The butterflies and burnets (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidea, Lycaenidae, Nymphalidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Zygaenidae) of the Nature Reserve Bosco della Fontana (Lombardy, Italy)

Insects are declining at an alarming rate in many parts of Europe and this also applies to butterflies, one of the most well-studied groups of insects. They are popular with the public and are considered good biodiversity indicators. Bosco Fontana, an isolated protected area, which contains one of the best preserved lowland forests of northern Italy, is surrounded by a highly modified landscape and is known to host some important butterfly populations. To investigate the butterflies and burnets, a total of 22 standard surveys, lasting 25 minutes each, were carried out in four different habitat types of Bosco Fontana in the years 2020 and 2021. The surveys confirmed the presence of 36 species of butterflies and 3 species of burnets for the reserve. Statistical analysis revealed that the butterfly and burnet assemblages of the grasslands, ecotones and forests were distinct, but similar in the two study years (datasets available as supplementary information). Many nemoral species were confirmed for Bosco Fontana, with relict populations of Favonius quercus and Argynnis paphia present only in a few residual forests in the Po Plain. Five species typical of grasslands and other open habitats and belonging to the local species pool of the Po Plain in the province of Mantua, were never detected at Bosco Fontana in the study years. The ecological significance of their absence is discussed.

• Publication year

  2023

• Venue

  Natural History Sciences

• Publication date

  2023-09-27

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.4081/nhs.2023.657
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• The decline of butterflies in Europe: Problems, significance, and possible solutions

  2021cited by this paper
• Agricultural intensification and climate change are rapidly decreasing insect biodiversity

  2021cited by this paper
• A new comprehensive trait database of European and Maghreb butterflies, Papilionoidea

  2020cited by this paper
• Agricultural intensification drives butterfly decline

  2019cited by this paper
• What makes a species a priority for nature conservation?

  2019cited by this paper
• Protected areas do not mitigate biodiversity declines: A case study on butterflies

  2018cited by this paper
• An updated checklist of the European Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea)

  2018cited by this paper
• More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas

  2017cited by this paper
• Applying the dark diversity concept to nature conservation

  2017cited by this paper
• Plot-based butterfly surveys: statistical and methodological aspects

  2014cited by this paper
• Modern forest management and the decline of the Woodland Brown (Lopinga achine) in Central Europe

  2012cited by this paper
• Differences in the climatic debts of birds and butterflies at a continental scale

  2012cited by this paper
• Dark diversity: shedding light on absent species.

  2011cited by this paper
• Monitoring of butterflies within a landscape context in south-eastern Sweden.

  2010cited by this paper
• Monitoring of butterflies in semi-natural grasslands: diurnal variation and weather effects

  2009cited by this paper
• Butterfly monitoring in Europe: methods, applications and perspectives

  2008cited by this paper
• Analysing Ecological Data

  2007cited by this paper
• On resemblance measures for ecological studies, including taxonomic dissimilarities and a zero-adjusted Bray–Curtis coefficient for denuded assemblages

  2006cited by this paper
• Biotope Use and Trends of European Butterflies

  2006cited by this paper
• Local species immigration, extinction, and turnover of butterflies in relation to habitat area and habitat isolation

  2003cited by this paper
• The quality and isolation of habitat patches both determine where butterflies persist in fragmented landscapes

  2001cited by this paper
• Western Palaearctic Zygaenidae

  1999cited by this paper
• The effects of forest fragmentation on butterfly communities in central Spain

  1995cited by this paper
• A method for assessing changes in the abundance of butterflies

  1977cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.