Species Diversity of Fruit-feeding Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in Adis Buan, Bau, Sarawak

Species diversity of nymphalid butterflies is one of the most studied topics as the nymphalids are easily sampled and identified. Ten days of field sampling; five continuous days in two sampling periods, were conducted in Adis Buan, Bau. By using 20 baited traps and two aerial nets, 186 individuals representing 36 species of nymphalid butterfly were recorded. The most diverse subfamily was Satyrinae (H’: 2.399) and the most abundant species was Mycalesis anapita fucentia with a total of 48 individuals. Satyrinae was also recorded with the highest species richness between subfamilies comprising 24 species of total butterfly sampled which could probably due to their unique characteristic as the slow flying butterfly and being attracted to the shady areas. Shannon diversity index revealed that the diversity index of nymphalid butterfly collected in November 2018 was significantly higher than that in January 2019. In this study, documentation on nymphalid butterfly in heath forest was conducted but further documentation would be recommended as there is still lack of previous studies especially in heath forest