Assessment of butterfly diversity in eagle owl gully of Amurum Forest Reserve, Jos East local government area, Plateau State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Butterfly diversity at the Eagle Owl Gully, Amurum Forest Reserve, Jos East, Plateau State was investigated by the use of sweep nets along transects in two types of habitats namely protected and unprotected. A total of three hundred and ninety-four butterflies belonging to thirty-three genera and seven families were identified in this study. Members of the families Lycaenidae 164 (41.6%); Pieridae 116 (29.4%) and Satyridae 73 (18.6%) were more dominant than Acraenidae 1 (0.3%); Danaidae 4 (1.0%) and Papiliolnidae 5 (1.3%); which were scarce in the study area. Abundant species of butterfly recorded in this study include Ypthima 62 (15.7%); Hypokopelates 45 (11.4%) and Eurema 45 (11.4%). The number of butterflies in the protected habitat 230 (58.4%) were more than those in the unprotected habitat 164 (41.6%), though not statistically significant (K-S = 0.139; P> 0.05). The distribution of butterfly genera in the two habitats showed a significant difference (K-S = 0.000; P<0.05). This suggests the effect of grazing and agriculture activities on the ecosystem.

Keywords: Butterfly, Diversity, Protected habitats, transects, Amurum forest.

The Zoologist Vol. 5 2007: pp. 33-38