Foraging behaviour and nectar use in adult Large Copper Butterflies, Lycaena dispar (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

The foraging behaviour of the endangered butterfly Lycaena dispar Haw. was examined in a wet meadow in Poznan (western Poland) in the summer of 2003. Observations showed that the males spent more time resting (11.3% compared to 5.9%) and less time nectaring (24.8% compared 35%) compared to females. The mean time of one visit on a flower was almost three times shorter in males than in females. In total, adults visited flowers of nine nectar plant species, the most frequent ones were Inula britannica, Lychnis flos-cuculi and Cirsium arvense, which were some of the most abundant plant species there. We observed differences of nectar plant use between sexes and generations of the butterfly, but did not confirm preference for the plant colour

Picromerus bidens (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) as predator of the Checkerspot Euphydryas aurinia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

The predatory bug Picromerus bidens is reported as a regular predator of the Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurinia from the region of western Bohemia, Czech Republic. Adult bugs attack pre-diapause larvae, either exposed or hidden in protective silken webs, and exhibit efficient behaviour, including returning to previously attacked webs. We observed predation in six out of 28 and eleven out of 21 local populations in 2003 and 2004, respectively. In addition, we observed two attacks by nymphs on handicapped adult butterflies. Predation of Melitaeinae by Heteroptera seems to be a widespread phenomenon, and P. bidens can act as a substantial mortality factor in small colonies of E. aurinia

Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) in the Czech Republic: monitoring, metapopulation structure, and conservation of an endangered butterfly

Thirty colonies of the Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) have recently been recorded in Western Bohemia, Czech Republic. The majority of colonies are small, their total area are 1.5 km2. Small size and intensive grazing/mowing were positively associated with observed declines/extinctions, while abandonment threatens the colonies in the longer term. Short distances to nearest colonies buffered against declines. High colony turnover, asynchronous local dynamics pointed and the species’ biotope requirements all point to a dynamic metapopulation structure; patterns of connectivity revealed that there are several metapopulations within the region. Because conserving the species within its extant sites seems unsustainable in the long term, restoration of its habitats is proposed

More hidden diversity in a cryptic species complex: a new subspecies of Leptidea sinapis (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) from Northern Iran

A new subspecies of Leptidea sinapis from Northern Iran, discovered by means of DNA barcoding, is described as Leptidea sinapis tabarestana ssp. nov. The new subspecies is allopatric with respect to other populations of L. sinapis and is genetically distinct, appearing as a well-supported sister clade to all other populations in COI-based phylogenetic reconstructions. Details on karyotype, genitalia, ecology and behaviour for the new subspecies are given and a biogeographical speciation scenario is proposed

An updated checklist of the European Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea)

This paper presents an updated checklist of the butterflies of Europe, together with their original name combinations, and their occurrence status in each European country. According to this checklist, 496 species of the superfamily Papilionoidea occur in Europe. Changes in comparison with the last version (2.6.2) of Fauna Europaea are discussed. Compared to that version, 16 species are new additions, either due to cryptic species most of which have been discovered by molecular methods (13 cases) or due to discoveries of Asian species on the eastern border of the European territory in the Ural mountains (three cases). On the other hand, nine species had to be removed from the list, because they either do not occur in Europe or lost their species status due to new evidence. In addition, three species names had to be changed and 30 species changed their combination due to new evidence on phylogenetic relationships. Furthermore, minor corrections were applied to some authors¿ names and years of publication. Finally, the name Polyommatus ottomanus Lefèbvre, 1831, which is threatened by its senior synonym Lycaena legeri Freyer, 1830, is declared a nomen protectum, thereby conserving its name in the current combination Lycaena ottomana.VL was supported by grant N 14-14-00541 from the Russian Science Foundation to the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and ZF by grant 14- 36098G from the Czech Science Foundation

Conserved ancestral tropical niche but different continental histories explain the latitudinal diversity gradient in brush-footed butterflies.

The global increase in species richness toward the tropics across continents and taxonomic groups, referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient, stimulated the formulation of many hypotheses to explain the underlying mechanisms of this pattern. We evaluate several of these hypotheses to explain spatial diversity patterns in a butterfly family, the Nymphalidae, by assessing the contributions of speciation, extinction, and dispersal, and also the extent to which these processes differ among regions at the same latitude. We generate a time-calibrated phylogeny containing 2,866 nymphalid species (~45% of extant diversity). Neither speciation nor extinction rate variations consistently explain the latitudinal diversity gradient among regions because temporal diversification dynamics differ greatly across longitude. The Neotropical diversity results from low extinction rates, not high speciation rates, and biotic interchanges with other regions are rare. Southeast Asia is also characterized by a low speciation rate but, unlike the Neotropics, is the main source of dispersal events through time. Our results suggest that global climate change throughout the Cenozoic, combined with tropical niche conservatism, played a major role in generating the modern latitudinal diversity gradient of nymphalid butterflies

A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins

Butterflies are a diverse and charismatic insect group that are thought to have evolved with plants and dispersed throughout the world in response to key geological events. However, these hypotheses have not been extensively tested because a comprehensive phylogenetic framework and datasets for butterfly larval hosts and global distributions are lacking. We sequenced 391 genes from nearly 2,300 butterfly species, sampled from 90 countries and 28 specimen collections, to reconstruct a new phylogenomic tree of butterflies representing 92% of all genera. Our phylogeny has strong support for nearly all nodes and demonstrates that at least 36 butterfly tribes require reclassification. Divergence time analyses imply an origin similar to 100 million years ago for butterflies and indicate that all but one family were present before the K/Pg extinction event. We aggregated larval host datasets and global distribution records and found that butterflies are likely to have first fed on Fabaceae and originated in what is now the Americas. Soon after the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, butterflies crossed Beringia and diversified in the Palaeotropics. Our results also reveal that most butterfly species are specialists that feed on only one larval host plant family. However, generalist butterflies that consume two or more plant families usually feed on closely related plants

Adult population structure and behaviour of two seasonal generations of the European map butterfly, Araschnia levana, species with seasonal polyphenism (nymphalidae)

Volume: 23Start Page: 2End Page: 2

Observations of overwintering nymphalid butterflies in underground shelters in SW and W Bohemia (Czech Republic) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Nymphalini)

Volume: 41Start Page: 45End Page: 5