Diversity of butterflies in four different forest types in Mount Slamet, Central Java, Indonesia

Abstract

The study was carried out in four different habitat types (secondary forest, plantation forest, agroforest, and tourist area) on the southern slope of Mount Slamet, Baturaden Forest, Central Java, Indonesia from July 2009 to August 2010. A total of 99 species belonging to eight families showed a dominance of Nymphalidae (30 species) followed by Pieridae (17 species), Lycaenidae (15 species), Papilionidae (13 species), Satyridae (11 species), Danaidae (6 species), Amathusidae (4 species), and Riodinidae (3 species). From the 99 butterflies species found on the southern slope of Mount Slamet, 32 species (30%) were specific tothe forest, whereas 63 species (60.6%) were common to all habitats sampled, and the last 10 species (9.4%) were endemics species with one protected species (Troides helena). The present results was showed that butterflies diversity, abundance, and endemism is still relatively high, representing 18% of all butterfly species found in Java and supporting 71.4% endemic species found in Central Java. The plantation forest were contributed the highest diversity and abundance of butterfly species, whereas the agroforest showed the lowest diversity, abundance, and endemism. Among all habitats surveyed, the secondary forest represented the most suitable habitat for biodiversity conservation and maintenance of rare and endemic species.