DIVERSITY, DISTRIBUTION AND CURRENT STATUS OF BUTTERFLIES IN MOUNT KORHOGO AREA (NORTHERN COTE D'IVOIRE)

Butterflies are affected both by abiotic and biotic factors so that they are considered very important ecological indicators. The diversity, the distribution and the status of butterflies of Mount Korhogo area were studied from August to December 2018. Butterflies were captured at 5 sites following a 100m transect at each site from 09 am to 11 am and 03 pm to 05 pm (local time) with a sweep net. The frequency of occurrence of the species has been determined. During this study, 24 taxa of butterflies belonging to 12 Genus and 3 Families were harvested. Pieridae and Nymphalidae were the most diverse families. Five taxa were ubiquitous. They were harvested in all the sites. These were the African migrant Catopsilia florella (Fabricius), the common grass yellow Eurema hecabe solifera (Butler), the angled grass yellow Eurema desjardinsii regularis (Butler), the hilara dotted border Mylothris hilara hilara (Karsch) and the dancing acraea Acraea serena serena (Fabricius). Three species were very frequent at all sites. These were Catopsilia florella Eurema hecabe solifera and Acrea serena serena. Based on their abundance, Catopsilia florella was the very common specie. The highest value of Shannon index and Pielou Equitability were obtained in the family Pieridae. On the other hand, family Nymphalidae recorded the highest Margalef Richness and Berger-Parker Dominance Indices. The butterfly settlement of the different sites, therefore, has a high degree of similarity.