DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ghx3ffbzh
title: Butterfly diversity and community dynamics in the central Himalayas: Species composition, richness, abundance, and seasonal variation of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) in Bhorletar, Nepal

description: Butterflies are among the most effective bioindicators of climate change;
 however, their diversity in many rural areas of the Central Himalayas
 remains understudied. This study provides an assessment of butterfly
 diversity in the foothills of Bhorletar, Madhya Nepal Municipality,
 Lamjung District, Nepal, within an elevation range of 420–600 m. Conducted
 between July 2019 and January 2021, the survey involved opportunistic
 observations and photography of adult butterflies in their natural
 habitats, with sampling occurring six times each month. The study aimed to
 investigate the species composition, richness, and abundance of
 butterflies across the survey period and identify seasonal changes in
 species composition and richness. A total of 94,009 individuals across 226
 species, 129 genera, and six families were documented. During this study,
 Halpe arcuata Evans, 1937 and Hasora taminatus bhavara Fruhstorfer, 1911
 were recorded for the first time in Nepal. Additionally, Halpe filda
 Evans, 1949 and Ctenoptilum vasava vasava (Moore, [1866]) were recorded
 for only the second and third times, respectively, in Nepal, following a
 gap of approximately three decades. The most abundant species was Pieris
 canidia indica Evans, 1926 (Relative Abundance [RA] 2.55%), followed by
 Pseudozizeeria maha maha (Kollar, [1844]) (RA 2.13%). Species richness
 showed an annual bimodal distribution, peaking in April (180 species) and
 August (161 species), while the lowest richness was observed in January
 and February, with 68 and 75 species, respectively. Diversity indices
 included a Shannon–Wiener index of 4.71, Pielou's J index of 0.87, an
 effective number of species of 111.24, and Margalef's richness index
 of 19.65, indicating high species diversity with a well-balanced mix of
 species evenness and richness. This study offers the first peer-reviewed
 checklist of butterflies from Bhorletar, providing crucial baseline data
 for future research and conservation efforts, and highlights the
 remarkable seasonal and species diversity within the region.
description: A survey of adult butterfly fauna was conducted in the foothills
 of Bhorletar (28°09′20.1″ N, 84°14′15.1″ E ) (Fig. 1) from July 2019 to
 January 2021 within the elevational range of 420 to 600 meters. The survey
 was conducted within an approximate 3-square-kilometer area. The survey
 followed an opportunistic design mostly owing to the variable landscape of
 the study area often altered by seasonal changes. While this method may
 lack consistency (Van Strien et al. 2013), such as in following a fixed
 transect throughout the survey (Pollard 1977, 1979), we maintained
 uniformity by ensuring an equal number of observation hours each survey
 session. The survey was conducted six times each month by the first author
 covering various habitats of the study area, including riverbanks, forest
 trails, streams, clearings, hilltops, residential areas, and open
 agricultural fields. Observations were conducted between 10 am and 5 pm
 Nepal Standard Time (NPT), except when inclement weather or unforeseen
 circumstances necessitated a pause. Although butterflies could be spotted
 as soon as temperatures rose, 10 am was deemed the optimal start time for
 the survey owing to the surge in their activity around this hour (Pollard
 1977, Gupta et al. 2019); evening hours were chosen to align with the
 flight period of crepuscular skipper species (Chiba 2005, 2009). Any lost
 hours were made up on subsequent days to ensure comprehensive data
 collection. Butterflies were photographed in their natural habitats using
 a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX90V camera from 2019 to 2020, and a Canon 7D Mark
 II camera coupled with a Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens from
 2020 to 2021. All butterfly and habitat images (Figs 2–31) presented in
 this paper were photographed by the first author. The images were
 automatically geotagged by the cameras. Three species, viz.,
 <em>Acraea terpsicore </em>(Linnaeus, 1758),
 <em>Cethosia biblis tisamena</em> Fruhstorfer, 1912, and
 <em>Delias hyparete indica</em> (Wallace, 1867) could not be
 photographed well during the study and are therefore represented by
 photographs taken from alternative locations. Specimens that were
 challenging to identify were collected using a hand net. Following each
 survey, species counts and abundances were recorded on a survey sheet and
 subsequently transferred to MS Excel 2019 for data consolidation and
 monthly analysis. It is important to note that estimates for species with
