Aiming to increase the knowledge of fruit-feeding butterflies in an urban area in Minas Gerais State, a inventory was carried out in the Área de Proteção Especial Manancial Cercadinho, located in the suburban area of Belo Horizonte. Thirty baited traps were arranged in two habitats: 15 in a Cerrado area (Cerrado field) and 15 in a riparian forest. We recorded 1219 individuals belonging to 45 species of Nymphalidae. The rarefaction analyses didn't indicate difference in species richness between the riparian forest and Cerrado. The species accumulation curve did not show an asymptote. The four most abundant species belonged to Satyrinae. Our results about species richness in Cercadinho emphasize the need to protect this area, because it preserves 40% of the whole butterfly fauna estimated for the region, which could be managed as a source of colonization to other urban areas.
biodiversity; Cerrado; conservation; riparian forest; species richness
