New data concerning the butterfly fauna (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea) of Veglia – Devero Natural Park and its surroundings (northwestern Italian Alps)

Abstract

Species inventories represent a key instrument by which the biodiversity of an area can be better understood and are essential in developing optimal management plans for conservation. We present an annotated checklist of the butterfly fauna (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea) of the Special Area of Conservation Alpi Veglia – Devero – Monte Giove, in the northwestern Italian Alps. The checklist represents the result of research carried out by the authors from 2003 to 2018. We identified 107 species (36.9% of the entire Italian butterfly fauna), eight of which are reported for the first time in the study area. Four species (Erebia christi, Maculinea arion, Parnassius apollo, P. mnemosyne) represent taxa of conservation concern that are included in the European Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC. We recorded a notable percentage (12.2%) of Alpine endemic species and a high number of species of the genus Erebia (17 species, 15.9%), including two highly localized Alpine endemics: E. christi and E. flavofasciata. We report new localities for these two species, discuss in more detail 19 species of particular interest, and for all species we provide information about their distribution and conservation status in the study area. Profile