The environmental or habitat attributes that help to explain an endangered species' occurrence, geographic range and abundance are essential for identifying effective conservation measures to protect and maintain the species. Using binary logistic regression and geographic information system (GIS) techniques, a local species distribution model (LSDM) was devised for the endangered Mission Blue butterfly, Icaricia icarioides missionensis, at the 9,316 ha San Francisco Peninsula Watershed located in San Mateo County, CA. Due to the butterfly's close association with its larval foodplants, three perennial Lupinus (Fabaceae) taxa, these foodplants were used as a surrogate to predict previously undiscovered locations where not only the foodplants but also the Mission Blue might be found. Three environmental attributes, vegetation, soil, and geology types were identified using digital GIS data layers for 22 known foodplant locations from the northern portion of the watershed. A single logistic regression analysis determined specific vegetation, soil, and geology types that were the best predictors for occurrence of the butterfly's larval foodplants. Lupinus were strongly associated (p <0.05) with seven vegetation types (California annual grassland, Baccharis pilularis-Ceanothus thyrsiflorus scrub, B. pilularis-Nassella pulchra, B. pilularis-non-native grassland, B. pilularis-Toxicodendron diversilobium scrub, disturbed, plus roads and shoulders), six soil types (Barnabe-Candlestick complex, Candlestick-Krom-Buriburi complex, Candlestick variant loam, Fagan loam, and Miramar coarse sandy loam), and eight geology types (artificial fill, Greenstone, Sandstone, sheared rock, Granitic rocks of Montara Mountain, alluvial fan and fluvial deposits, Santa Clara formation, and Serpentinite). The GIS analyses identified 1,823 target areas, measuring 2,149 ha or 25.2% of uplands scattered throughout the watershed, which shared the same combinations of the environmental attributes that characterize known foodplant locations. Furthermore, the top target areas are combinations of the aforementioned vegetation, soil, and geology types that the logistic regression analyses confirmed were the best predictors of potential foodplant occurrence. Although the top 10 combinations of these environmental attributes included only 9.5% (205 ha) of the entire target area they included 73.6% of the total foodplant area. Using information from our initial findings and adding to it in subsequent years, our field surveys ultimately identified 119 new foodplant locations with Mission Blue also observed at 61 (51.3%). Overall, Mission Blue adults were observed at 71 (50.4%) of the 141 total foodplant locations in the watershed. All 141 foodplant locations lie within the target areas. The collective area of lupine was a mere 3.45 ha, which represents < 0.04% of uplands and 1.6% of the target areas at the watershed. Even though all portions of the watershed were surveyed, due to the scarcity of Lupinus throughout the entire watershed and small area of the vast majority of lupine patches, the LSDM proved to be extremely helpful in identifying where to focus our field surveys to search for new foodplant locations. In addition, transect counts conducted throughout the entire adult flight season were used to estimate population numbers of the butterfly along a 5.3 km stretch of an unpaved service road in the northern portion of the watershed. On this stretch of service road the estimated annual adult generation size ranged from 94 to 289 (x̄ = 192.8 ± 65.7) butterflies over a 12-year period.

The abundance of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in overwintering habitat has decreased over the past few decades. We investigated how meteorological conditions (temperature and precipitation) and flight speed affect the fall migration of marked and live-resighted Eastern North American monarch butterflies to better understand how climate change may affect their migration. We factorially simulated a range of flight speeds and maximum and minimum temperatures during migration for individual butterflies whose full live capture history was known. Within the allotted dates and time between marking and recapture, we used data from the nearest meteorological stations along the migration route that minimized the distance to recapture locations, to determine the flight speed and maximum and minimum temperature that monarchs use during fall migration. The mean flight speed that optimized the model for individual butterflies was 7.50 ± 5.00 km/h. The thermal conditions best fitting migration ranged from a mean minimum of 7.67 ± 5.42 °C to a mean maximum of 25.2 ± 4.73 °C. The low estimated upper temperature suggests that an increase in temperature due to climate change and an accompanying increase in metabolic demand, may reduce successful fall migration to overwintering sites, overwintering, or remigration the following spring.

