| The present paper deals with the species diversity and richness of moth fauna of Veerangana Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary (VDWLS), Madhya-Pradesh. Alpha diversity represents the diversity within a community or ecosystem, and often expressed by the species richness in that particular ecosystem. Intensive and extensive collection cum survey tours were conducted during June 2009 to November 2011 in the localities of Veerangana Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary (VDWLS), Madhya Pradesh. Moths were collected by using light trap method and were pinned, relaxed, labeled and identified up to species level. All - specimens of moths are deposited in the National Zoological Collection (NZC) of - Zoological Survey of India, Central Zone Regional Centre, Jabalpur. During the study period, a total of 437 individuals were collected, which belong to 95 species, under 85 genera in 13 families. Family Erebidae is a dominant family of the sanctuary with 38 species under 31 genera. Based on the studies conducted, the diversity indices were also calculated for 11 study sites. The highest species richness (S) of moths were recorded from Bhainshaghat region (40 species) and second highest was found from Danital region (30 species) of VDWLS. Margalef index lies between 8.544 to 0.72 and Menhinick index ranges between 4.143 to 1 for moth species. The Shannon-Wiener index (H) varies from 3.307 to 0.56 and Simpson’s diversity index (1-D) ranges between 0.946 to 0.375 for the different localities of the sanctuary. The highest species diversity was recorded from Bhainshaghat region (H= 3.307, 1-D= 0.9466) and minimum at Sajtalaiya (H= 0.5623, 1-D= 0.375). Extensive sampling resulted in many varieties of species, this indicates that the faunal diversity of moth at VDWLS is very high and further surveys will yield more data.
Keywords: Alpha diversity, Indices, Lepidoptera, Moths, Madhya Pradesh, Veerangana Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary (VDWLS).
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