Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) in the Arboretum of Alagoas State, Brazil / Borboletas (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) no Arboretum de Alagoas, Brasil

Abstract

The deforestation of areas due to the expansion of cities and urban zones have directly affected natural habitats, causing negative changes, biodiversity loss and reducing populations size of native flora and fauna. In this context, butterflies are considered excellent organisms for monitoring environmental quality as they are involved in extremely specific ecological relationships with their habitats. Thus, this research aimed to carry out a survey of the butterfly (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) fauna in the Arboretum of Alagoas State. Weekly samplings were carried out from September 2019 to March 2020. During 140 sampling hours, 415 individuals were collected, being observed the occurrence of 44 species distributed in six families. The low number of recorded taxa reflects an expected poor richness as, in general, the closer the analyzed fragment is to an urban area, the smaller the number of species. Nymphalidae was the most well represented family, being recorded seven subfamilies. Based on these results, it was possible to state that the butterfly fauna in the Arboretum of Alagoas State comprises species commonly found in anthropic environments and/or areas under high anthropogenic influence.