Endemism-based butterfly conservation: insights from a study in Southern Western Ghats, India

Abstract Background The Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot in India harbours a high percentage of endemic species due to its unique and diverse habitats. These species which cannot survive elsewhere due to their specialised habitat requirements are at high risk from climatic and anthropogenic disturbances. The butterfly fauna of the region although well documented has not been investigated intensively at local scales. In this study, we present information on species presence within 10 km × 10 km grid cells (n= 30; area=3000 km2) of 94 butterfly species in the Western Ghats region. The data on the species distribution within these grids which included three wildlife sanctuaries and four forest divisions was mapped. Indicator analysis was performed in R using multipatt function in indispecies package to determine species associated with sites/site combinations. The corrected weighted endemism indices of the study grids were estimated. Results The data collected over a 4-year period comprised of 393 records of 60 endemic species belonging to five families observed along 102 transects. Troides minos was the most widespread species occuring in 19 grids. Seventeen species indicative of sites and site combinations were obtained, of which Cirrochroa thais, Papilio paris tamilana, Papilio helenus daksha, Parthenos sylvia virens and Mycalesis patnia were significant. The highest corrected weighted endemism index was observed in grid 25 (14.44) followed by grids 24 (12.06) and 19 (11.86). Areas harbouring unique and range restricted species were Parambikulam WLS/TR: Kuthirakolpathy, Pupara, Kalyanathi, Top slip and Muthalakuzhy; Peechi-Vazhani WLS: Ayyapankadu; Thrissur FD: Chakkapara and Vellakarithadam; Nenmara FD: Karikutty, Pothumala and Nelliampathy estate; Vazhachal FD: Poringalkuthu dam, Meenchal and Vazhachal. Conclusions The study area which covers 2.14% of the Western Ghats hotspot harbours almost 63.82% of the region’s endemic butterfly species making this particular region crucial for butterfly conservation and management. Studying the phylogenetic endemism of the butterflies, identification of microrefugia and testing the mountain geobiodiversity hypothesis with respect to butterflies are the suggested approaches to be adopted for fine-tuning research and conservation of butterflies in this fragile hotspot.