Insect and butterfly diversity

Of the 1.4 million species on earth, over 53% are insects. More than 5,000 species of insects have been reported from Pakistan (BAP, 2000). Though the Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar has a good collection of insects, including those from Northern Areas, still little information is available on insect diversity in this region.

However, some biologists have made efforts to identify butterfly species and to document their distribution and status. Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) and the Oxford University museum have been studying insect diversity from Gilgit along Karakoram Highway to the Sino-Pakistan border at Khunjerab pass and several selected valleys. During the last five years, they recorded a range of insect species. Some of them are new to science. By 1999, they had recorded about 100 species of butterflies, with new taxa being added on each visit. For example, about 40 butterfly species were recorded during the Hunza 2000 expedition (Smith 2001); four of these were new to Pakistan.

Another study documented butterfly diversity in Skardu city, Shigar, Karmang, Sadpara, Kachura and the Deosai plains (Abbas et al., 2002). It collected more than 400 specimens and identified them to the species level. This resulted in the recognition of 16 species in 14 genera and five families. The following table shows the result of this study.

Table. Butterfly species found in the Skardu region

Species	Flight period	Habitat
Parnassius charltonius	July-August	Restricted at Burzil top above 14,000 ft. Habitat is mountain passes & steep rocky or clay slopes near glaciers
Pieris rapae	April-September	Reported from all locations in study area; common in cultivated areas & settlements
Pieris brassicae	April-September	All locations in study area; found in fields, settlements, flowery areas & mountain meadows; migratory in some areas.
Pontia callidice	June-August	Rare and not reported before from Pakistan; found by study only near permanent snowline above 14,000 ft. in northern Deosai plains.
Colias erate	July-September	Widely distributed except in Deosai; inhabits meadows & fields in lower elevations but around settlements
Colias fieldii	June-August	Widely distributed; common in arid-montane oases where cultivation is practiced
Lycaena phlaeas	June-September	Found from Skardu, Kachura & Sadpara; inhabits meadows and disturbed areas
Zizeeria knysna	June-August	Found everywhere except Deosai; inhabits damp stream sides at lower elevations
Zizina otis	May-September	Skardu, Kharmong & Kachura; found at lower elevations but rare elsewhere in Pakistan
Everes argiades	June-July	Skardu, Shigar; found in meadows
Aricia agestis	May-August	Skardu, Sadpara, Kachura; dry meadows and open spaces
Plebejus argus	June-August	Everywhere except Deosai; found in meadows, mountain slopes and inhabited areas
Aglais cashmiriensis	May-June	Skardu and Shigar; found in almost any habitat and around settlements
Cynthia cardui	May-August	Everywhere except Deosai; in every habitat but more commonly in fields & meadows & around settlements
Maniola pulchra	July-August	Recorded only in Deosai; generally inhabits only high areas; reported for the first time from Pakistan
Pararge menava	June-July	Recorded only in Deosai; occurs in high areas; reported for the first time from Pakistan

Source: Abbas, M., M.A. Rafi, M. Inayatullah, M.R. Khan and H. Pavulaan. 2002. Taxonomy and distribution of butterflies (Papilionoidea) of the Skardu region, Pakistan. The Taxonomic Report.
3(9): 1-9.

Both the beneficial and harmful role that insects play in the human environment is well recognized by society. However, the current state of knowledge about Northern Areas insect biodiversity is very inadequate and a lot of research is waiting to be done in this field. Increased use of pesticides in this region would probably have detrimental effects on many beneficial insects, for example like those that help in the pollination of fruit trees (Virk et al., 2003).