New distributional records for nymphalid species (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) for the Chocó Region and western Ecuador.

Abstract

Butterflies were collected using traps baited with fermented shrimp at the Río Canandé Reserve in Esmeraldas, northwestern Ecuador, one of the last remnants of tropical wet forests in the Chocó biogeographic region of Ecuador. We recorded one species not previously reported from Ecuador, Opsiphanes zelotes zelotes, and two species not previously reported from the Chocó region, Adelpha naxia naxia and Eunica orphise. In addition, we provide new distributional data for several species that are known from very few localities in western Ecuador, including: Memphis artacaena, M. anna elina, Prepona gnorima jordani, Adelpha hesterbergi, A. heraclea heraclea, A. basiloides and A. barnesia leucas