Zoogeography of the diurnal butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea) from Chile

Abstract

The paper presents a zoogeographical analysis of the 172 taxa of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea) from the 13 administrative regions of Chile. The two complementary statistical analyses performed (correspondence analysis and cluster analysis) yield concordant results. The fauna show a strong north-south latitudinal gradient. The northernmost regions, Tarapacá andAntofagasta, cluster in a zoogeographic unit equivalent to the other regions of Chile (III-XII). The first zoogeographical unit is concordant with the range of tropical butterflies, and the second unit is concordant with the Mediterranean and oceanic ranges; the second zoogeographical unit can be further divided in three subordinate subunits on the north-south gradient: the first in Regions III-VII, based on a arid and sub humid Mediterranean fauna (Regions III-VII), and the second based on humid Mediterranean and oceanic areas (Regions VII-X); the regions from the extreme south (XI-XII) belong to a third subunit, with a cold climate, humid in the western sector and arid in the eastern sector. The future zoogeographical analyses of the butterflies of Chile must include the altitudinal species distribution, corroborated with the species range in the neighboring countries - Perú, Bolivia and Argentina - in order to establish the endmicity level and to generate conservation measures.