Butterflies are fascinating creatures of order Lepidoptera have special place in the insect world. The present study was carried out to document the species diversity and abundance from January to December 2010 in the Villupuram District, using the transect counting method. All the butterflies recorded at a distance of 5m from the observer during the counts. Species diversity and abundance is calculated by Shannon –Weiner index. A total of 2844 individuals belonging to 56 species of butterflies were recorded during the period and highest number of species was recorded from the family Nymphalidae, Pieridae and Papilionidae were recorded. Butterflies are sensitive to the changes in the habitat and climate, which influences their distribution and abundance. It is suggest that butterfly species diversity generally increase with increase in vegetation.
