[Taxacom] Fw: [Altaleps] number of butterfly species

[Robin Leech]

Hi Ben,
I am putting your request out to Taxacom.
Robin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Benjamin Proshek" <proshek at ualberta.ca>
To: "ALTALEPS (ALTALEPS)" <altaleps at mailman.srv.ualberta.ca>
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 10:21 PM
Subject: [Altaleps] number of butterfly species


Hello comrades,

Now that winter has set in and the last butterfly has long since settled in 
for the long haul, I have an academic question about them: How many 
butterfly species are there in the world? I mean Papilionoidea, including 
the skippers. I've been trying to find out, but the only reference I can 
find is Robbins 1982 (How many butterfly species? News Lep Soc vol. 3 pp. 
40-41), who estimates ~14,000 species. Does anyone know of a more recent 
scientific estimate?

Cheerio,
Ben


Benjamin Proshek
M.Sc. Candidate
University of Alberta
CW 405 Biological Sciences Centre
Edmonton AB T6G 2E9
tel. 780-492-3080




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