A Preliminary Study of Butterfly Fauna of Tehsil and District Chitral , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan (original) (raw)

Due to delicate charisma and eye catching color the butterflies are called “insects of the sun” which are found everywhere in the world having about 17,200 species. This preliminary study was conducted from September 2014 to December 2014 to explore the butterfly fauna of Tehsil and District Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During the study, 15 butterfly species were collected which were belonging to order Lepidoptera, four families, including Nymphalidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae and Papilionidae, five subfamilies including Nymphalinae, Pierinae, Coliadinae, Coliaclinae and Papilioninae and 11 Genera. Nymphalidae was the most abundant family represented by 8 butterfly species consisting of Junonia orithya, Junonia hierta, Junonia iphita, Junonia almana, Aphantopus hyperantus, Danus chrysippus, Cercyonis cardui and Cynthia sthenele. The family Pieridae was embodied to five species, namely Pieris canidia, Colotis amata, Eurema hecabe, Catopsilia ponoma and Colias croceus. The family Lycaenid...