Jornal de Biodiversidade e Espécies Ameaçadas

Butterfly Diversity and Distribution of Southwestern Ethiopia. In Case of Chebera Churchura National Park and Its Surrounding Farmlands

Abstract

Gebreegziabher Hailay and Emana Getu

A total of 79 butterfly species from 3801 individuals were recorded. The riverine forest had the greatest diversity, with 54 species and 1611 individuals, and the least, the mosaic habitat, with 23 species and 659 individuals. The Shannon and Simpson indices were highest in the riverine, followed by wooded grassland and the mosaic habitat. There was a significant difference across land use types with Kruskal-Wallis of H=19.89 and p=1.274 E-05. The butterfly diversity varied with the month of sampling, such that January had the highest, followed by February, and the lowest was recorded in June. In riverine forest, the highest was recorded in January and the least was in June, while wooded grassland had the highest in January and the least was in March. In the mosaic habitat, January was the most abundant month, and May was the least abundant. Jaccard’s index of similarity indicated the lowest similarity was found between the riverine forest and the mosaic habitat. The number of butterflies showed a strong positive correlation with minimum and maximum temperatures and a strong negative correlation with average precipitation. The recent study found an important habitat for butterflies, but additional research is needed to find new species.