Decades after the publication of the first population studies on Neotropical butterflies, knowledge of their population biology remains scarce in the literature. Inconspicuous groups like the nymphalid subfamily Satyrinae are often overlooked, and studies that examine the demographics of these neglected groups are paramount for a more comprehensive understanding of insect population dynamics. The present paper addresses this dearth of information by describing the population biology of three common species of Euptychiina (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) butterflies, Hermeuptychia atalanta, Cissia eous and Malaveria affinis, in a suburban area. A 13-month mark-release-recapture study was carried out in the grass lawns of the University of Campinas, São Paulo State Southeastern Brazil. The results showed that population parameters differ among the three studied species. For example, the population of H. atalanta is about five times that of C. eous, which is four times larger than that of M. affinis. Sex ratios were male-biased in H. atalanta and C. eous, but not in M. affinis (whose sex ratio was 1:1). Hermeuptychia atalanta and C. eous had mean adult lifespans of approximately one week, with no variation between sexes. Malaveria affinis, however, had a lifespan of approximately 11 days for males and just five days for females. Age structures were similar in all three species, with no recruitment peaks detected throughout the year. Sexual dimorphism, based on wing size, was not observed in H. atalanta, but a clear pattern of dimorphism with larger females was observed for the other two species. The present study is the first to describe population parameters for Euptychiina in detail, and one of the few focusing on population biology of butterflies in suburban areas. Indeed, the present results could help to define strategies of lawn management for the campus, aiming to increase local biodiversity and consequently improve ecosystem services.

The Arctiinae moth genus Olepa is known for its range of distribution in India, Sri Lanka, and Israel, with 16 extant species. Intraspecific morphological variation is not well-documented, especially for genital characters. Due to these limitations, the taxonomy of the group has become complex. Interestingly, in recent years, there have been more additions of mt DNA barcode studies for this group; here are wrong identifications that end up in erroneous DNA barcode reports, resulting in a flawed DNA barcode library. In the present account, one such study involving synonymy of the species Olepa schleini Witt et al. 2005 under Olepa ricini (Fabricius, 1775) is discussed. With the multiple evidence from studies including morphological, genitalia studies, and phylogenetic work, we propose to resurrect the species Olepa schleini stat. rev. and Olepa neumuthi Orhant, 2012 stat. rev. from the synonymy with Olepa ricini (Fabricius, 1775) syn. rev. Images and genitalia of adults are illustrated and compared, in addition to the discussion on the phylogenetic position of the genus Olepa and the taxonomic position of the species Olepa ricini based on CoI gene tree.

Urbanization contributes to declines in biodiversity of moths, but how it acts in megalopolises is unclear. In this study, I hypothesized that relative abundance of species within the family Saturniidae changes within megalopolises in eastern and midwestern North America. After compiling records from iNaturalist.org, I assessed 3,272 saturniid observations in areas of low and high human population density around East Coast and Midwest megalopolises including New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Chicago. From rural counties to cities, observations of Antheraea polyphemus increased by 15% while those of all other saturniids decreased by 63%–99%, depending on species. Species with greatest percentage decrease were Dryocampa rubicunda and Anisota senatoria. In cities, observations of A. polyphemus surpassed those of all other saturniids combined. These observations were nearly five times greater than observations of Actias luna, the saturniid with the next highest number of observations. By contrast, in rural counties, observations of the three saturniids (A. luna, A. polyphemus and Eacles imperialis) with the most observations differed by 25% or less. The proportion of saturniid observations specific to A. polyphemus more than doubled from rural counties to cities in each of the five metropolitan regions and in each of New York City's five boroughs except for the borough of Staten Island. The proportion of saturniid observations specific to A. polyphemus was essentially the same in Staten Island compared to less populous rural counties outside the city. Expansive tracts of natural forest in Staten Island likely blunted increases in abundance of A. polyphemus relative to other saturniids. Relative abundance of A. polyphemus in megalopolises increased in proportion to human population density on a subcontinental scale. On a local scale, environmental conditions potentially moderated this increase.

The new geometrid species Chesiadodes montanaensis is described from Carbon Co., Montana, USA.

The taxonomic history of nominal subspecies of Danaus gilippus is reviewed. The historical record together with analysis of both morphological and molecular characters suggest that the current infraspecific nomenclature is in need of revision. The absence of DNA barcode differences and lack of consistent morphological differences in wing maculation in western and eastern populations in continental North America currently assigned to subspecies D. g. thersippus and D. g. berenice, respectively, raise the possibility that only a single subspecies, D. g. berenice, should be recognized. Recently published isotopic evidence for connectivity between eastern and western populations of D. gilippus, and potential ecological consequences of the relatively low numbers present in the spring and summer breeding range of the eastern migratory populations of the monarch, Danaus plexippus, are briefly discussed.