Volume 24, Issue 73, January - June, 2023

Butterfly diversity along a short trekking route inside Buxa Tiger Reserve (National Park), West Bengal, India

Mainak Chakraborty¹, Prasenjit Baidya¹, Utpal Singha Roy^2♦

¹Department of Zoology, Durgapur Government College, JN Avenue, Durgapur – 713214, Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal, India
²Department of Zoology, P. R. Thakur Government College, Thakur Nagar – 743287, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Zoology, P. R. Thakur Government College, Thakur Nagar – 743287, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal India

ABSTRACT

The present study was undertaken to enlist the butterfly diversity along a forest trekking route inside Buxa Tiger Reserve (National Park), West Bengal, India. The study was conducted on 28 May 2018 covering a span of four hours. All the butterflies observed during the present study were identified following suitable literature. A total of 90 different individuals belonging to 25 genera and six families were recorded during the present study. Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) was noted as the most abundant species with 12 individuals. The least abundant species, recorded only once during the present study were Angled sunbeam (Curetis acuta), Tawny Rajah (Charaxes bernardus), Common Map (Cyrestis thyodamas), Banded Tree brown (Lethe confuse), Common Earl (Tanaecia julii), Grey Count (Tanaecia lepidea) and Common Bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon). The most abundant butterfly family recorded during the present study was Nymphalidae, represented by 15 different genera (60%) while the least abundant butterfly families were Hesperiidae, Lycaenidae, and Riodinidae (represented by 1 genus each). Butterfly diversity from the present study location is rich and it was also reflected in the study of diversity indices where the Shannon Weiner Diversity score was recorded as 2.95 while Margalef’s Richness Index score was recorded as 5.33. However, the present study location is not devoid of anthropogenic intervention and needs attention from the concerned authorities.

Keywords: Butterfly diversity, Buxa Tiger Reserve (National Park), diversity indices, forest trekking route, rapid survey

Species, 2023, 24(73), e18s1018

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v24i73/e18s1018

Published: 23 February 2023