of Indian Butterflies: patterns revealed by checklists of federal states. Insects 14(6): 549. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14060549
Eswaran, R. & P. Pramod (2005). Structure of butterfly community of Anaikatty Hills, Western Ghats. Zoos’ Print Journal 20(8): 1939–1942. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.ZPJ.1330.1939-42
Evans, W.H. (1932). The identification of Indian Butterflies. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 31: 49–83.
Gogoi, M.J. (2013). Notes on some skipper butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from Panbari Forest and its adjoining areas, Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong, upper Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(13): 4759–4768. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3340.4759-68
Gogoi, R., A. Chetry & A. Bhuyan (2023). Diversity and species richness of butterfly in soraipung range of Dehing Patkai National Park, Assam, India. The Journal of Basic and Applied Zoology 84(1): 6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41936-023-00327-9
Hamer, K.C., J.K. Hill, L.A. Lace & A.M. Langan (1997). Ecological and biogeographical effects of forest disturbance on tropical butterflies of Sumba, Indonesia. Journal of Biogeography 24(1): 67–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.1997.tb00051.x
Janz, N. (2005). The relationship between habitat selection and preference for adult and larval food resources in the polyphagous butterfly. Journal of Insect Behavior 18(6): 767–780. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-005-8739-z
Kehimkar, I.D. (2008). The Book of Indian Butterflies. Oxford University Press, 497 pp.
Menken, S.B., J.J. Boomsma & E.J. van Nieukerken (2010). Large - scale evolutionary patterns of host plant association in the Lepidoptera. Evolution, International Journal of Organic Evolution 64(4): 1098–1119. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00889.x
Nally, R.M. & E. Fleishman (2004). A successful predictive model of species richness based on indicator species. Conservation Biology 18(3): 646–654. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2004.00328_18_3.x
Padhye, A.D., N. Dahanukar, M. Paingankar, M. Deshpande & D. Deshpande (2006). Season and landscape wise distribution of butterflies in Tamhini, northern, Western Ghats, India. Zoos’ Print Journal 21(3): 2175–2181. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.ZPJ.1142.2175-81
Piccini, I., M. Pittarello, V. Di Pietro, M. Lonati & S. Bonelli (2022). New approach for butterfly conservation through local field‐based vegetational and entomological data. Ecosphere 13(4): e4026. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4026
Pollard, E. & T.J. Yates (1993). Monitoring Butterflies for Ecology and Conservation. Chapman & Hall, London, 273 pp.
Ramesh, T., K.J. Hussain, M. Selvanayagam, K.K. Satpathy & M.V.R. Prasad (2010). Patterns of diversity, abundance and habitat associations of butterfly communities in heterogenous landscapes of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) campus at Kalpakkam, south India. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 2(4): 75–85.
Saikia, M.K., J. Kalita & P.K. Saikia (2015). New records of butterflies and authentication of several species of butterflies existence in Assam. Journal on New Biological Reports 4(2): 180–196.
Spitzer, K., V. Novotny, M. Tonner & J. Leps (1993). Habitat preferences, distribution and seasonality of the butterflies (Lepidoptera,Papilionoidea) in a montane tropical rain forest, Vietnam. Journal of Biogeography 20(1): 109–121. https://doi.org/10.2307/2845744
Yasmin, R., A. Das, L.J. Rozario & M.E. Islam (2023). Butterfly detection and classification techniques: A review. Intelligent Systems with Applications 18: 200214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswa.2023.200214
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Uma Dutta, Sonali Dey, Deepshikha Moran
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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.
