Atlantic butterflies: a data set of fruit-feeding butterfly communities from the Atlantic forests.

Butterflies are one of the best-known insect groups, and they have been the subject of numerous studies in ecology and evolution, especially in the tropics. Much attention has been given to the fruit-feeding butterfly guild in biodiversity conservation studies, due to the relative ease with which taxa may be identified and specimens sampled using bait traps. However, there remain many uncertainties about the macroecological and biogeographical patterns of butterflies in tropical ecosystems.

Chromosome evolution in Neotropical butterflies.

We list the chromosome numbers for 65 species of Neotropical Hesperiidae and 104 species or subspecies of Pieridae. In Hesperiidae the tribe Pyrrhopygini have a modal n = 28, Eudaminae and Pyrgini a modal n = 31, while Hesperiinae have n = around 29. Among Pieridae, Coliadinae have a strong modal n = 31 and among Pierinae Anthocharidini are almost fixed for n = 15 while Pierini vary with n = 26 as the most common chromosome number.

Chromosomal evolution in the South American Riodinidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea).

We give the haploid chromosome numbers of 173 species or subspecies of Riodinidae as well as of 17 species or subspecies of neotropical Lycaenidae for comparison. The chromosome numbers of riodinids have thus far been very poorly known. We find that their range of variation extends from n = 9 to n = 110 but numbers above n = 31 are rare.

Phylogenetic relationships of butterflies of the tribe Acraeini (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Heliconiinae) and the evolution of host plant use.

The tribe Acraeini (Nymphalidae, Heliconiinae) is believed to comprise between one and seven genera, with the greatest diversity in Africa. The genera Abananote, Altinote, and Actinote (s. str.

Chromosomal evolution in the South American Nymphalidae.

We give the chromosome numbers of about 80 species or subspecies of Biblidinae as well as of numbers of neotropical Libytheinae (one species), Cyrestinae (4) Apaturinae (7), Nymphalinae (about 40), Limenitidinae (16) and Heliconiinae (11). Libytheana has about n=32, the Biblidinae, Apaturinae and Nymphalinae have in general n=31, the Limenitidinae have n=30, the few Argynnini n=31 and the few species of Acraeni studied have also mostly n=31. The results agree with earlier data from the Afrotropical species of these taxa.

Chromosome evolution in Neotropical Danainae and Ithomiinae (Lepidoptera).

Chromosome numbers are given for 1011 populations of 242 species, representing the full range of taxa (49 of the about 52 presently recognized genera) in the Neotropical Nymphalid butterfly subfamily Ithomiinae (prime movers for mimicry rings), including many additional geographical subspecies from 47 regions from Mexico and the Caribbean islands throughout all tropical South American countries to southern Brazil. Twelve Neotropical Danainae (in 3 genera), all but one with n=29-31, and the Australian Tellervo (n=32) served as sister groups for comparison. The numbers range near-continuously from n=5 to n=120 with modal values (33-84 counts) at n=12-18, and only 16 and 26 counts at the usual modal number of all butterfly groups, n=30-31.

Phylogeny of the Nymphalidae (Lepidoptera).

A generic-level phylogeny for the butterfly family Nymphalidae was produced by cladistic analysis of 234 characters from all life stages. The 95 species in the matrix (selected from the 213 studied) represent all important recognized lineages within this family. The analysis showed the taxa grouping into six main lineages.