Procurando contribuir para o levantamento sistemático e o conhecimento das borboletas da Mata Atlântica do Rio Grande do Sul, foram realizadas saídas bimestrais em quatro localidades no vale do rio Maquiné, entre junho de 2001 e agosto de 2002. Foi elaborada uma listagem com 292 espécies de borboletas, sendo destas 42 registros novos para o Rio Grande do Sul e sete espécies raras e/ou indicadoras de ambiente preservado.

Environmental gradients consist of sequential changes in the physical and structural characteristics of a region. These allow us to follow species responses and tolerances under different habitat conditions. Among them, forest fragmentation and succession comprise the most common examples of forest gradients, where organismal responses require distinct morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations. However, environmental changes can impose ecological and evolutionary constraints that act on species traits, as well as on local species assemblies through their phylogenetic history. In this study, we evaluated the differences in species distribution and composition on fruit‐feeding butterfly assemblages along forest fragmentation and succession gradients. We combine functional and phylogenetic methods for determining butterfly assemblages, and inferred species resistance and resilience according to habitat changes in tropical forests. We used a database of 471 fruit‐feeding butterflies of 60 species sampled from different environments in the central Amazon rainforest. A total of 13 functional traits were measured, and a phylogenetic tree was obtained for the sampled species. The trait–environment relationship was analyzed along both forest fragmentation and succession gradients, controlling for phylogenetic signal on species distribution and functional composition when necessary. Several traits presented phylogenetic signal, and phylogeny was also driving butterfly species distribution along the successional gradient. After controlling for phylogeny, individual characteristics related to flight speed (thoracic weight) and anti‐predatory strategies (camouflage) increased in early‐successional forests, with large butterflies (body length) prevailing in primary forests. No clear functional and phylogenetic pattern was identified for the fragmentation gradient. Our results are consistent with the idea that butterflies may be employing distinct functional strategies to attenuate habitat change effects. Larger butterflies, with lower dispersal ability, are preferentially susceptible to local extinctions in the early‐successional environments, mainly when forested habitat and its resources become spatially restricted. In addition, several anti‐predatory strategies related to conspicuous colors may be losing their functionality in open areas, where not being distinctive against the background becomes the primary defense against predation.

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Butterflies are one of the best‐known insect groups, and they have been the subject of numerous studies in ecology and evolution, especially in the tropics. Much attention has been given to the fruit‐feeding butterfly guild in biodiversity conservation studies, due to the relative ease with which taxa may be identified and specimens sampled using bait traps. However, there remain many uncertainties about the macroecological and biogeographical patterns of butterflies in tropical ecosystems. In the present study, we gathered information about fruit‐feeding butterfly species in local communities from the Atlantic Forests of South America. The ATLANTIC BUTTERFLIES data set, which is part of ATLANTIC SERIES data papers, results from a compilation of 145 unpublished inventories and 64 other references, including articles, theses, and book chapters published from 1949 to 2018. In total, the data set contains 7,062 records (presence) of 279 species of fruit‐feeding butterflies identified with taxonomic certainty, from 122 study locations. The Satyrini is the tribe with highest number of species (45%) and records (30%), followed by Brassolini, with 13% of species and 12.5% of records. The 10 most common species correspond to 14.2% of all records. This data set represents a major effort to compile inventories of fruit‐feeding butterfly communities, filling a knowledge gap about the diversity and distribution of these butterflies in the Atlantic Forest. We hope that the present data set can provide guidelines for future studies and planning of new inventories of fruit‐feeding butterflies in this biome. The information presented here also has potential use in studies across a great variety of spatial scales, from local and landscape levels to macroecological research and biogeographical research. We expect that such studies be very important for the better implementation of conservation initiatives, and for understanding the multiple ecological processes that involve fruit‐feeding butterflies as biological indicators. No copyright restrictions apply to the use of this data set. Please cite this Data paper when using the current data in publications or teaching events.

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Abstract:To address how seasonality affects the richness and abundance of tropical insects, we compared the canopy and understorey communities of fruit-feeding butterflies in a seasonal Atlantic forest in south-eastern Brazil. Butterflies were sampled over 1 y using a standardized design with baited traps. A total of 2047 individuals in 69 species were recorded (1415 in the canopy, 632 in the understorey). Clear differences were found between canopy and understorey, with significantly higher butterfly abundances in the canopy. We observed two marked peaks of abundance and richness in both strata; one at the transition from dry to the wet seasons, and the other at the transition from wet to dry seasons. We found lower species turnover throughout the year in the canopy. We interpret this as evidence that temperature is more important than rainfall in explaining the yearly variation of abundance in vertical strata. The higher temperatures found in the canopy may allow butterflies to maintain activity in this stratum all year round, whereas the understorey is subject to colder temperatures, thus presenting a higher species turnover. These results improve our understanding of diversity gradients between evergreen and seasonal tropical forests, allowing insights into how climate and beta diversity gradients interact.

This study presents a compilation of fruit-feeding butterflies species for Rio Grande do Sul Atlantic Forest aiming to be a tool for identification of these lepidopterans from two phytophysiognomies of this biome. Samples were carried out for more than four years with entomological nets and bait traps techniques in areas of Subtropical Atlantic Forest (SAF) and Araucaria Moist Forest (AMF). Seventy-six butterfly species were recorded in this region of Atlantic Forest, 60 species for SAF and 53 for AMF. Fruit-feeding butterflies represent about 50% of the total species richness of the Nymphalidae recorded for the region, a value of the same order of those found for similar studies in tropical forests regions. Dasyophthalma rusina is a new record for Rio Grande do Sul.

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