Assemblage of butterflies in diverse ecosystems of Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, India

In the present study, pollard walk method was followed to estimate the diversity and assemblage of butterflies in diverse ecosystems of Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu during March 2022 to February 2023. A total of 60 species and 44 genera were identified under five families viz., Papilionidae (8 species), Pieridae (9), Nymphalidae (20), Lycaenidae (16) and Hesperiidae (7) were observed in the diverse ecosystems. The highest number of species were recorded in horticultural ecosystem (59 species) followed by semi-urban ecosystem (40) and agricultural ecosystem (38). The highest values for diversity indices of Simpson index (λ) (0.971), Shannon-Wiener (H1) (3.713), Margalef index (8.610), Menhinick (2.118) were recorded in horti-ecosystem and this higher index values indicate that the species are more diverse in the hortiecosystem. The agricultural intensification decreases the butterfly fauna and unexpectedly, the semi-urban ecosystem which includes avenue trees, kitchen garden, ornamental flower plants, parks/ lawns serves a better habitat for butterflies. Therefore, the Evenness_e^H/S (0.805) and Equitability-J (0.941) were maximum in the semi-urban ecosystem. Berger Parker index (0.076) was maximum inAgro-ecosystem, which shows the community is dominated by the most common butterfly pest species in the rice crop.