Investigation on Papaya Feeding Butterflies (Nymphalidae) at Dhelsara Village, Teshil Sitapur, District Surguja, Chhattisgarh, India

Research on Fruit-feeding butterfly fauna was carried out in Dhelsara Village, Sitapur Teshil, District Surguja, Chhattisgarh. A total of 4 species of Nymphalidae were observed feeding on Papaya fruit on tree as well as fallen fruits on ground. These were most commonly seen sipping in through their long unfurl proboscis, on Ripped Papaya. Butterfly conservation can be done by planting Papaya trees in home gardens, this will help in maintaining the number of existing butterfly population, especially those feeding on Papaya fruits constantly for energy gain. Movements of butterflies while feeding on Papaya were still, therefore, the identification was very easy to do on field itself. A peculiar characteristic noticed was that while feeding, it sits on the fruit and flaps its wing up and down as a queen of the fruit and makes sure that there is a slight disturbance while feeding.