Influence of Habitat Fragmentation on Butterfly Diversity in Dinghu Mountain Nature Reserve

The effects of habitat fragmentation caused by the increasing human disturbance as the vigorous development on the population of the butterflies were investigated in the Dinghu Mountain Nature Reserve. Based on diversity of the butterflies in Dinghushan from different areas (buffer area, core area and tourist area), we recorded 144 species which belong to 9 families and 90 genera, and the Nymphalidae had the most species (35 species, 2431%). Ninteen protected species, including 4 endemic species each of the Papilionidae, Satyridae families and the Vanessa Branch, and 11 species of garden pests mainly belong to Hesperiidae (3 endemic species) were recorded. The results show that few species of butterflies and only one endemic species were recorded in the tourist area, and their host plants are Hypericum. More species in protected areas (34 endemic species) were recorded with the highest diversity in core area, and their main host are grasses. Pantoporia sandaka, the main parasitic on legumes, has the most abundant host plants. We also recorded the species of the Red List such as Lamproptera curia, Eurema ada and Discophora timora from the core area. Our results suggest that the stronger interference and the higher habitat fragmentation, the fewer species of butterfly; but there is no significant relationship between altitude and species.