Abstract
The objectives of this study were to identify anthophilous butterflies on psychophilous flowers of four Asteraceae species in an Atlantic Forest fragment in Viçosa, Minas Gerais State, Southeastern Brazil, and to determine whether there are species in common with other lepidopteran inventories of the Southeastern and Midwestern regions of Brazil. It is the first inventory of anthophilous butterflies of a semideciduous forest fragment in Zona da Mata, State of Minas Gerais. A total of 108 species were recorded, representing the fourth largest lepidopteran survey in this State. The results demonstrated that Asteraceae species may be important tools for monitoring anthophilous butterflies. The similarity with other inventories ranged from 1 to 92.55%. Fifteen species were reported for the first time in the State of Minas Gerais, and among them, Melanis alena and Thisbe irenea were observed in this study only.
Highlights
Atlantic Forest is one of the most threatened and destroyed biomes of the planet
The municipality of Viçosa is located in the Zona da Mata and originally its vegetation consisted of continuous forests inserted in Atlantic Forest domains, which is classified as Montane Semideciduous Forest (Veloso et al, 1991)
A total of 108 anthophilous butterfly species were recorded on the flowers of four asteracean species in Mata do Paraíso, belonging to 70 genera, 16 subfamilies and five families (Table 1)
Summary
Atlantic Forest is one of the most threatened and destroyed biomes of the planet. Today, the remaining forests cover about 100,000 km, corresponding to 1% of the Brazilian territory (Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica, 2009). In the State of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil, the Atlantic Forest covers about 10.33% of the territory (IEF, 2010), including the region known as Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais. The municipality of Viçosa is located in the Zona da Mata and originally its vegetation consisted of continuous forests inserted in Atlantic Forest domains, which is classified as Montane Semideciduous Forest (Veloso et al, 1991). The original vegetation was replaced by coffee plantations for some time, and today the vegetation is predominantly pastureland covered with molasses grass (Mellinis minutiflora Beauv.) and secondary forests in different successional stages. The forest in different succession stages covers an area of 194.36 ha (Pinto et al, 2007) and represents a vegetation island
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