4. Conclusion

Collectively, the Kimberley, Top End, Northern Deserts and western Gulf Country make up a vast and remote area of tropical northern Australia (about 16 per cent of the continent). Until now, this region was arguably the most poorly known area of the Australian continent for butterflies and diurnal moths in terms of basic natural history. Thus, a major goal of this atlas was to address this knowledge gap by compiling a detailed inventory of the species known to occur in the region based on review of the scientific literature, examination of material in museum collections, field surveys and incidental observations.