A distribution atlas of the butterflies of Sardinia (First part)

The authors briefly summarise the history of the discovery of the Sardinian and Sardo-Corsican endemic butterfly species. They provide a critical outline of the Sardinian butterfly fauna and of its most relevant literature, while emphasising the many misidentifications that led a number of species to be erroneously included in the Sardinian fauna. All field data that they personally obtained over a number of years and in all seasons were used to produce a UTM cartographic atlas having a resolution of 5x5 Km quadrates. Species whose presence in Sardinia is regarded as certain are 52. For an additional 5 species, whose presence is considered highly doubtful, more investigations are needed. Many sites featuring in the atlas are new and their discovery sheds new light on the distribution of the Sardinian butterfly fauna in general and of endemites in particular, as well as of some migratory species. Endemic species have been dealt with in finer detail.