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Diversity
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Biogeography and Diversity of Butterflies and Moths
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Biogeography and Diversity of Butterflies and Moths

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 February 2025 | Viewed by 8835

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shao-Ji Hu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Interests: biodiversity distribution; biogeography; phylogeography; lineage geography and taxonomy of butterflies and moths
Prof. Dr. Luc Legal

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement, UMR 5245 (CNRS-UPS-INPT) Batiment IVR1/Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse CEDEX 9, France
Interests: molecular evolution; dynamic of communities and populations; plant–insect interactions, ecology; tools: mitochondrial DNA; ISSR; cuticular hydrocarbons; field ecology; model organisms: lepidoptera; diptera; spiders
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lepidopterous insects, commonly known as butterflies and moths, are of great ecological importance and conservation values. The pollination service they offer is only second to Hymenoptera insects such as bees and wasps, which provide us with a fruitful and colourful world. Unfortunately, the conservation status of butterflies and moths is still far from satisfactory globally. Despite of decades of efforts putting together by national legislation, establishment of protected areas, CITES regulation, as well as IUCN assessments, only a very limited number of butterflies and moths are currently effectively protected. Many other taxa, especially those with narrow distribution ranges, are still on the brink of extirpation or extinction.

Although being a group of enchanting insects with a long history of taxonomy and regional species survey, the biogeography and spatial pattern of diversity, especially those involving large-scale research, are still very limited. The spatial distribution of diversity and biogeography, on both species and genetic levels, are crucial in understanding the species’ historical and present status, thus can empower the effectiveness of future conservation planning and strategies. More research is needed on these insects, including their regional species assemblage, spatial diversity distribution pattern, biogeography and phylogeography, population dynamics under anthropogenic disturbances and climate change, etc.

This Special Issue is an excellent opportunity to combine and synthesise recent research on the diversity and biogeography of butterflies and moths. The team at Diversity kindly invites you to submit a manuscript focused on any of the above topics, except for research on Lepidoptera insects that are harmful to agriculture. Although small-scaled case studies (including species inventory) with broad implications are welcome, we encourage authors to submit large-scale and/or multi-specific studies, synthesis works, and reviews that could better enlarge our knowledge on the diversity, biogeography, and conservation of butterflies and moths globally. If you are interested in this opportunity or have any question, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Dr. Shao-Ji Hu
Prof. Dr. Luc Legal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Lepidoptera
  • species richness
  • phylogeography
  • diversity conservation
  • spatial distribution

