A preliminary study on butterfly fauna (Order: Lepidoptera) from Mandi hills of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

The present preliminary study was conducted to explore the Butterfly fauna (Order: Lepidoptera) from Mandi hills of Himachal Pradesh 2015-2016. In total 35 species of butterflies belonging to 23 genera and 8 families were collected from Mandi hills of Himachal Pradesh. The results of present study revealed that maximum number of species belonged to family Pieridae (11 species), followed by Nymphalidae (9 species), Danaidae (6 species), Papilionidae (5 species), Satyridae, Lycaenidae, Erycinidae and Hesperiidae (1each). Percentage composition of each family revealed that Pieridae constituted around (11%) of the total butterfly fauna, followed by Nymphalidae (9%), Danaidae (6%), Papilionidae (5%), Satyridae, Lycaenidae, Erycinidae and Hesperiidae (1% each).