RESEARCH ARTICLE

Butterflies and Their Conservation Status on the Campus of Sant Guru Ghasidas Government P.G. College Kurud, Chhattisgarh, India

H. N. Tandan¹*, Chitramani Shrimali¹, Gulab Chand², Ravi Naidu³, Gulshan Kumar Sahu¹, Tanuja¹, Akanksha Chandrakar¹, Swati Tandan⁴

¹S.G.G. Govt. P.G. College, Kurud, Chhattisgarh, 493663, India.

²Govt. Danteshwari Girls P.G. College, Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, 494001, India.

³C.R.O.W. Foundation, Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, 494001, India.

⁴Govt. H. S. S. Kurud, Chhattisgarh, 493663, India.

*Corresponding Author Email- tandanhn79@gmail.com

Introduction

Butterflies are brightly colored and day-flying insects (Pohl, et al. 2018) widely spread all over the world, ranging from tropical to polar regions. Worldwide, the estimated number of butterfly species is about 19,238 (Heppner, 1998), with approximately 17,950 species documented in the early 20^th century (Copinear, 2008). India possesses a rich diversity of butterflies, with 1,641 species which accounts for aproximately 9.50% of the world's butterflies species (Varshney 2006).

The Centrally located Indian state, Chhattisgarh also hosts a rich diversity of butterfly, approximately 171 species, documented over the past two decades (Chandra et al., 2007; Chandra and Sharma, 2009; Chandra et al., 2014; Dubey et al. 2015; Sisodia, 2019; Sisodia and Kshirsagar, 2020; Tandan et al. 2020, 2021a & b; Nihalani, 2021; Chand et al. 2022; Nihlani et al. 2022; Jangde et al. 2023). This diversity is found across various habitats, including college campuses and residential aeras. The Present study also evidences the richness of butterflies within campus of Sant Guru Ghasidas Government Post Graduate College (Fig. – 1) from 2018 to 2022.the study compiled a checklist of 56 butterfly species of five families.

Figure– 1: The Study area

Methodology

We used Cannon D-1300, Nikon D-7000 and mobile camera to documenting butterflies on the college campus. Field guides authored by Smetacek (2016) and Kehimkar (2016) aided in thefield identification, and the species were further identified with the help of Evans (1932); Wynter Blyth (1957); Haribal (1992) & Smetacek (2017). Confirmation were made through online assistance from the Butterflies of India website www.ifoundbutterflies.org.

Figure– 2: Dominance of family (Species wise)

Figure– 3: WPA (1972) Status of butterflies in College Campus.

Observation

A checklist of 56 species of butterflies was made (Table - 01) after observation from 2018 to 2022. This study was undertaken as part of the laboratory activities within the postgraduate curriculum aligned with the syllabus of Pt. Ravi Shankar Shukla University Raipur.

Result and Discussion

The present study bring that the college campus has rich biodiversity of butterflies with 56 species. Notably the family Lycaenidae, with 21 species and family Nymphalidae, with 20 species have dominated over rest of three families. Family Pieridae is represented with 06 species, while Hesperiidae with 05 species and Papilionoidae with only 04 species on the campus (Fig. – 2 & 3).

During our observation, we recorded Freyeriaputli (Kollar, [1844] – Black-spotted Grass Jewel (Fig.- 4 & 5) within the campus. This was a recent significant inclusion in in the list of butteflies identified in Chhattisgarh by Tandanet al. in their study published in 2021. The present study also reveals that the habitat of college campus needs to be conserved because we recorded nine species of butterflies from the campus which have been legally protected under Schedule - I (Table -2; Fig.- 6, 7 & 8) and Schedule - II (Table – 3; Fig. - 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 & 14) of wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972.However, following a recent amendment in the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, now known as the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act of 2022, which was passed in Lok Sabha on August 2, 2021, all the nine protected butterfly species have been removed from the schedules of this amended act.

Table – 1: List of Butterflies of College Campus observed during 2018 - 2022

Table – 2: Butterflies observed in college campus, legally Protected under schedule – I of WPA 1972.

* Species have been removed from the schedules of amended act Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act of 2022.

Table – 3: Butterflies observed in college campus, legally Protected under schedule – II of WPA 1972.

* Species have been removed from the schedules of amended act Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act of 2022.

Figure– 4: Small Grass Jewel (Underwing) © H N Tandan,   Figure– 5: Small Grass Jewel (Upperwing) © G Sahu     

Figure– 6: Common Pierrot © H N Tandan                   Figure– 7: Striped Tiger © H N Tandan         

Figure– 8: Danaid Eggfly © H N Tandan                        Figure– 9: Commn Guava Blue © H N Tandan              

Figure–10: Common Line Blue © H N Tandan                Figure– 11: Pointed Ciliate Blue © H N Tandan         

Figure– 12: Pea Blue © H N Tandan                                Figure– 13: Gram Blue © H N Tandan           

Figure– 14: Common Baron © H N Tandan