Butterflies of the Bodoquena plateau in Brazil (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea)

• Grant number: 15/24914-7
• Support type: Regular Research Grants - Publications - Scientific article
• Duration: March 01, 2016 - August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal researcher: Rhainer Guillermo Nascimento Ferreira
• Grantee: Rhainer Guillermo Nascimento Ferreira
• Home Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Butterflies and moths are found in all terrestrial environments and require efforts for a better understanding of its mega-diversity. These taxa have been the subject of several studies involving phylogeny, ecologyand environmental impacts. Nevertheless, several areas in the tropics remain unexplored, resulting ingaps in the taxonomic composition and distribution of butterflies in endemic environments. Therefore,a survey of the butterfly fauna of the Bodoquena Plateau in Brazil was conducted. This area consists oftropical Atlantic Forests, with marginal influences of Savannah, Chaco and Pantanal. Sampling was carriedout in 20 locations using Van Someren Rydon traps and insect nets between November 2009 and April 2015. Active collection of individuals was conducted from 9:00 to 17:00h, totaling 240 hours of sampling effort. In total, we registered 768 individuals belonging to 146 species of 98 genera, six families and 18 subfamilies. Nymphalidae was the richest family (84 species), followed by Hesperiidae (22 species),Riodinidae (14 species), Pieridae (12) Papilionidae (11 species) and Lycaenidae (five species). We sampled 239 nymphalids in traps, with 48 species, 30 genera, 15 tribes and five subfamilies. The most common species were Eunica macris (Godart, 1824), Dynamine artemisia (Fabricius, 1793) and Memphismoruus (Fabricius, 1775). Therefore, this study contributes to the knowledge of the Neotropical butterflydiversity and distribution, providing 37 new records and supporting the use of wildlife inventories asimportant tools for the knowledge of tropical forests biodiversity and conservation. (AU)