Diversity of Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea) of the South-Eastern Corner of Tsaghkunyats Mountain Ridge, Republic of Armenia

Document Type : Short communication, English

Authors

1 Department of Biology, Khachatur Abovian Armenian State Pedagogical University, Yerevan, Armenia

2 Department of Invertebrate’s Ecology, Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology, Yerevan, Armenia

10.22117/jesi.2025.367145.1665

Abstract

A study was conducted in the surroundings of Karenis village (South-Eastern corner of Tsaghkunyats Mountain Ridge) to document the composition of Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea species in the area. The specimens were collected in the spring, summer, and early autumn of 2021-2023. During the research, 149 specimens were collected, representing 40 species, belonging to five families. The findings indicated that most of these species were from the family Nymphalidae, while the fewest species represent Papilionidae and Hesperiidae, respectively. Nymphalidae was the most abundant, likely due to their ability to feed on a variety of plants. The rarest species was Melitaea persea (Kollar, 1850), and the most abundant was Pieris brassica (Linnaeus, 1758). Diversity indices were calculated for identified families. Accordingly, the Shannon–Wiener index (H′) value for the area was 3.521 in total, while different values recorded for each family were 0.637 (Papilionidae), 2.075 (Pieridae), 1.061 (Hesperiidae), 2.235 (Lycaenidae) and 2.589 (Nymphalidae). Although the study site showed decent butterfly diversity, it is among the poorer spots in the mountain range in terms of species richness. It seems that due to the rapid rate of urbanization and increasing population, species adapted to urban environments characterized by higher mobility and lower habitat specificity are prevalent in Karenis.

Graphical Abstract

Diversity of Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea) of the South-Eastern Corner of Tsaghkunyats Mountain Ridge, Republic of Armenia

Keywords

Main Subjects

© 2025 by Author(s), Published by the Entomological Society of Iran

This Work is Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International Public License

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