Abstract:
Butterflies are very good bioindicators that can inform us about the health of an
ecosystem, especially through the interactions they have with the different host plants,
whether on urban or peri-urban stations. The study was carried out in the wilaya of Setif. In
order to study the diversity of butterflies in the city and their relationships with existing plants
(host plants), six different stations were chosen according to their degree of urbanisation
(urban environment: 3 gardens, amusement park and peri-urban environment: forest and
riparian zone) The inventory was carried out over a period of twelve months (from September
2021 to August 2022). Our study allowed us to count 638 individuals of 27 species of
rhopalocerans interacting with more than 60 known plant species. The pieridae are the most
diversified with 09sp and 313 individuals dominated by the small white (190ind), then the
nymphalidae, and the lycenidae with 06 sp of 159ind and 135ind, finally the papilionidae of
03sp and 20ind and the hesperidae of 03sp and 11ind. The station with the greatest specific
richness is the amusement park with 20sp rhopalocerans and more than 50sp plants, on the
other hand the low richness is noticed in the peripheral forest with 10sp rhopalocerans and
less than 20sp plants dominated by the Aleppo pine, then the existence of different host plants
especially Crucifers and Fabaceae attract a lot of butterflies. Some species are excellent
pollinators (flambé with lavender), on the other hand they can cause great damage to the
vegetable garden (cabbageworm caterpillars feed on cabbage leaves). The diversity of urban
and peri-urban butterflies in the city of Setif is a function of plant richness
