Diversity of Butterflies and their Relationship with Visiting Plant Species in the Manang Region, Central Nepal

Abstract

A detailed survey of butterflies was conducted during June and August, 2014 in 15different sites ranging altitude from 1600 m above sea level (asl) to 3600 m asl. Total of57species belonging to 8 families and 39genera were recorded. The Nymphalidae andSatyridaewere the predominant families of the study sites contributing 12 (20.69% ofeach) species where the families Hesperiidae and Acreidae were the least observed families contributing 1 (1.72 %of each) butterfly species. The butterflies that showed higher occurrences were Pieris canidia,Aglais cashmerensis, Issoria issaea, Vanessaindica, V. caurdi, Colias fieldii, Aulocera brahaminis, Celastrina huegeli, Lampidesboeticus, Albulina galathea and Polyommatus stoliczkana.Among themPieris canidiawas the most dominant species recorded at all sites. Also, 17 butterfly species were recordednew addition for this region.In addition to diversityof butterflies, the altitud inalchanges of butterfly species of present data were compared to historical data from 1982.Generalized Linear Model (GLM) with Poisson distribution and log link function was used to find factors affecting diversity of butterfly species. Principle Correspondence Analysis (PCA) was applied to generate the relationship between plants and butterfly species. It was found that shrubby land, open land, distance from the water bodies, slope,time of sampling and human settlement significantly affect butterfly species richness(P˂0.05). However, there was independent ofaltitude(P=0.36141)and agricultural land(P=0.498). Most of the butterfly species were observed preferring the herbs, shrubsplants and few species were found at cultivated vegetation and garden. Only the speciesGonepteryx aspasiawas recorded preferring tree vegetation. The result also showed the15speciesof butterfly had altitudinal changedat leastby 100 meters over the 30 years’t imeperiod. Due to the habitat loss by different developmental activities butterfly speciesare subjected to in great risk disappearance. Hence proper management should be brought about to save them. Key words:Manang Region, Butterflies, Plant Species, Environmental Variables