Survey of swallowtail butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)
at Several National Parks of Sumatra
Dahelmi, Siti Salmah and Henny Herwina
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Andalas University, Padang 25163
Indonesia
Abstract
The Papilionidae or swallowtail butterflies are generally recorded as the most
spectacular family of Lepidoptera. The purpose of this study is provide taxonomic
biodiversity (number of species) of swallowtail butterflies and their host plants at
several National Parks of Sumatra. Surveys of swallowtail butterflies are conducted
using a‘ Pollard walk’ method. Butterflies were sampled by using hand net. A total of
361 swallowtail butterflies representing 31 species in 10 genera were recorded during
the study period. Three species such as Papilio diopanthus, P. forbesi dan P. paris are
restricted at high altitude. Nine species of host plants and twelve species of plants as
nectar sources for adults were recorded along transect routes.
Key words: Butterflies, Papilionidae, host plants, National Park, Sumatra
Introduction
Butterfly communities in Indonesia are diverse with many endemic species (e.g. 44% in
the Papilionidae), most or all of which are dependent to some extent upon closed forest
(Collins and Morris, 1985). Among many tropical countries with high biodiversity,
Indonesia is also known as the country with both the richest fauna (121 species) and the
highest species endemism (53 species) of swallowtail butterflies in the world (Collins
and Smith, 1995), Sumatra contains 47 species (Holloway et al., 2001).
Tropical rainforests has extremely high canopy crown and many butterflies live
there. It is hence difficult to survey whole butterfly assemblage, especially small
butterflies such as Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae, in the tropical rainforests. Owing to this
difficulty, Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae were often excluded from the research (Hill et
al., 2001; Hamer et al., 2003). On the contrary, Papilionidae, known as swallowtail
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butterflies, is conspicuous due to their large body size, which makes field survey easy.
In addition, the swallowtails had the highest diversity in the tropics and many of them
are listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List in Indonesia (Collins and Smith, 1995).
Therefore, swallowtails are the best material for the study of ecology and conservation
in Indonesia. Butterfly population and assemblage has not been well studied in Sumatra
(Salmah et al., 1997; Dahelmi, 2002), despite the fact that Indonesia has huge butterfly
diversity and that such information is fundamental for understanding the characteristics
of the local butterfly assemblages. Species of Papilionidae are considered easy to study;
they are strongly attracted to flower patches or wet sand, are of large size, and are easy
to mark without causing trauma. The aim of this study is to provide taxonomic
biodiversity (number of species), through field collections of swallowtail butterflies
occurring at National Parks of Sumatra.
Material and Methods
(i) Study areas
This study was carried out at nine National Parks of Sumatra (Figure 1). The principal
areas visited are forest interior, urban habitat, and forest gaps. Locations of each site
visited are presented in Table 1.
(ii) Sampling of adult butterflies
Surveys of swallowtail butterflies are conducted using a‘Pollard walk’ method (Pollard
1977). Samplings were done along two transect routes (at least 500 m in length). Two
observers walk together at a steady pace along the routes, and all swallowtail butterflies
within approximately 5 m both sides are captured with hand net (diameter of 45 cm),
which was fitted with a conical cotton net 80 cm long from the mount to tip of the tail.
All swallowtail butterflies that seen in this radius are also recorded. Surveys are
conducted between 10.00 am and 13.00 pm local time, corresponding to peak activity,
2
Table 1. Study areas and collection sites of butterfly at National Parks of Sumatra
National Park
Gunung Leuser
Batang Gadis
Kerinci Seblat
Tesso Nilo
Bukit Tiga Puluh
Bukit Dua Belas
Bukit Barisan Selatan
Berbak
Way Kambas
Collection sites
Bukit Lawang
Tangkahan
Muarasoma,
Sopotinjak
Muaro Sako
Muara Imat
Gunung 7
Palalawan
Granit
Sarolangun
Sukaraja
Pemerihan
Sungai Rambut
Way Kanan
Altitude (m)
160 - 200
200
1180 -1250
200 - 270
240 - 300
1680 - 1730
30 - 50
60 - 100
70 - 80
500 – 550
30 - 50
7 - 15
25 – 30
and only during periods of full sunlight. Collections are conducted 4-7 ten days for each
National Park that depend on weather condition.
