Many insects in the southern hemisphere are regarded as ‘point endemics’ or ‘narrow range endemics’, known from single sites or small, strictly circumscribed areas. Failure to find them elsewhere during extensive targeted searches suggests strongly that such distributions are initially ‘real’ (reflecting long isolation and speciation) rather than the remnant consequences of extensive anthropogenic changes. The latter may further fragment the already small range. Not unexpectedly, such species commonly arouse conservation attention. However, recovery plans or less focused conservation management agendas commonly can pay little constructive heed to ramifications of future climate changes, not least because those ramifications can only be inferred within rather broad limits and require a certain amount of ‘crystal ball-gazing’. In addition, the factors causing the current narrow distributions of the insects can usually only be suggested, most commonly in terms of supply of critical resources as a key component of suitable habitat. In practice, conservation of narrow range species has concentrated almost wholly on urgent short-term issues of site and resource security with—should it be considered at all—little heed to the changing suitability of the site(s) as climates change. This approach alone may prove inadequate and is based on the largely unproven presumption that the species may still be able to persist on those sites. Alternatives may be possible for some taxa, in helping to cater for likely future range changes by (1) acknowledging and plotting environmental gradients and preparing new sites to support those species within the species’ dispersal capability, and (2) securing sites within more distant but potentially suitable areas to receive translocations in the future. Any change in distribution of the species necessitates change of both scope and detail of management, as the spatial and temporal distributions of its resources change. There is at least suggestion that the entire present range of some such taxa may be rendered unsuitable, predominantly by changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, and possibly within only a few decades. Additionally, increasing CO2 levels may influence plant metabolism and affect food availability. Whereas increasing connectivity between occupied sites is a common recommendation in insect species management, it is not as frequently acknowledged that this may not always serve for the longer term. It is, nevertheless, a valid ‘insurance tactic’ to guard against increased risk of destructive fires, already recognized as a threat to many such taxa in Australia and likely to increase in the future with projected global warming. As Dennis (1993) discussed, three aspects of climate change relate strongly to butterfly biology: the absolute rise in regional temperatures and consequent changes in other attributes, particularly precipitation; the rate at which such changes occur; and the frequency and magnitude of ‘extreme weather events’. Consequences to species are extinction, adaptation in situ, or movement elsewhere, with the last of these gaining particular attention for conservation. However, the options available to plan for the future of narrow range endemic insects in the face of range alterations imposed by climate change will vary with the kind of distribution, as well as the level of ecological specialization, with extreme specialization curtailing the alternative ‘outlets of escape’ (Dennis 1993) within an occupied site. Several different scenarios or distribution patterns are evident in narrowly distributed Australian butterflies. They manifest one of about five basic patterns, T. R. New (&) Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia e-mail: T.New@latrobe.edu.au