Butterfly diversity of Putalibazar Municipality , Syangja District , Gandaki Province , Nepal

A study was carried out to find the butterfly species diversity and abundance in Putalibazar Municipality, Syangja, Gandaki, Nepal, from June 2019 to July 2020. Pollard walk method was used for data collection in three different habitat types: forest, agricultural land, and settlement area. The study was performed in all seasons: pre-monsoon, monsoon, post monsoon and winter. A total of 180 butterfly species from 108 genera and six families were recorded. The overall Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H) was 4.48. The highest diversity was represented by the Nymphalidae with 67 species (H= 3.79). Butterfly diversity and species abundance was highest in the forest area (147 species, 1199 individuals; H= 4.47). The highest species richness (109 species) was observed in the monsoon season.

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INTRODUCTION
Butterflies play crucial roles in pollination and food chains, and they serve as bio-indicators in terrestrial ecosystems (Tiple 2007) of vegetative structure, habitat quality (Sawchik et al. 2005) and climate change (Permesan et al. 1999). India is home to over 1,500 species of butterfly (Tiple 2011), and Nepal of more than 660 species (Smith 2011). The main sources of butterfly research in different parts of Nepal are Smith (1994, 2006, 2011), Khanal (2006, 2008), Bhusal & Khanal (2008), and Acharya & Vijyan (2015. No previous studies have been carried out on butterflies in the Syangja District, hence this study examined species diversity and abundance in Putalibazar municipality, Gandaki, Nepal.

Study area
The study was carried out in Putalibazar municipality (28.100°N and 83.871°E) from June 2019 to July 2020 covering an area of 146.21km 2 . It is surrounded by Kaski District and Tanahu District in the east, Adhikhola rural-municipality, Arjun chaupari rural-municipality, and Bhirkot municipality in the west, Kaski District and Phedikhola rural-municipality in the north, and Biruwa rural-municipality and Bhirkot municipality in the south.
The study was carried out in an altitude range of 760 to 835 m, in three habitat types; forest, agriculture land and settlement area. The forest is dominated by Schima wallichii and Castonopsis indica. Major agriculture crops planted in the study area are maize, rice, millet, and the settlement is near the forest area and agriculture land. The study area map is shown in Figure 1.

Butterfly survey
Pollard walk method was used for the butterfly survey (Pollard 1977). Transects of 300-500 m, two in each habitat type were set up. Butterflies were observed within a 5-m width; 2.5 m to each side of the transect. Butterflies were recorded in all the four seasons: pre-Monsoon (March-May), monsoon (June-September), post-monsoon (October-November), and winter (December-February). Field visits were made twice a month, from 0900 h to 1600 h. Sunny days were

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preferred to ensure maximum detection of butterflies during the survey. Direct field observations followed by photography were used to record species. Field guides by Smith (2011) andSmith et al. (2016) were used to identify butterflies in the field. Photographs were taken by Smartphone (Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt and Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime 2). Species that were difficult to identify in the field were later identified through internet references (https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/),

Data analysis
Species richness of butterflies was determined based on the total number of species recorded. Diversity was calculated using the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, and species evenness was calculated using Shannon equitability: H Shannon equitability (E)= -----, here, Hmax= ln(S) Hmax Where, Pi= Proportion of individuals belonging to the i th species, n= total number of individuals, S= number of species. Data were analyzed with MS excel software.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A total of 180 butterfly species under 108 genera and six families were recorded during the survey (Table  1, Images 1-179). The overall Shannon-Wiener diversity index was 4.48. Species richness, abundance, evenness and diversity indices are given in Table 2 and Table 3.
A total of 147 species of butterflies were found in the forest, 100 in agricultural land, and 39 in the settlement area; 25 species were found in all three habitat types, and 77 species were found only in the forest. Species composition in different habitat types is shown in Table  1 and Figure 2. Of the six recorded butterfly families, Nymphalidae represented the maximum species richness with 67 species, followed by Lycaenidae (42 species), Hesperiidae (26 species), Pieridae (23 species), Papilionidae (16 species), and Riodinidae (6 species). The family-wise composition of butterfly species and genera is given in (Figure 3). The highest species richness was observed in monsoon season comprising 109 species, followed by pre-monsoon (76 species), post-monsoon (63 species), and winter (22 species). Season-wise species richness is mentioned in Figure 4.
The diversity of butterfly species is higher (H= 4.48) in this small study area. Among 660 species of butterflies in Nepal (Smith 2011), butterfly species recorded in the study area which is about 27% of the total butterfly species in Nepal. Among the recorded species during the survey, a total of 13 species (7%) (Tree Yellow Gandaca harina, Blue Imperial Ticherra acte, Chocolate Royal     Figure 5). On behalf of the local status of recorded butterflies, 12 species (7 %) were found to be very rare, followed by rare 96 species (53 %), fairly common 65 species (36 %), common 3 species (2 %), and very common four species (2 %) in the study area (

CONCLUSION
The present study provided a species diversity assessment of butterflies in the study area. Regular monitoring and study would be needed to update the butterfly species checklist in this area. No butterfly conservation activities were performed in the study area. Hence, effective conservation policies and activities should be employed by local government to preserve this high butterfly diversity. www.threatenedtaxa.org The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservation globally by publishing peer-reviewed articles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All articles published in JoTT are registered under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise mentioned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of articles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

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