J.D. Lafontaine and J.T. Troubridge. 1998. Moths and Butterflies (Lepidoptera) in Smith, I.M., and G.G.E. Scudder, eds. Assessment of species diversity in the Montane Cordillera Ecozone. Burlington: Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network, 1998.

MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES
(LEPIDOPTERA)

J.D. Lafontaine
and
J.T. Troubridge

CONCLUSIONS

The Montane Cordillera Ecozone supports a diverse fauna of butterflies and moths with 1,983 species recorded, 44% of the entire Lepidoptera fauna of Canada.

Our knowledge of the Lepidoptera fauna of the Ecozone in terms of distribution, abundance, habitat requirements, and life history, varies greatly from group to group. These data are well known only for a few groups such as the butterflies and some families of large moths (e.g. Giant Silk Moths (Saturniidae) and Sphinx Moths (Sphingidae). Other groups, such as Cutworm Moths (Noctuidae), Tiger Moths (Arctiidae), Geometer Moths (Geometridae), and Prominent Moths (Notodontidae), are moderately well known, at least in terms of general distribution and abundance. Most of the 49 families of Microlepidoptera are poorly known in the Ecozone; although the species diversity of families such as Pyralidae, Tortricidae, Hepialidae, Limnacodidae, and Hepialidae are probably about 80% known.

The impressive diversity of the Montane Cordillera Ecozone results from two factors: 1) the distinct ecological habitats within the Ecozone, and 2) the number of adjacent Ecozones that spill over the geographical borders into the Montane Cordilleran Ecozone. The adjacent Ecozones that filter into the Montane Cordillera Ecozone are: 1) the Plains Ecozone, which extends into the Rocky Mountain foothills in southestern Alberta and in a small area in southwestern British Columbia; 2) the Boreal Plains Ecozone, which extends through the Peace River district into the Fraser Basin and Fraser Plateau Ecoregions; 3) Boreal Cordillera Ecozone, which extends into the northern portion of the Montane Cordillera Ecozone and is probably best studied on Pink Mountain; 4) the Pacific Maritime Ecozone with species from the Coastal Mountains occurring in the western portion of the Montane Cordillera Ecozone, particularly in the Lillooet area, and species from the Lower Mainland that extend along the Fraser River to Lytton and beyond.

There are three main terrestrial habitat types within the Ecozone: 1) arid bunchgrass habitat characteristic of the Great Basin, which occurs in the Ecozone primarily in the Okanagan Valley, and to a lesser extent along the Similkameen River (especially near Keremeos), along the Thompson River (mainly near Kamloops), and along the Fraser River (especially near Williams Lake); 2) montane conifer forests, mainly those of the Rocky Mountain system, which extends from Colorado to Yukon, and the Cascades Range that extends from northern California into the southwestern part of the Ecozone in the Manning Park area (the Okanagan Range Ecoregion); and 3) alpine tundra habitat above treeline throughout the Ecozone, which includes both mesic alpine habitat in most of the Ecozone that is characterized by species that occur in the mountains of western United States and Canada, and dry tundra habitat, mainly in the Rocky Mountain rain shadow in Alberta, where the ranges of many arctic species extends southward into the Ecozone.

Most of the threatened and endangered species in the Ecozone are associated with Great Basin bunchgrass habitat, especially those restricted to the Okanagan Valley where much of the original habitat has been converted to agricultural use.