Diversity and composition of butterfly visitors of green spaces in Malang and Pasuruhan, East Java, Indonesia

Spatial distribution, diversity and composition of butterflies were investigated in several green spaces in Malang and Pasuruhan, East Java, Indonesia. Direct observations of butterflies were conducted in three study sites in Malang City as follows: Veteran Boulevard Green Belt (BGB), Jakarta Green Space (JGS), Velodrom Green Space (VGS); while a study site was selected in Purwodadi Botanic Garden (PBG), Pasuruhan. The observations were conducted on January to March 2012. In each location observations was done from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and repeated five times. There were 2407 butterfly visits belonging to 64 species observed visually at all the study sites. The butterflies composed of four dominat families follows as Pieridae (55.97%), Nymphalidae (24.17%), Papilionidae (10.94%), Danaidae (6.69%) and Lycaenidae (1.95%). Butterfly in VGS composed of 795 individuals belong to 40 species causing this location having the highest average of visit (159.2 ± 14.09), species richness (26 ± 0.74) and diversity (2.65 ± 0.06). The visits of dominant species also varied between sites and statistically significant, except for Catopsilia pyranthe. One of the species, Catopsila pamona was very site specific in Purwodadi Botanic Garden. The butterfly visitors were not grouped relating to their sites. Butterfly composition in BGB and those in JGS was the most similar (61.6%), while those in Purwodadi PBG was the least similar with branching occurred at 22.2%.