Diversity of lepidopterans in Karnatak University Campus, Dharwad

The present study was undertaken to document the lepidopteran diversity within the Karnatak University campus, Dharwad. The survey at three different sampling sites were carried out using aerial net method for about seven months. Thereafter revealed the occurrence of 48 lepidopteran species belonging to 11 families. Further the analysis of data shared that the family Nymphalidae was the most dominant one with 13 species, followed by Erebidae (9) and Papilionidae (6) family whereas Pterophoridae and Uraniidae families represented single species each and were rarely seen during the study. When the different study sites were considered, the botanical garden and flower garden had highest diversity of lepidopteran species compared to other sites within the campus.