Biodiversity of butterflies of the Bangalore Region, India

The common butterfly communities of the Bangalore region occurring in various landscapes were studied during 2004-06. A total of 84 species of butterflies belonging to different families, viz., Acraeidae, Danaidae, Hesperiidae, Lycaenidae, Nymphalidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae and Satyridae were recorded. Of them, maximum number of species were from Lycaenidae (24) followed by Nymphalidae (21), Pieridae (19), Papilionidae (11), Danaidae (4), Satyridae (2), Hesperiidae (2) and Acraeidae (1). The occurrence and abundance of various species of butterflies were related to different seasons, Overall investigation showed that the highest numbers of butterfly species occur during summer and monsoon periods, whereas they were sparse during winter period. Among eight families, Lycaenidae was the richest family. The percent abundance of all species of butterfly populations during summer, monsoon and winter seasons was 41.8,40.2 and 18,0 respectively, Of all the recorded species, Madais fausta (Pieridae) was the most dominant species, whereas Graphium nom;us (Papilionidae) was the least one. Seasonal occurrence of butterfly species correlated with weather factors showed that weather has a strong influence on the occurrence of specific groups of butterflies. The cluster analysis has revealed the interrelationships of various groups of butterfly species in tandem with bioclimatological factors Behaviour of the most of the butterfly species was studied in the field. A few parasitoids of some species of butterflies were recorded in the field, A few predatory spiders and about 25 species of insectivorous birds were also recorded in the study area. The findings will be discussed in detail with a note on conservation methods.