A preliminary Checklist of Butterfly Fauna from Bongaigaon District of Assam, India

Butterflies are an excellent biological indication of the health of the environment and the quality of their habitat. Bongaigaon district is situated in the north bank of mighty river Brahmaputra in western part of Assam, India. The area are mostly plain with traces of lofty green hills, moist deciduous forests, natural wetlands, rivers, etc, all combine to give it a impressive grandeur and is famous for endangered and endemic primate Golden Langur (Trachypithecus geei). The diverse flora and fauna in the forests of the district makes it an important location for conservation and research on the region’s biodiversity. Therefore a preliminary study was undertaken to observe the butterfly diversity with species richness based on observation and sighting records from January to December, 2024 in three (03) forest areas of Bongaigaon district, Assam, India. Transect counting method was used to track the population trend of butterflies for one year. A checklist has been created based on research on the diversity of butterflies in the study area. During the study period, 46 butterfly species from 5 families in the order Lepidoptera were identified. With 19 species, the family Nymphalidae was the most prevalent among them, followed by the families Lycaenidae (11), Papilionidae (6), Pieridae (6), and Hesperiidae (4). As not a single study was carried out on the current population, distribution, diversity and occurrence with habitat variability of the particular area, the study will promote and throw light for future studies. Additionally, it will highlight specific forest regions in the Bongaigaon district as a resource of biodiversity conservation practices.