Status of butterfly species in Pallassena village, Palakkad district, Kerala
N Narmadha and Dr. K Varunprasath
Butterflies are one of the most important assemblages of insects that act as biodiversity indicators as well as nature’s gardeners. The current survey was carried out to document the butterfly species diversity along with abundance in Pallassana Village, Palakkad district, Kerala from September 2017 to January 2018. A total of 303 individuals with 57 varieties, under five families of butterflies were recorded. Among the families, Nymphalidae consist of 27 species followed by Pieridae 12 species, Papilionidae 10 species, Lycanidae 7 species and one Hesperiidae species were observed. Among these families maximum abundance in Herbs and shrubs habitat with 29 species followed by grassland includes 17 species, agricultural with 9 species. Based on the IUCN list, 26 common species, 16 very common, 12 uncommon species and one rare species were recorded. According to monthly wise abundance, maximum of 80 species in the month of January where as 4 species in September were observed during the study.