Diversity and distribution of butterflies in some thickly populated urban habitats of Guwahati, Assam, India.

Authors

  • Deepshikha Buragohain Department of Zoology, Dhemaji College, Dhemaji, Assam, India.
  • Rajoshree Neogi Acharjee Lecturer, College of Education, Christian Basti, Guwahati-781005
  • Biswajit Kumar Acharjee Researcher and Teacher, Kendriya Vidyalaya Naranagi, Guwahati, Assam, India.

Keywords:

Butterfly diversity, diversity indices, species richness, urban biodiversity, Guwahati, Assam

Abstract

Exploitation of habitat areas coupled with other numerous anthropogenic activities lead to reduction in species diversity and its distribution. Urban biodiversity is catching the attention of conservationist. Anthropogenic activities are adversely affecting the distribution and diversity of species, many of which are indeed act as bio indicators and they determine the state of ecosystem health of that particular area. A study has been carried out to access the diversity and distribution of butterflies in ten selected urban pockets of Guwahati metropolis (26011’3.84”N-91044’44.88”E), Assam, India, from February 2018 to August 2019. It has been found that 140 species of butterflies belonging to 6 families are present, dominated by Nymphalidae (34 %), followed by Lycaenidae (20 %), Hesperiidae (17%) , Papilionidae (14 %), Pieridae (13%), ,  and Riodionidae (2%).This study is one of its kind and it suggests that  although Guwahati city harbors rich species diversity but  diversity and distribution  is influenced by anthropogenic activities and therefore this study can open a channel to initiate conservation strategies at the earliest.

 

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Published

2020-04-10

How to Cite

Deepshikha Buragohain, Rajoshree Neogi Acharjee, & Biswajit Kumar Acharjee. (2020). Diversity and distribution of butterflies in some thickly populated urban habitats of Guwahati, Assam, India. International Journal of Life Sciences, 8(1), 171–182. Retrieved from https://ijlsci.in/ls/index.php/home/article/view/513