Thumbnail
Galleries & Indexes
There are over
18000 butterfly species in the world. It is beyond the scope of any
website to cover all of them, but
the links below will take you to photographs and descriptions of
about 2000 species from all families in all regions of the world.
Thumbnail galleries:
British Isles |
British residents and most migrants from Europe. |
Europe |
Europe and the part of Africa that is north of the Sahara. |
Africa |
Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and the Arab states. |
South America |
South
America,
Central America and the Caribbean islands. |
North America |
USA, Canada and Mexico. |
temperate Asia |
Russia,
China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan. |
Indian subcontinent |
India, Sri Lanka, Nepal. |
Oriental region |
Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines. |
Australia & New Zealand |
Australia, New Zealand. |
Papuan region |
Sulawesi, West Irian, Papua New Guinea, Solomon islands. |
Scientific names Indexes:
British Isles |
British residents and most migrants from Europe. |
Europe |
Europe and the part of Africa that is north of the Sahara. |
Africa |
Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and the Arab states. |
South America |
South
America,
Central America and the Caribbean islands. |
North America |
USA, Canada and Mexico. |
temperate Asia |
Russia,
China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan. |
Oriental region |
Indian subcontinent, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines. |
Australia & Papuan region |
Australia, New Zealand, Papua, West Irian, Sulawesi etc. |
The
zoogeographical regions of the world
Arctic - This
barren and frozen area is virtually devoid of butterflies. Its fauna
comprises of just a few temporary migrants that appear in the summer
months.
Nearctic - The North American (
USA & Canada ) part of the Holarctic region. Habitats within the
Nearctic include temperate broadleaved and coniferous forests,
subtropical humid or dry deciduous forests, deserts, chaparral,
savannah grasslands and alpine pastures.
Palaearctic - This is the
European, Asian and North African part of the Holarctic region.
Habitats within the Palaearctic region include tundra, deserts, scrub,
grasslands, pastures, alpine meadows and temperate broadleaved and
coniferous forests.
Neotropical - This stretches from
Mexico to the southern tip of South America, and also includes the
Caribbean islands. Habitats in this region include rainforests,
cloudforests, puna and paramo grasslands and deserts.
Afrotropical - The Afrotropical
region encompasses the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, Arabia and
Madagascar. Habitats within the Afrotropical region include tropical /
subtropical forests, savannah grasslands, scrub and deserts.
Oriental - This encompasses all of
tropical and subtropical Asia from the Indian subcontinent to the
Philippines, Borneo and Bali. Habitats within this region include
evergreen rainforests, cloudforests, temperate and subtropical
deciduous forests, deserts, thorn scrub and savannah grasslands.
Australian
- The Australian region encompasses the area east of the Wallace Line,
i.e. Sulawesi, Lombok, Timor, Halmahera, West Irian, Papua New Guinea,
New Britain, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands, as well as
Australia and New Zealand. Habitats within this region are extremely
diverse and include evergreen rainforests, cloudforests, temperate /
subtropical deciduous forests, oceanic regions, deserts, thorn scrub
and savannah grasslands.
|