Assessment of butterfly diversity status and conservation issues in Agartala urban localities of Tripura, North East, India

Abstract

Urbanization leads to a great impact on biodiversity and butterflies (Lepidoptera) are commonly used as a bioindicator species for impact assessment throughout the globe. In order to attain the present status knowledge and conservation issues of butterflies in different impact zones across natural and semi-natural vegetation types, ecopark, residential area, commercial hub etc. in different urban localities of Agartala city, Tripura a random field study was conducted for two years. A total of 76 butterfly species belonging to 6 families and 51 genera were recorded with seasonal variation in their abundance. The family Nymphalidae was dominant in terms of species composition with 28 species and Riodinidae was least one with only single representative. This is the first urban butterfly study in Tripura highlighting present diversity status with some conservation issues like anthropogenic stress, mitigation measures etc. The present report may be useful for environmental impact assessment study in future developmental activities in the study area.