Butterfly (Rhopalocera) fauna of Maharashtra Nature Park, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Mumbai, one of the largest metro cities in the world, holds rich biodiversity in few green fragmented natural or manmade habitats. One such habitat is the Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP). MNP is located in a highly polluted area of Mumbai; this was a dumping ground for nearly 26 years. In 1983, it was restored into a semi-natural forest with the initial technical inputs from World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India). Presently, this nature park supports a rich biodiversity but lacks proper documentation. Such information is essential as the park serves as an important study area for many schools, college students and for many nature lovers. Previous documentation has reported 38 butterfly species from the park. The present study carried out from June 2005 to November 2005 has documented 53 species belonging to five families from MNP.