Investigation of vertical distribution of fruit-feeding butterflies in the complex tropical rainforest of Sabah is important for understanding butterfly diversity in the tropics and for determining responses of butterflies to forest disturbance. We used fruit-baited traps to investigate the vertical distribution of fruit-feeding butterflies in primary rainforest and to determine if ground-based surveys can reliably survey nymphalid butterflies, or whether there are significant numbers of these species restricted to the canopy. The results show that whilst ground-based transect techniques can survey Satyrinae and Morphinae butterflies fairly reliably, they are likely to miss the canopy component of the fauna. Movements of recaptured butterflies between traps at different heights were minimal, indicating that species are confined to certain heights.
Keywords: fruit-