Borboletas frugívoras (Lepidoptera: nymphalidae) de um remanescente de caatinga, Horto Florestal Olho d’água da Bica, Cuité, Paraíba.

Abstract

Little is known about the diversity of fruit-feeding butterflies Caatinga. For being a Brazilian biome so little it is of prime importance and urgency the conduction studies on its biological diversity. This study contributes to the knowledge of fruit-feeding butterflies and how they respond to the seasonality in a remnant of Caatinga, located in the municipality of Cuité-PB, the Florestal Horto Olho D'Água da Bica. For this work were marked six transects, it took into account the differences of physiognomy area. The butterflies were captured using the Van Someren-Rydon traps. In all, 20 traps were set, baited with a mixture of banana with juice of cane - sugar fermented and exposed for two consecutive days during the months of January to March 2014 (rainy season ) and October to December (dry season). They recorded in 1990 frugivorous butterflies, four subfamilies, five tribes and 10 species in the months of the rainy season recorded the maximum number of wealth and abundance, precisely in March, and the least in the dry season between October and December. This fact is related to the increase in biomass of vegetation at this time that serves as food for the immature by increasing populations. Thus, it is confirmed that the fauna of fruit-feeding butterflies is strongly influenced by seasonal variations in the Caatinga. Generally the species found in garden forest Eye d'Água Bica are found in open areas, but the maintenance of these populations is fundamental, as well as other insects, as they play important roles in the maintenance of both plant and animal community, pollinating, controlling populations, feeding or serving food for fauna.