Language: Catalan
With great rigour and scientific precision, Guia de les Papallones Diürnes de Catalunya sums up the biology, distribution and conservation status of the 202 species of diurnal butterflies known to exist in Catalonia.
The book’s structure is based on individual entries for each species. These include:
- Brief description of European, Iberian and Catalan distribution.
- Distribution map for Catalonia, using the UTM grid 10 × 10 km, differentiating data corresponding to pre- and post-2000.
- Conservation status at regional level following IUCN criteria.
- Biological and morphological description.
- Photographs taken in the wild of immature (egg, caterpillar, chrysalid) and adult states.
The book offers complete and detailed distribution maps for all species, based on published data and, crucially, thousands of unpublished observations obtained through large-scale citizen science projects (Catalan Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, Biodiversidad Virtual, Ornitho.cat), as well as information provided by professional and amateur entomologists. These maps have allowed the evaluation of the conservation status of the species at regional level, applying IUCN criteria.
The text is innovative in that it contains unpublished data on various aspects of the biology and ecology of the species, such as the nutritive plants used, the biological cycle and phenology, habitat preferences, adult behavior, population structure, and threats. The book adopts the most modern and rigorous taxonomical criteria and devotes a section to the morphological description of the adult as well as one which examines the differences between similar species. Finally, the high-quality photographs incorporate symbols which identify the basic distinguishing characteristics of each species.