(ii) Observation of host plants and nectar plants
The distribution of two potential resources for adults, that is, host plants for oviposition
sites and flowering plants as nectar sources are examined. Along of the route of
butterfly collections, host plants are observed and collected within the areas 5 m both
side of the route. The distribution of nectar plants are examined along the routes during
butterfly survey
Results
A total of 361 swallowtail butterflies representing 31 species in 9 genera were recorded
during the study period (Table 2). These were dominated by Graphium sarpedon (11.7
%), G. agememnon (10.0%), Pachliopta aristolochiae (9.72%), Papilio polyes (8.6%)
and P. memnon (7.2%). Kerinci Seblat, Way Kambas and Gunung Leuser National Park
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Table 2. Species number of swallowtail butterflies recorded at nine National Parks of Sumatra
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Spesies
Atrophaneura sycorax
Graphium agamemnon
G. antiphates
G. arycles
G. bathycles
G. cloanthus
G. delesserti
G. doson
G. evemon
G. sarpedon
Lamproptera meges
Losaria coon
Losaria neptunus
Meandrusa payeni
Pachliopta aristolochiae
Papilio demoleus
P. demolion
P. diophantus
P. forbesi
P. helenus
P. karna
P. memnon
P. nephelus
P. palinurus
P. paris
P. peranthus
P. polytes
Trogonoptera brookiana
Troides amphrysus
T. cuneifera
T. helena
Total individual
A
1
10
4
B
4
8
5
8
10
1
1
5
2
2
2
1
1
5
2
1
1
1
3
2
5
4
1
4
3
1
1
C
Collection sites
D
E
F
4
2
6
4
2
2
1
4
5
8
1
6
6
2
1
1
1
1
4
1
4
6
6
1
1
2
3
2
1
G
3
4
H
3
Total
I
1
36
24
2
15
4
6
18
7
42
2
3
5
4
35
19
13
1
2
7
3
26
14
12
11
1
31
6
8
1
2
361
5
4
1
2
2
4
5
1
3
1
2
2
6
2
5
2
5
2
1
2
8
2
1
1
2
1
3
1
1
3
2
3
4
10
1
1
2
2
6
1
1
1
1
4
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
4
4
8
1
4
1
68
31
65
41
28
27
1
35
15
1
51
Note: A. Taman Nasional (TN) Gunung Leuser, B. TN Batang Gadis, C. TN Kerinci Seblat, D. TN Tesso
Nilo, E. TN Bukit Tigapuluh, F. TN Bukit Duabelas, G. TN Berbak, H. TN Bukit Barisan Selatan, I. TN
Way Kambas
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had high species richness (22, 17 and 17 species, respectively), while Berbak and Bukit
Barisan Selatan National Park had only 11 species.
When we compile the number of swallowtail butterflies found in this study and
the previous research, in total 36 species of Papilionidae were noted. Nearly 76 % of
them were representatives of Sumatra region. However, the number of swallowtail
butterflies species recorded \ accounts for only 29.7% of all Indonesian swallowtail
butterflies.
Three spesies such as Atrophaneura sycorax, Papilio diophantus, P. peranthus
and Troides cuneifera were collected only 1 individual (Table 2). Those species are not
recorded in the previous research. Among the recorded butterflies, 28 species were
occurred only in low to medium altitude areas (0-1000 m above sea level), and three
(Papilio diopanthus, P. forbesi dan P. paris) preferred only high elevation areas (>1000
m).
Table 3. Host plants species recorded for swallowtail butterflies at nine National
Parks of Sumatra.
