Contribution to the knowledge of the butterfly fauna (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of the north-eastern part of the Republic of Kosovo

Abstract

Butterflies are highly sensitive to habitat and climate changes, and are recognized as important indicators of the state of the environment. Therefore their diversity needs to be studied on a regional scale in order to take actions for their protection by national and international legislation. Here, the results of a butterfly survey in the northeastern part of Kosovo are presented. A total of 93 species were recorded from 2014 to 2017 in six localities, including seven Hesperiidae, four Papilionidae, 15 Pieridae, 25 Lycenidae, 41 Nymphalidae and a single species of Riodinidae. Six of them are listed in the Red List of European Butterflies, all as Near Threatened: Cupido decoloratus (Staudinger, 1886), Pseudophilotes vicrama (Moore, 1865), Hipparchia statilinus (Hufnagel, 1766), Melitaea aurelia (Nickerl, 1850), Melitaea diamina (Lang, 1789) and Parnassius mnemosyne (Linnaeus, 1758). Five species are listed in the recently published Red book of the fauna of Kosovo: two species as Vulnerable (VU), Lycaena dispar (Haworth, 1802) and Thecla betulae (Linnaeus, 1758) and three as Near Threatened, Cupido decoloratus (Staudinger, 1886), Papilio machaon (Linnaeus, 1758) and Zerynthia cerysi (Godart, 1824). From a zoogeographical point of view, the reported species represent eight faunal elements: 51 Euro-Siberian (ES), 27 Euro-Oriental (EO), six Euro-Meridional (EM), five Holarctic (Hol), two Tropical (Tro), one Boreo-Montane (BM), one Cosmopolitan (Cos) and one Mediterranean (Med). We conclude that 93 species of butterfly fauna recorded in this survey represent a relatively high diversity, but further surveys need to be organized in order to gather more data.