Seasonality and Comparative Study of Butterfly Fauna in the Mining Area of Tummalapalle Surroundings and in Palakondalu Forest area, YSR Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India
Sowbagya *
Department of Zoology, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India.
S.P. Venkata Ramana
Department of Zoology, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Evaluation of butterfly biodiversity at various habitat types in the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh State - India, conducted between mid-August 2023 and mid-September 2024. Overall, 332 out of 82 species of butterflies from five families were identified. Hesperiidae and Papilionidea were the least diverse families, while Nymphalidae was the most diverse. In Kadapa District, the habitats of the Tummalapalle mining area and the Palakondalu forest area had different butterfly diversity and richness. At 54 species and 235 individuals, the Palakondalu forest habitat had the highest diversity and richness of butterflies, while the Tummalapalle mining area habitat had the lowest, with 28 species and 97 individuals. The Palakondalu habitat had a greater Simpson diversity index (0.283) compared to the habitat in the Tummalapalle mining area (0.268). The Tummalapalle mining area habitat has a higher evenness index of butterflies (0.377) than the Palakondalu forest environment (0.329). With 0.217 and 0.350, respectively, the evenness and equitability index were highest in the habitat of the Tummalapalle mining region.
Keywords: Biodiversity, Butterfly fauna, comparative study, diversity, habitats, monitoring