This project will complete a long-term survey of the taxonomy, distribution and ecology of the butterflies of Ecuador, one of the world's most species-rich countries. It will update classification and distributional data for Ecuador's approximately 2700 species of true butterflies through conduct of worldwide museum research and fieldwork throughout all regions of Ecuador. Distributional data will be used in biogeographical and conservation analyses, training of US and Ecuadorian staff and students, and promoting the value of biodiversity research and museums through the dissemination of project results. Since Ecuador harbors about 50% of Neotropical butterfly species, the project results and publications will have a broad impact in the field. The formation of extensive reference collections in the US and Ecuador of dried specimens and alcohol-preserved tissue samples, combined with the training of several parataxonomists, graduate and undergraduate students, will provide a strong foundation for future research on Ecuadorian and Neotropical butterflies. Findings will be broadly disseminated through talks, scientific and popular publications, a series of field guides, a project website, museum exhibits and other educational media. In addition, the project will help Ecuador meet its obligations to the Convention on Biological Diversity and to collaborating environmental organizations that have identified priority areas for conservation.
(#0639977) Principal Investigators: Jason P. W. Hall (Smithsonian Institution) and Keith R. Willmott (University of Florida) This project to study the taxonomy and biology of Ecuador’s c. 2700 true butterflies has led to the publication or submission of over 30 papers and 2 books, one of which, on the riodinid butterfly subtribe Nymphidiina, represents the largest comprehensive phylogenetic revision of any butterfly group. These publications have resulted in the descriptions of many new butterfly taxa from Ecuador and neighboring countries, including dozens of subspecies, 41 new species, and 10 new genera, in the families Nymphalidae, Riodinidae, and Lycaenidae. Other topics of published papers cover the evolution, speciation, mimicry, biogeography, conservation, adult ecology, and immature stages of Ecuadorian butterflies. The combined collecting efforts in Ecuador of all project participants generated over 20,000 dried and 1400 alcohol-preserved adult butterfly specimens, which have been distributed among the project-participating institutions in the United States (USNM and FLMNH) and Ecuador (MECN). Our alcohol-preserved tissue samples from Ecuadorian butterflies have already been used in molecular studies by 12 graduate students and 5 researchers from 13 institutions in 7 countries. An internet-accessible project database of Ecuadorian butterfly specimen data from our own research and worldwide museums contains about 50,000 records. The project provided educational opportunities for 21 high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, and 9 volunteers, in both the United States and Ecuador, and a field course in Ecuador provided training, identification guides, equipment, and digital products to over a dozen local undergraduate students with no access to such resources. Two Ecuadorian graduate students under the supervision of KRW at the University of Florida completed Masters degrees and are studying for their PhD. Butterflies are familiar, large and conspicuous organisms, and therefore attractive to the public and highly suitable for communicating ideas on and fostering support for research and conservation. Therefore, in addition to disseminating the results of this project to other researchers through traditional publications and conference proceedings, we gave numerous presentations in both the United States and Ecuador to local people, students, and educators, assisted in creating a museum exhibit on our Ecuadorian butterfly research at the FLMNH, and have established a Butterflies of Ecuador project website at www.butterfliesofecuador.com.
