ABSTRACT

The Mixedwood Plains Ecozone of southern Ontario and Quebec supports a diverse fauna of more than 2600 species of butterflies and moths (Order Lepidoptera). The best known and most conspicuous of these are the 144 species of butterflies. The species of Lepidoptera of the Ecozone are arranged in 63 families of which four large families make up more than 60% of the diversity: the cutworms (family Noctuidae), with 692 species makes up more than 1/4 of the Lepidoptera; the budworms (family Tortricidae), pyralid moths (family Pyralidae), and geometers (family Geometridae) have 387, 274 and 262 recorded species respectively. The Lepidoptera fauna of the Ecozone is reviewed in terms of diversity, state of knowledge of the major groups, origins of the fauna, post-glacial and relict patterns, recent changes in distribution, and endangered and threatened species.

Table of Contents

• INTRODUCTION

• LEPIDOPTERA DISTRIBUTION

• LEPIDOPTERA CLASSIFICATION AND HABITS

• TABLE 1. DIVERSITY OF LEPIDOPTERA SPECIES BY FAMILY

• DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS

• POST-GLACIAL DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS

• RECENT CHANGES IN DISTRIBUTION

• ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES

• SPECIAL AREAS

• CONCLUSIONS

• REFERENCES

• TABLE 3. BIODIVERSITY OF THE MIXEDWOOD PLAINS ECOZONE: BUTTERFLIES

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