Authors:

General Advisors:

Jim P. Brock email
Member of the Board of Directors: Butterflies of America Foundation
5150 N. Stonehouse Place, Tucson, AZ 85750.  Research Associate: Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute.  Author with Kenn Kaufman: Butterflies of North America; Author with Richard A. Bailowitz: "Butterflies of Southeastern Arizona"; Author with Thomas J. Allen & Jeffrey Glassberg: Caterpillars in the Field and Garden

Kenn Kaufman email, website Naturalist and Author of the Kaufman Field Guide Series.  Author with Jim P. Brock: Butterflies of North America

Dr. Robert M. Pyle
Author and Naturalist.  369 Loop Rd., Gray's River, WA 98621.  Founder of The Xerces Society.  Author: "National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies"; "The Butterflies of Cascadia; Watching Washington Butterflies"; "The IUCN Invertebrate Red Data Book"; "Handbook for Butterfly Watchers"; "Butterflies: A Peterson Field Guide Coloring Book"; "Insects: A Peterson Guide Coloring Book"; "Wintergreen: Rambles in a Ravaged Land"; "The Thunder Tree: Lessons From an Urban Wildland"; "Where Bigfoot Walks: Across the Dark Divide"; "Chasing Monarchs: Migrating With the Butterflies of Passage"; "Nabokov's Butterflies" (with Brian Boyd & Dmitri Nabokov); "Walking the High Ridge: Life as a Field Trip."

Scientific Advisors:

André Victor Lucci Freitas, PhD email Skype (avlfreitas)
Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas CP 6109, Campinas, São Paulo CEP 13083-970, Brasil, Tel-55-19-35216310

Blanca Huertas, MSc contact
Curator of Lepidoptera, Entomology Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD, London, UK

Prof. Dr. Gerardo Lamas email
Departamento de Entomología, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru

Content Advisors:

Todd L. Stout email, Raising Butterflies website, Utah Lepidopterists' Society website
1456 North General Drive, Salt Lake City, UT  84116, 801-558-6302.  Research Associate: The International Lepidoptera Survey
Member At Large: The Lepidopterists’ Society Secretary/Treasurer/Webmaster: Utah Lepidopterists’ Society Founder, Webmaster: Utah Bug Club

 INTRODUCTION

In the interactive list presented herein, family-, genus-, and species-level nomenclature generally follows Pelham (2008) and/or Opler & Warren (2002, 2005) for taxa occurring in the United States and Canada, Smith et al. (1994) for Caribbean taxa, and Warren (2002), Lamas (2004), Mielke (2005), or recently published studies (e.g., Wahlberg et al. 2005, Brower et al. 2006) for other Neotropical taxa, with few exceptions.  All cases that differ from these sources, as well as undescribed taxa indicated in the list, will be elaborated upon in future publications currently under preparation by the authors of this list and their colleagues.  Scientific names used herein strictly conform to the mandatory provisions of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999), with one exception.  The provision in the Code requiring agreement in the gender of species-group names (when they are not or do not end in a Latin or Latinized adjective or participle in the nominative singular; see ICZN 1999: 38, article 31.2.1) with that of the genus-group name (ICZN 1999: 38, article 31.2, p. 43, article 34.2) has not been followed.  For a complete discussion of why the application of this provision is impractical and problematical, see Sommerer (2002) and Lamas (2004).  Therefore, in cases where the status of emended names is questionable (see ICZN 1999: 39-43, articles 32 and 33), the original orthography of names is used herein.  Use of the word “Complex” after a species’ name indicates that more than one species is apparently represented by that name, yet relationships of the undescribed taxa remain poorly understood.  Unlike scientific names, where rules dictated by the ICZN govern the use and application of all names, there are no rules governing the use or application of English, “common,” or “vernacular” names, and such names have no formal taxonomic standing.  Common names used herein are taken mostly from Warren & Llorente (1999), Brock & Kaufman (2006) and Warren et al. (2008), with new names coined for many Central American taxa.   

The current listing includes all species, subspecies, and distinctive undescribed segregates known to the authors to occur on the North American continent, from Alaska through Panama, Hawaii and the Caribbean islands (excluding Trinidad, Tobago, and islands off the Venezuelan coast).  Since our knowledge of the butterfly fauna of Mexico and Central America remains largely fragmentary, we anticipate frequent additions of Neotropical taxa to the list over time.   

See References for the Introduction

This web-site is a constant work in progress. We try our best to provide the most accurate information available to us, however, errors inevitably creep in and are the responsibility of the authors, not advisors or photo contributors. If you suspect that some identifications are not correct, please contact one of the authors.

Most photographs of specimens (except type specimens) have been digitally edited to eliminate imperfections that detract from the features important for identification and visual enjoyment of images.

You will also want to visit the Electronic Reference Library for downloadable scientific papers in PDF format.
This is where you can download the current Interactive Listing of American Butterflies.