Butterflies diversity from a remnant of semiurban Caatinga, Septentrional Sertaneja Depression Ecoregion, Patos, Paraíba, Brazil (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea)

Abstract

In order to perform a concise characterization and evaluation of the butterflies taxocenosis structure of the Rural Health and Technology Center (CSTR) of the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), a semiurban area of the Caatinga biome, Semiarid region, in the Septentrional Sertaneja Depression Ecoregion, a species inventory with entomological net was conducted. There were recorded 81 species of butterflies, distributed in a general abundance of 2531 individuals; among them, 808 specimens were captured and collected, and none of the individuals marked with nontoxic pen and released were recaptured. The list of species was complemented by adding nine more butterflies species, mostly Hesperiidae, from collection before and after the sampling period,constituting a total of 90 species. Many of the butterflies species found in the CSTR are new records for Paraíba state and only four species are considered for the Northeast geographic region, based on other checklists for areas of Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, Cerrado and Amazon biomes in this region: Junonia genoveva infuscata Felder & Felder, 1867, Staphylus melangon epicaste Mabille, 1903, Clito sompa Evans, 1953 and Lerema ancillaris (Butler, 1877).