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2944 KiB  
Article
Indirect Effects of Cattle Trampling on the Structure of Fruit-Feeding Butterfly Assemblages Inhabiting Restinga Forests in Southern Brazil
by Cristiano Agra Iserhard, Taiane Schwantz, Mariana Centeno Gallo, Marco Silva Gottschalk and Kauane Maiara Bordin
Diversity 2024, 16(8), 467; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16080467 - 3 Aug 2024
Viewed by 701
Abstract
The impacts of anthropogenic activities are increasing at alarming rates, leading to biodiversity loss and the displacement of native habitats. One of the main contributors to human disturbances is livestock farming, which degrades native habitats through cattle grazing and trampling. To understand these [...] Read more.
The impacts of anthropogenic activities are increasing at alarming rates, leading to biodiversity loss and the displacement of native habitats. One of the main contributors to human disturbances is livestock farming, which degrades native habitats through cattle grazing and trampling. To understand these impacts, we investigated the effects of cattle trampling on the structure and diversity of fruit-feeding butterflies in Restinga forests of southern Brazil. We addressed questions regarding the effects of cattle raising on butterfly diversity and composition, identified indicator species, and examined the influence of environmental variables on butterfly richness, dominance, abundance, and species composition. Our dataset comprises the long-term monitoring of fruit-feeding butterflies in Restinga forests from 2014 to 2019, across sites with low, medium, and high levels of disturbance due to cattle trampling. We found that medium and high levels of disturbance increased butterfly richness and abundance, whereas low-level disturbance was associated with lower abundance. Additionally, the species composition of butterflies in medium to highly disturbed sites differed from that in preserved Restinga forests, indicating that any perturbation can markedly alter alpha and beta diversity parameters. These changes simplify the native forest structure, open the canopy, disrupt the understory, and favor butterfly species commonly associated with disturbed forests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biogeography and Diversity of Butterflies and Moths)
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23 pages, 8420 KiB  
Article
Temporal Variation in and Influence of Environmental Variables on a Lepidopteran Community in a Mediterranean Mid-Mountain Area
by Pedro M. Bernabé-Ruiz, Francisco J. Jiménez-Nieva and Juan C. Pérez-Quintero
Diversity 2024, 16(7), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16070408 - 14 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1184
Abstract
The temporal variation in a community of nocturnal and diurnal Lepidoptera was studied in a Mediterranean mid-mountain area of the SW Iberian Peninsula between 2017 and 2019. Monthly samplings that allowed for the identification of 3528 specimens, belonging to 373 species from 40 [...] Read more.
The temporal variation in a community of nocturnal and diurnal Lepidoptera was studied in a Mediterranean mid-mountain area of the SW Iberian Peninsula between 2017 and 2019. Monthly samplings that allowed for the identification of 3528 specimens, belonging to 373 species from 40 different families, also provided data on the temporal and seasonal variation in richness and the abundance (dominated by Geometridae and Noctuidae), diet type (mainly oligophagous), voltinism (mostly univoltine) and biogeography of the community, primarily Mediterranean in scope. Richness, abundance and diversity were also found to be highly positively correlated with temperature and solar radiation, and less negatively correlated with precipitation and humidity. Canonical correspondence analyses (CCAs) also indicate that temperature and radiation are the climatic variables with the greatest influence on species occurrence over the different months of the year. The CCAs gave a cumulative variance value of 84.79% when using the monthly mean values of temperature, solar radiation and minimum relative humidity, and 86.4% if only monovoltine species were considered. Guidelines to maintain diversity in the environment of the study area are provided. It is possible that the area may function as a refuge area for Lepidoptera in the face of climate change and deforestation that are occurring in the geographical environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biogeography and Diversity of Butterflies and Moths)
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20 pages, 9676 KiB  
Article
Butterfly Diversity in a Rapidly Developing Urban Area: A Case Study on a University Campus
by Sheng-Quan Fang, Yong-Ping Li, Yue Pan, Chong-Yun Wang, Ming-Chun Peng and Shao-Ji Hu
Diversity 2024, 16(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16010004 - 21 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3631
Abstract
University campuses, as small and isolated areas of rapidly growing urban areas, can provide a unique opportunity for urban biodiversity research, conservation, education, and citizen science by monitoring assemblages of butterflies within their areas. We surveyed butterfly biodiversity in a rapidly developing urban [...] Read more.
University campuses, as small and isolated areas of rapidly growing urban areas, can provide a unique opportunity for urban biodiversity research, conservation, education, and citizen science by monitoring assemblages of butterflies within their areas. We surveyed butterfly biodiversity in a rapidly developing urban area represented by the Chenggong Campus of Yunnan University in southwestern China using the Pollard walk method. In total, 3625 butterfly individuals belonging to 50 species, 35 genera, and six families were recorded in this survey. The results showed that the families Pieridae and Nymphalidae are the families with the highest species richness on the campus, and that the family Riodinidae contained the fewest species. Pieris rapae was the most common species, and seven species assessed by the IUCN Red List were recorded. Butterfly community structure varied across habitats and seasons on campus, and butterfly diversity was higher in spring and autumn than it was in summer and winter, as well as being higher in road habitats than in scenic habitats. Unavoidable urbanisation activities (construction, green space planning, etc.) may have influenced the composition and diversity of butterflies, and conserving urban butterfly diversity requires a balance between urban planning and habitat diversity. Finally, we encourage universities and research institutions to develop butterfly monitoring platforms for citizen scientists to participate in. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biogeography and Diversity of Butterflies and Moths)
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14 pages, 2382 KiB  
Article
Is the Existence of Two Lineages for Hamadryas glauconome (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) True? Molecular and Ecological Evidence
by Blanca R. Prado-Cuellar, Luis A. Lara-Pérez, Marysol Trujano-Ortega, Salima Machkour-M’Rabet and Carmen Pozo
Diversity 2023, 15(12), 1196; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15121196 - 6 Dec 2023
Viewed by 2278
Abstract
The genus Hamadryas has a neotropical distribution. In 1983, the subspecies H. glauconome grisea from Mexico was recognized with subtle and subjective differences in color, size and distribution and limited to the northwest. Since then, there has been a debate about whether it [...] Read more.
The genus Hamadryas has a neotropical distribution. In 1983, the subspecies H. glauconome grisea from Mexico was recognized with subtle and subjective differences in color, size and distribution and limited to the northwest. Since then, there has been a debate about whether it is a different lineage from H. glauconome because adult-stage morphology studies have not found significant differences. This study aims to delimitate H. g. glauconome and H. g. grisea lineages with two sources of evidence: ecological and molecular—the former through ecological niche modeling using the accessible area for the species and estimating the minimum volume ellipsoid overlapping as a fundamental niche using occurrences databases. The molecular evidence is found through the methods of phylogenetic inference and the generalized mixed yule coalescent approach, using sequences of cytochrome oxidase I. Ecological and molecular evidence suggest that H. g. grisea is a different lineage from H. glauconome. Also, molecular evidence of a third lineage from the south of Texas needs further study. This study suggests that different evidence should be provided when morphology is not enough for delimiting species, especially in recently diverged species. Furthermore, the H. g. grisea cytochrome oxidase I sequence (658 bp) is published for the first time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biogeography and Diversity of Butterflies and Moths)
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