Major
Environmental Science
Anticipated Graduation Year
2022
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
The Order Lepidoptera is one of the most widely recognized orders in the world, it includes butterflies and moths and composes 10% of all described species on the planet. Butterflies and moths have an important role as pollinators, food sources and biological indicators of ecosystem health. Peru is a megadiverse country with the most butterfly species in the world, making it an excellent place to study Lepidoptera species richness and moth diversity. Diversity is indicative of ecosystem health, as these species play a vital role in the ecosystem as pollinators and a food source for other species. Traditionally, species richness of a geographic location would be collected from literature or museum inventory, however, citizen science apps like iNaturalist make species identification simpler and easily accessible. Images of moths, butterflies, and caterpillars in the Madre de Dios region were uploaded to iNaturalist and a list of species was compiled.
Community Partners
The Inkaterra Association
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Stephen Mitten, S.J.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Butterflies and Moths of Peru
The Order Lepidoptera is one of the most widely recognized orders in the world, it includes butterflies and moths and composes 10% of all described species on the planet. Butterflies and moths have an important role as pollinators, food sources and biological indicators of ecosystem health. Peru is a megadiverse country with the most butterfly species in the world, making it an excellent place to study Lepidoptera species richness and moth diversity. Diversity is indicative of ecosystem health, as these species play a vital role in the ecosystem as pollinators and a food source for other species. Traditionally, species richness of a geographic location would be collected from literature or museum inventory, however, citizen science apps like iNaturalist make species identification simpler and easily accessible. Images of moths, butterflies, and caterpillars in the Madre de Dios region were uploaded to iNaturalist and a list of species was compiled.