Information on the extinction of butterflies from Ethiopia

Abstract

Insects are said to be the most successful organism on earth because of their abundance. Auto of the 1.6+million animals known to science 1+ million are insects which are over two third of the described animals so far. Of over 30 insect orders, the order Lepidoptera is the 2^nd abundant order comprising about 180,000 insect species.  Lepidoptera is divided in two major groups: butterflies and moths. The former species is diurnal, and the latter is nocturnal. The order comprises both beneficial and harmful insects. Some species from the butterflies’ group are good pollinators of plants. Butterflies are beautiful which as a result people use them to decorate their houses by hanging dead butterflies on the wall of their houses, which is very common in Europe. For tourist attraction some countries in Africa like Kenya have what is known as a butterfly farm. In Ethiopia up to recent time, most butterflies present in other tropical countries were abundantly present. In Addis Ababa and its surroundings where there are parks, forests, road sides and hotel compounds, it was very traditional to look at six to seven types of butterflies with different colors and sizes flies in the sky. However, this days you do not find any at all times of the year. Similar observations were made in Jimma, Adama, Bishoftu, Nekemete and Asosa. From this non-existence or diminishing number of butterflies, I concluded that butterflies extinction in Ethiopia become a reality. Hence, action should be taken to bring back butterflies to Ethiopia after compiling data on causes for the extinction.