© 2021 JETIR September 2021, Volume 8, Issue 9 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162) JETIR2109441 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org e346 BUTTERFLY DIVERSITY IN BHANDUP (WEST), MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA. Sunita Chahar 1 , Sneha Dubey 2 and Niketa Panchal 3 1 Associate Professor, 1, 2- UG Students of B.Sc Department of Botany, N.E.S. Ratnam College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Bhandup (West), Mumbai, Maharashtra,India sunita.chahar@ratnamcollege.edu.in Abstract : A study of butterfly diversity was carried out in the Bhandup (west),Mumbai Maharashtra. The area selected for the study was N.E.S.Ratnam College campus and Kukreja residential complex. Both the complexes are situated in highly populated suburb of Mumbai, but these two being the oldest establishments have more than 200 wild and cultivated plants. The study was carried out from October 2019 to February 2021 except for the rainy seasons. A total of 39 species of butterflies belonging to five families, Hesperiidae, Lycaenidae, Nymphalidae, Papilionidae and Pieridae were recorded. Nymphalidae family is the dominating family with 14 species spotted in this period of study. The dominant butterflies in the area are Euploea core, Moduza procris, Pachliopta hector, Rathinda amor, Udaspes folus, Delias ecucharis, Acraea violae, Pareronia hippia and Papilio polymnestor. The area has cultivated and wild plants which serve as host plant for laying the eggs and nectar plants for nectar. The dominant plants in these two complexes are Stachytarpheta indica, Lantana camara, Mangifera indica, Citrus limonia, Achras sapota, Ixora coccinea, Vinca rosea, several species of Tagetus, Cosmos. The wild flora is dominated by species of Cleome, Phyllanthus, Alternanthera, Capparis, Vernonia, Clitoria and several species of grasses.There are trees older than 70 years like Ficus benghalensis, Ficus religiosa, Couropita guanensis, Tamarindus indica, Caesalpinia sps,etc. Index Terms - Butterfly diversity, Stachytarpheta. I. INTRODUCTION Butterflies enhance earth’s beauty due to their diverse colors on their wings (Sparks,1997) [7] . Due to their beauty and ecological significance butterflies are a well-studied group throughout the world (Ghazoul,2002) [2] . Butterflies are a vital part of the ecosystem, and they are the ideal population of organisms for exploration of insect phenology because they are relatively conspicuous and are of more interest to humans than most other insects because of their size and color structure which leads to observation and collection (Sparks,1997) [7] . Among insects, butterflies are the most studied group (Ramesh,2010) [6] . They are essential part of any natural ecosystem as pollinators and energy transferors from herbivore to the next trophic level (Sreekumar,2010) [8] . Many species of butterflies are strictly seasonal, preferring only particular habitats (Kunte,2006) [4] . Because of their diversity, wide distribution, specificity to vegetation type, rapid response to perturbation, taxonomic tractability, significant abundance, and ease of sampling, they are considered useful