 high daily counts (typically exceeding 10 individuals) may not be as
 accurate as the exact counts possible for species with lower counts (fewer
 than 10 individuals). To facilitate data presentation, abundance figures
 have been rounded as follows: tens to the nearest ten, hundreds to the
 nearest fifty, and counts exceeding 1,000 to the nearest hundred. Given
 the high butterfly abundance in our study area, there is a possibility
 that some individuals may have been counted multiple times within a day or
 month. However, to minimize this risk, efforts were made to avoid
 recounting individuals that had already been observed. Most butterflies
 were observed engaging in relatively stationary activities such as feeding
 on flowers, perching on leaves, or mud-puddling, which helped reduce the
 likelihood of multiple counts. We also made efforts to avoid recounting
 individuals that had already been observed, by noting distinctive markings
 or behaviors. For accurate identification of cryptic species, genitalia
 analysis was performed using an Olympus Stereo-microscope Model SZ2-ILST
 in the science lab of Ishaneshwor Secondary School, Bhorletar. Genitalia
 were pretreated by soaking in 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution in
 Petri dishes for a minimum of 12 hours to facilitate dissection and
 examination. Identifications were made with the help of reference
 materials such as Evans (1927, 1932, 1949, 1957), Talbot (1947), Kehimkar
 (2008, 2016), Smetacek (2011, 2015, 2017), Varshney & Smetacek
 (2015), and online resources (www.flutters.org,
 www.ifoundbutterflies.org, http://yutaka.it-n.jp). Previous distribution records in Nepal were compiled from Gough (1935), Bailey (1951), Smith (1994, 2010, 2011a, b), and Van der Poel & Smetacek (2022 first draft). Data analyses were performed using MS Excel 365; the study area map was created using QGIS software (version 3.32.3 ‘Lima’ 2024) and Google Earth (https://earth.google.com). Climatic data, comprising monthly average temperature and precipitation, were obtained from the POWER project (version 2.3.6) (NASA Power 2024) for the study period (Fig. 35). A correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between monthly species richness and two key climatic variables: average monthly temperature and precipitation (Fig. 36). The Shannon-Wiener index (H') (Shannon & Weaver 1949) (H' = -Σ (pi * ln(pi)), where Σ represents the summation over all species, pi is the proportion of individuals belonging to species i, and ln is the natural logarithm) was employed to quantify species diversity, encompassing both species richness and abundance, for each family individually and for the overall species assemblage. Additionally, Pielou’s J index (J') (Pielou 1969) (J' = H' / ln(S), where H' is the Shannon-Wiener index, and S is the total number of species) was utilized to calculate species evenness, which measures the distributional uniformity of species on a scale of 0 to 1, where 1 denotes maximum evenness. Furthermore, Margalef’s Richness Index (D) (Margalef 1958) (D = (S - 1) / ln(N), where S is the total number of species, and N is the total number of individuals) was calculated to estimate species richness, providing a simple yet effective measure of the number of species present in each family while accounting for sample size. The effective number of species (E) was determined using the formula E = e^(H'), which employs the Shannon-Wiener index to provide a more nuanced measurement of diversity (Jost 2006). Relative abundance was quantified in percentage for each species recorded, rounded to three decimal places. A local abundance index was developed by the first author to objectively assess the status and rarity of observed species, based on observational data; however, it is important to note that some species, although common in nature, may be elusive and therefore less frequently recorded during surveys. The index categorizes a species as follows: <strong>vF (Very Frequent)</strong>: Observed in every survey during its flight season. <strong>F (Frequent)</strong>: Observed more than 10 times but not in every survey during its flight season. <strong>fR (Fairly Rare)</strong>: Observed 3–10 times throughout the study. <strong>R (Rare)</strong>: Observed only twice throughout the study. <strong>vR (Very Rare)</strong>: Observed only once throughout the study.
description: # Butterfly diversity and community dynamics in the central Himalayas:
 Species composition, richness, abundance, and seasonal variation of
 butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) in Bhorletar, Nepal [Access this
 dataset on Dryad](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ghx3ffbzh) ## Description
 of the data and file structure Dataset Organization The dataset includes
 the following files: 1. NASA Power data.csv: Monthly temperature and
 precipitation data for the study period extracted from NASA Power. 2.
