Biodiversity and Species Composition of Butterflies in the Coban Glotak Waterfall, Malang, Indonesia

Butterflies have an essential role in helping pollinate flowering plants so that the process of natural plant propagation can take place. In addition, the existence of butterflies is important because of their role in the ecosystem as bio-indicators of environmental damage. This study aims to analyze the diversity and species composition of butterflies in the Coban Glotak area, Malang, Indonesia. A sampling of butterflies was carried out in July 2023 - August 2023 in three waterfalls, agricultural and bush habitats. Sampling was carried out using an observation transect with a length of one thousand meters (1000 m). The butterfly survey was carried out in the morning between 09.00-12.00 a.m. when there was no rain. The abundance of butterflies found was analyzed using the Shannon-Wiener Index for the Diversity Index, while species similarity was analyzed using the Bray-Curtis Index. There were 32 species of butterflies found in this study belonging to five families, namely Nymphalidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae, Papilionidae, and Hesperiidae with a total of 102 individuals recorded. The Nymphalidae family had the highest percentage of abundance (68.63%) and the lowest was the Hesperiidae family (1.96%). Ypthima baldus, Udara akasa, and Neptis vikasa ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with relative abundances of 30.39%, 9.80%, and 5.88%, respectively. Based on the ecological index (dominance, diversity, evenness, and species richness) it shows that the waterfall habitat has the highest index value compared to the other two habitats. The species similarity between waterfall habitat and agricultural habitat is only 19%, while the species similarity between waterfall habitat and bush habitat is only 13%. Agricultural habitats and shrubs have a species similarity value of 36%