Feeding butterflies with Tridax procumbens (L.), a beneficial plant for maintaining butterfly populations

Abstract

Butterflies play a crucial role in pollination by feeding on nectar from flowers. In the urbanized area, the interaction of butterflies and flowering plants indicates the state of the environment in this area. Tridax procumbens Linnaeus is an invasive plant, best known as a widespread weed and pest plant. A study was conducted to analyze the association of butterflies with T. procumbens in different time intervals, namely 10 am – 12 pm, 12 – 2 pm, and 2 – 4 pm. A total of 34 species of butterflies belonging to 5 families were reported to visit this plant. Among these three time slots, 12 pm to 2 pm holds significantly the highest number of butterfly visitors (X2=13131.3818, df=33, p=0.00001). The present study demonstrated that the presence of butterfly species and their frequency on T. procumbens shows different visitation patterns for different families in each time interval. The study determined that the butterfly species helps to pollinate this plant, which in turn helps to conserve these butterfly species.

Keywords

• butterfly diversity
• conservation
• flower visitor
• flowering plant
• interaction