author(s)
AR Gaikwad, SS Shende, KS Kamble

abstract
The butterflies have great economic importance as pollinator and bio-indicate of environment. A field survey was conducted to observe the butterfly fauna and their abundance from Phaltan region by random observation during July 2013 to November 2013. The study area is located in rain shadow area of Satara district of Maharashtra and part of Western Ghats. The area having different crop pattern and various kinds of plants along with diversity of weed plants. As many as 37 species of butterflies belonging to 26 genera and 6 families were recorded from study area. There may be many more butterflies in herbs and grassland areas of this region. Among these families, Lycaenidae was the most dominant family represented by 13 species followed by Nymphalidae with 7 species and Hesperiidae with 6 species. Some beautiful butterflies includes, rose Mormon (Papilio polymnestor), crimson rose (Colitis eucharis), common Mormon (Pachliopta hector), common Jezebel (Delias eucharis), plain orange tip (Papilio polytes), small grass yellow (Eurema brigitta), double –branched crow (Euploea sylvester) are most abundant. The present study consist of recording of butterflies of Phaltan region, which may provide basic data for study of insect biodiversity of this area.