 Bhorletar Paper temp and ppt data.xlsx: Temperature and precipitation data
 for the study period with monthly averages and their correlation with
 species richness. 3. Paper Bhorletar analysis.xlsx: A detailed list of
 species observed during the study, along with various diversity indices
 and family-level data. 4. BUTTERFLIES_SPECIES_TOTAL.xlsx: Monthly species
 richness data for each butterfly family observed. File Descriptions 1.
 NASA Power data.csv • Description: Temperature and precipitation data for
 the study period, extracted from NASA Power
 ([https://power.larc.nasa.gov](https://power.larc.nasa.gov)). • Columns: o
 Month (string): Month of observation (Jan–Dec). o T2M (float): Temperature
 at 2 meters above ground level in degrees Celsius. o PRECTOTCORR (float):
 Precipitation in millimeters per day. o ANN (float): Average annual values
 for temperature and precipitation. 2. Bhorletar Paper temp and ppt
 data.xlsx • Description: Monthly temperature and precipitation data for
 the study period, along with averages and correlations with species
 richness. • Columns: o Month (string): Month of observation (Jan–Dec). o
 Tempt (float): Temperature in degrees Celsius. o Prct (float):
 Precipitation in millimeters per day. o Species_richness_correlation
 (float): Correlation between species richness and environmental variables
 (temperature, precipitation). 3. Paper Bhorletar analysis.xlsx •
 Description: A detailed list of species observed in the surveys, including
 their common names, scientific names, observed season, local status,
 habitats, number of individuals, and relative abundance. • Columns: o
 Species_name (string): Common name and scientific name of the butterfly
 species. o Observed_season (string): Season(s) during which the species
 was observed. o Local_status (string): Status of the species (e.g.,
 common, rare). o Habitat (string): Habitat(s) where the species was found.
 o Number_of_individuals (integer): Number of individuals of the species
 observed. o Relative_abundance (float): Relative abundance of the species.
 o Diversity_indices (float): Diversity indices calculated (e.g., Shannon
 index, Pielou’s J Index, Margalef’s richness index, Effective number of
 species). 4. BUTTERFLIES_SPECIES_TOTAL.xlsx • Description: Monthly species
 richness data for each butterfly family observed, along with the total
 species richness across all families. • Columns: o Month (string): Month
 of observation (Jan–Dec). o Family (string): Butterfly family (e.g.,
 Hesperiidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae, Riodinidae, Nymphalidae).
 o Species_richness (integer): Number of species observed in each family
 for that month. o Total_species_richness (integer): Total species richness
 across all families for that month. Variable Definitions and Units •
 Abbreviations: o T2M: Temperature above 2 meters (°C). o PRECTOTCORR:
 Corrected total precipitation (mm/day). o ANN: Average annual value. o
 Tempt: Temperature (°C). o Prct: Precipitation (mm/day). o
 Relative_abundance: The proportion of individuals of a species in relation
 to the total number of individuals observed. • Units: o Temperature is in
 degrees Celsius (°C). o Precipitation is in millimeters per day (mm/day).
 o Species abundance is a count of individuals observed. o Species richness
 is a count of the number of species observed. ## Code/Software Usage Notes
 This dataset is licensed under CC-BY 4.0. Users are encouraged to cite
 this dataset when using it in their research: K. C., Sajan; Sapkota,
 Anisha (2025). Butterfly diversity and community dynamics in the central
 Himalayas: Species composition, richness, abundance, and seasonal
 variation of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) in Bhorletar, Nepal
 [Dataset]. Dryad.
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ghx3ffbzh](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ghx3ffbzh) To view and edit the data, the following software are required: 1. Microsoft Excel (version 2013 or later) to view and edit Excel spreadsheets (.xlsx). 2. Microsoft Word (version 2013 or later) to view and edit Word documents (.docx). No additional packages or code are required to view and edit these file types. Workflow: 1. Open Microsoft Excel to view and edit Excel spreadsheets (.xlsx). 2. Open Microsoft Word to view and edit Word documents (.docx). Note: Make sure you have the correct version of Microsoft Excel and Word installed to ensure compatibility with the file formats. For further questions, please contact: [sajankc143@gmail.com](mailto:sajankc143@gmail.com) ## Sharing/Access information Works Referencing This Dataset KC, Sajan, and Anisha Sapkota. "Butterfly Diversity and Community Dynamics in the Central Himalayas: Species Composition, Richness, Abundance, and Seasonal Variation of Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) in Bhorletar, Nepal." Ecology and Evolution 14, no. 12 (2024): e70612. [https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70612](https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70612)