Ecological Analysis of Butterfl ies and Day-Flying Moths Diversity of the Gouraya National Park (Algeria)

Abstract

This work represents an initial analysis of butterflies and day-flying moths of the Gouraya National Park (Algeria). Forty - eight field-surveys were made between February 2011 and January 2012, in three stations (the cliff, the low matorral and the high matorral). It allowed us to identify 38 species, belonging to 6 families: Lycaenidae (13 species), Nymphalidae (10 species), Pieridae (9 species), Papilionidae (2 species), Hesperiidae (2 species), Zygaenidae (1 species) and Sphingidae (1 species). The low matorral and cliff were the richest stations, with 33 species for the first one and 23 species for the latter. Only seven species were observed in the high matorral where the highest centesimal frequency was recorded for the Pararge aegeria (47.83%). This species records the highest frequency of occurrences in all 3 stations. The low matorral (H'= 4.25 bits, E = 0.84) proved to be the most diversified and balanced station.

Keywords

• gouraya national park
• butterfly
• day-flying moth
• ecology
• diversity