Słowińska Iwona, Jonko Krzysztof
Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland.
Łódź, Poland.
PeerJ. 2025 Feb 17;13:e18720. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18720. eCollection 2025.
It is well known that butterflies are valuable indicators of environmental quality, given their existence in various habitats. Collecting and regularly updating data on species richness, abundance, and distribution of all butterfly species in the country is crucial for effective monitoring and conservation efforts, which can ultimately help minimise biodiversity losses. Since the last publication of the Georgian butterfly list, there have been numerous reports registering taxonomic revisions, nomenclatural changes or providing several new butterfly "cryptic species" based on genetic research. In the following article, based on a review of various sources of data, including existing literature and new, unpublished data, we present an annotated regional checklist of butterflies of Georgia, a country that is a part of the Caucasus ecoregion representing one of 36 biodiversity "hotspots".
A database with all reported species for Georgia was created by compiling information from critical reviews of all available literature reports, records submitted by contributors of three websites dedicated to butterfly fauna, and data deposited in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database. Various specialised sources were used to extract vernacular species names (Georgian, Russian and English).
The updated list of butterflies from Georgia includes 244 species of the superfamily Papilionoidea recorded from almost 600 different locations. Nearly 25% of the 244 species were considered rare and extremely rare, while at the same time being at risk of potential extinction. For each species, we present brief phenological information, distribution in Georgia/Caucasus, occurrence status in each region of the country, thumbnails (ventral and dorsal view), as well as a list of vernacular names in Georgian, Russian and English. Regarding species that are reported in the literature as new, uncertain, or questionable in Georgia, we provide the relevant comments. In comparison to the other republics of Transcaucasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan), we noted a similar number of species. Our studies provide a robust baseline of data for further exploration of the Lepidoptera fauna of Georgia. This foundation should help to fill in the gaps in knowledge regarding regional species distribution, phenology, and habitat requirements.
众所周知，蝴蝶是环境质量的重要指标，因为它们存在于各种栖息地。收集并定期更新该国所有蝴蝶物种的物种丰富度、丰度和分布数据，对于有效的监测和保护工作至关重要，这最终有助于将生物多样性损失降至最低。自上次公布格鲁吉亚蝴蝶名录以来，已有大量报告记录了分类学修订、命名变化，或基于基因研究提供了几种新的蝴蝶“隐存种”。在接下来的文章中，基于对各种数据来源的综述，包括现有文献和新的未发表数据，我们呈现了格鲁吉亚的蝴蝶注释区域名录，格鲁吉亚是高加索生态区的一部分，代表了36个生物多样性“热点”之一。
通过汇编所有现有文献报告的批判性综述、三个致力于蝴蝶动物群的网站贡献者提交的记录以及全球生物多样性信息设施（GBIF）数据库中存储的数据，创建了一个包含格鲁吉亚所有报告物种的数据库。使用各种专业来源提取当地物种名称（格鲁吉亚语、俄语和英语）。
更新后的格鲁吉亚蝴蝶名录包括从近600个不同地点记录的244种凤蝶总科物种。这244种物种中近25%被认为是稀有和极稀有的，同时面临潜在灭绝的风险。对于每个物种，我们提供简要的物候信息、在格鲁吉亚/高加索的分布、在该国各地区的出现状况、缩略图（腹面和背面视图），以及格鲁吉亚语、俄语和英语的当地名称列表。对于文献中报道在格鲁吉亚为新物种、不确定或有疑问的物种，我们提供了相关评论。与外高加索其他共和国（亚美尼亚、阿塞拜疆）相比，我们注意到物种数量相似。我们的研究为进一步探索格鲁吉亚的鳞翅目动物群提供了坚实的数据基础。这一基础应有助于填补关于区域物种分布、物候和栖息地要求的知识空白。