No.
Family
Species
Host plant for
1
Rutaceae
Citrus aurantifolia
Papilio memnon, P. polytes
2
Rutaceae
Citrus amblycarpa
P. polytes
3
Rutaceae
Citrus sinensis
P. polytes
4
Rutaceae
Evodia malayana
P. demolion, P. karna
5
Rutaceae
Clausena excavata
P. polytes
6
Lauraceae
Cinnamomum burmanni
Graphium sarpedon
7
Annonaceae
Annona muricata
G. agamemnon
8
Annonaceae
Polyalthia longifolia
G. doson
9
Aristolochiaceae Apama corymbosa
Pachliopta aristolochiae
Nine species of host plants were recorded in all National Parks (Table 3). They
belong to family Rutaceae (5 species), Annonaceae (2 species), Lauraceae (1 species)
and Aristolochiaceae (1 species). Plants as nectar sources for adult butterflies include
Bougainvillea spectabilis, Bauhinia kockiana, Clerodendron calamitosum, Eugenia sp.
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Hibiscus rosa sinensis., Impatiens balsamina., Ixora javanica, Lantana camara, Leea
indica, Jathropa sp. and Stachytarpheta indica.
Discussion
The recent findings on the species richness of swallowtail indicated that the number of
species recorded in all National Parks was higher than that of the previous study. In the
previous study, 27 species of Papilionidae were distributed in Kerinci Seblat National
Park (Salmah et al., 1999, 2002). Three species were missed in this study compared to
the last recording. They include Graphium ramaceus, Papilio iswara, P. iswaroides.
One of them, P. iswaroides was known as species that was distributed at a higher
elevation. The butterfly diversity and species richness in the low elevation habitats were
higher than in the high elevation habitats (Vu and Decheng, 2003).
In addition, seven species of swallowtails (all males) visited a moist ground for
puddling were noticed. This behavior is particularly prevalent in the tropics, although it
also occurs in the temperate zone. Puddling behavior is usually predominantly shown
by males (Arms et al., 1974; Adler, 1982; Adler and Pearson, 1982; Beck et al., 1999).
Some adult butterflies undoubtedly imbibed nectar from flowers at the tops of tall forest
trees. However, as a rule, most butterflies occur within areas of low secondary
vegetation (Parsons, 1999). Greater numbers of butterfly species were associated with
greater numbers of floral species and larval food plants (Croxton et al., 2005). The
occurrence of several butterfly species in a particular habitat type could be explained by
the abundance of their specific host plants (Lomov, 2006). Many species are very
mobile and the counts may largely reflect the attraction of the adult butterflies to
flowering plants. Many butterflies are very specialized regarding larval host plants and
adult nectar sources and therefore sensitive to changes that affect those plants (Nelson,
2007). The profitability of butterfly foraging depends in part on the corolla depth and
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clustering of flowers, and the tongue length, body mass and wing loading of butterflies
(Corbet, 2000).
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Mr. Irwan, Asril, Edin WP, and Arif Anthonius Purnama for observing
butterflies. This study was supported partly by Department of National Education,
Republic of Indonesia, and Nagao Natural Environment Foundation (NEF) Japan.
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Survey of swallowtail butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)
at Several National Parks of Sumatra
Running title: Swallowtail butterflies, National Park, Sumatra
Key words: Butterflies, Papilionidae, host plants, National Park, Sumatra
Dahelmi * , Siti Salmah and Henny Herwina
Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Andalas
University, Padang 25163, West Sumatra, Indonesia
E-mail: dahelmi@gmail.com
*To whom correspondence should be addressed
9
DRATT ARTIKEL ILMIAH
Survey of swallowtail butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)
at Several National Parks of Sumatra
Oleh:
Dr. Dahelmi, MS
Prof. Dr. Siti Salmah
Dr. Henny Herwina, MSc.
UNIVERSITAS ANDALAS PADANG
Nopember, 2009
10