YSU Students Recorded Species of Butterflies In Merapi National Park

8
Jul
2014
YSU STUDENTS RECORDED SPECIES OF BUTTERFLIES IN MERAPI NATIONAL PARK

Rany Zeinita, Dian Rahmawati, Galay Widhiasmoro, and Violita Bella Sandya, Students of Biology Education Department of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Yogyakarta State University have conducted a research on butterflies in the Merapi Volcano region. Entitled the Inventory of the Diversity of Pieridae Family Butterflies in Merapi volcano, Kinahrejo Village, Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta, their research was aimed at recording the butterflies of pieridae family.

As pollinating insects, butterflies help plants to reproduce. Their presence also serves as an indicator for changes in the environment after the eruption to measure whether the condition has returned to normal.

Rany said the reason why they chose butterflies of peridae family for their research.”These butterflies can be easily found and recognised for their colours are white, yellow, and orange. Some butterflies have black markings or dark spots round the edge of their wings,” she explained.

Pierid butterflies do share a common wing venation pattern. In the fore wings, the radius will be divided into three or four branches. In some of the orange-tip butterflies, the radius divides into five branches. Whites, sulphurs, yellows, and other family members all have three pairs of walking legs (unlike in the brush-footed butterflies, where the front legs are modified and not used for walking). Their tarsal claws are forked, or bifid.

“We observed the butterflies on 5th, 6th, 12th, and 13th April 2014. Based on the observation, we conducted a literature search. As many as ten species from Pieridae family were found in Merapi National Park in Kinahrejo Village, Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta including Delias hyparete,Delias pasithoe, Catopsilia pomona, Catopsilia scylla, Eurema hecabeEurema blanda, Eurema andersonii, Eurema simulatrix, Eurema brigitta, Eurema sari-sari,” she continued.

The team went to four spots of observation including the gate of Kinahrejo towards the reforestation area, locals’ gardens, some of the forest, the vegetation area around the summit, and locals’ former housing. (ioap)

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