Rhopalocera in modified landscape: The Mizoram University Campus, Aizawl, Mizoram, India (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea)

Abstract

A survey for the diversity of Rhopalocera at the Mizoram University (MZU) campus was carried out in selected areas with different habitat types. Pollard walks sampling method was adopted, and 16 randomly selected permanent line transects were established in three different sites. The length of the studied transacts was 500 m and the breadth was a region covered by visual observation on both sides from the point of observation along the length. Survey was carried out during September to November 2016 and from February to May 2017. A total of 3,618 individuals of 78 species of these insects belonging to six families were recorded. Maximum number of species recorded belonged to the family Nymphalidae while the family Riodinidae is represented by one species only. Three rare species namely, Parthenos sylvia (Cramer, 1775), Elymnias patna (Westwood, 1851), and Tanaecia lepidea (Butler, 1868) were also recorded. Another consequential aspect in this study is the record of Euploea midamus (Linnaeus, 1758), Castalius rosimon (Fabricius, 1775), Jamides allectus (Grose-Smith, 1894), Euploea mulciber (Cramer, [1777]), and Polytremis discreta (Elwes & Edwards, 1897), which are categorized into different conservation schedules of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 with amendment made in 2022. Nymphalidae is the most diverse (H = 3.295) and dominant species (D = 22.727) while evenness is highest for the family Pieridae (E = 0.973) and diversity, dominance, and evenness (H = 1.818, D = 5.646, E = 0.826) is least for the family Lycaenidae. This study manifest that the modified habitats are also important repository for biodiversity which also need attention for conservation