Abstract
The butterflies are beautiful creature of nature with great economic importance as pollinator as well as bio-indicator of environments. The present survey was conducted to determine the biology and distribution of butterfly fauna of Hazara University, Garden Campus, Mansehra, Pakistan during March-June 2012. The study area was divided into 3 quadrates, i.e., residential area, administration area and main campus. A total of 170 specimens were collected, 10 species were identified belonging to 3 different families and falling in 8 genera. The species were identified. The painted lady, Cynthia cardui (Linnaeus); blue pansy, Junonia orithya Linnaeus; and plain tiger, Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus) were belonging to family Nymphalidae. The lime butterfly, Papilio demoleus Linnaeus and com-mon mormon, P. polytes Linnaeus were belonging to family Papilionidae. The dark clouded yellow, Colias croceus (Geoffroy); common grass yellow, Eumera hecab (Linnaeus); Murree green-veined white, Pieris ajaka Moore; green-veined white, P. napi (Linnaeus) and Bath white, Pontia daplidice (Linnaeus) were belonging to family Pieridae. The body sizes of E. hecabe and J. orithya were minimum, i.e., 1.4 cm (n = 4 - 13), however, D. chrysippus was maximum, i.e., 2.5 cm (n = 1). The wingspan of E. hecabe was minimum, i.e., 3.7 cm (n = 4), however, P. polytes was maximum, i.e., 7.5 cm (n = 1). Proper preventive measures should be taken into consideration in order to minimize the natural habitat loss, as butterfly fauna is dependent upon proper environmental conditions.
Highlights
In 2001, the Governor, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) took the dauntless step of establishing Hazara University in the Dhodial [15]
The present study was conducted to determine the biology of the butterflies of Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan with their status and distribution
Shah et al [39] made a survey of Kohat and collected 10 species belonging to only family Pieridae from seven different localities over a period of 7 months during 1999
Summary
Butterflies are the most efficient pollinators of flowers in addition to moths and bees. They help in production of food crops, seeds and fruits, they are essential for the survival of man and animals [1]. Mouth parts of a butterfly are adapted for sucking. Caterpillar has well developed silk glands [2]. The antennae of butterflies are either slender or knobbed at the tip and in the family Hesperiidae (Skippers) are hooked at the tip. In some butterflies genera such as Taractrothera and common snout butterfly Libythea carinenta (Cramer) the knob is hollowed underneath [3]
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