Diversity of Butterflies (Order: Lepidoptera) in Lata Hokkaido Jeli, Kelantan

The research focused on the diversity of butterflies (Order: study on Lepidoptera in Lata Hokkaido, Jeli, Kelantan, which is a tropical area, tried to predict the species density, intensity, and distribution in the area. Transect walks were used to sample the butterfly species for the project in systematic field surveys done for a duration of 14 days. A total of 53 butterfly species were recorded, belonging to five families: Nymphalinae, Pierinae, Papilioninae, Lycaeninae and Hesperinae. Family distribution: The most abundant family of butterflies in the study area was Pieridae with 108 total number of individuals documented. Andary and Wojtaszek (2008) described the butterfly species composition and specific species abundance; Shi and Yang (1999) evaluated the butterfly species diversities with Shannon-Wiener Index, Species Accumulative Curve (SAC), Individual Rarefaction, Pielou’s, Margalef index and the results also showed that the butterfly community had high diversities and evenness. This study on habitat preference showed general agreement and specifically suggested that the highest number of species was in the edge forest habitats, suggesting that resources such as nectar and host plants were more accessible in those areas. This paper reveals the importance of study area, Lata Hokkaido for butterfly conservation and stresses the further research and conservation efforts in this region for sheltering this rich spectrum of Lepidopteran fauna.