An Annotated Check List of Butterfly Fauna in Potohar Plateau, Punjab, Pakistan
An Annotated Check List of Butterfly Fauna in Potohar Plateau, Punjab, Pakistan
Waheed Iqbal* and Muhammad Faheem Malik
ABSTRACT
Butterflies are stunning and attractive insects that are also important pollinators and members of a well-studied taxonomic group, order Lepidoptera of class Insecta. In order to explore the diversity of the butterfly fauna, a field survey was conducted every two weeks from June 2017 to September 2019 in selected locales of the Potohar Plateau, Punjab, Pakistan. An annotated checklist of the butterfly fauna was prepared using a total of 1117 specimens of butterflies from 32 species across 22 genera, 11 subfamilies, and four families from this study. With 14 (43.75%) species, the Nymphalidae family was dominated that was followed by the Pieridae family, which had 13 (40.62%) species, the Lycaenidae family, which had three (9.37%) species, and the Papilionidae family, which had two (6.25%) species. With regard to occurrence status, species of butterfly fauna found to be 17(53.12%) as common, four (12.5%) are fairly common, three (9.38%) are uncommon and eight (25%) are rare ones species in the study area. The commonly found 17 species of butterfly fauna are as follow; Papilio demoleus, Pieris canidia, Pieris brassicae, Pontia daplidice, Belenois aurota, Colotis etridae, Colias fieldii, Catopsilia crocalae, Catopsilia pomona, Catopsilia pyranthae, Eurema hecabe, Euchrysops cnejus, Danaus chrysippus, Ypthima asterope, Ariadne merione, Junonia orithya and Junonia almana; four Fairly Common (F.C.) species are; Colias eratae, Catopsilia florella, Tarucus theophrastus and Ypthima nareda; three Un-Common (U.C.) species are; Papilio polytes, Melanitis leda and Junonia hierta and eight Rare (R) species are; Colotis calais, Zizeeria maha, Tirumala limniace, Hipparchia parisatis, Polyura agraria, Neptis sappho, Vanessa cardui and Phalanta phalantha. Furthermore, the biodiversity of butterfly fauna found in the present study at Potohar Plateau, Punjab, Pakistan could be protected by the government and wild life conservation agencies for sustainable management of these resources.
Novelty Statement | This study shows that butterfly species (Potohar Plateau, Punjab, Pakistan) are threatened due to increased predator population and habitat destruction due to human intervention and excessive use of insecticides and pesticides and should be preserved and protected by biodiversity and wild life conservation schemes.
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