ARPHA Preprints, doi: 10.3897/arphapreprints.e98740
The biodiversity of the nymphalid family (Insect, Lepidoptera): species collected in Romania’s fauna between 1887–1984
expand article infoCristina Stancă-Moise, George Moise, Tom Brereton§, Mirela Stanciu
‡ "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu, Sibiu, Romania§ Butterfly Conservation, Wareham, Dorset, United Kingdom
Open Access
Abstract

This paper complements the data published thus far about species of the nymphalid family with data collected in Romania’s eight regions between 1887–1984 and elsewhere in Europe (Austria, Croatia, the Republic of Moldova, and Serbia), including the date and the site of original collection. For the first time, this research presents the collecting information of the species held in the entomological collection of the Museum of Natural History in Sibiu. It identifies the species of the nymphalid family in six of the museum’s lepidoptera collections. These collections are of extraordinary interest not least because they are associated with natural scientists of European renown such as Daniel Czekelius, Eugen Worell, Viktor Weindel, Rolf Weirauch, Heinrich Hann von Hannenheim, and Eckbert Schneider. The analysis, cataloguing, centralization, and updating of the nomenclature resulted in a number of 1.865 specimens from 49 species and fifteen genera (of the 90 referenced in Romania’s fauna): Aglais, Apatura, Araschnia, Argynnis, Brenthis, Boloria, Euphydryas, Inachis, Issoria, Libythea, LimenitisMelitaea, Neptis, Nymphalis, Polygonia. 

Data published in a previous article adds 101 specimens from the Vanessa genus. Most species originate regionally from the 9 counties of Transylvania followed by Oltenia and Moldova (3 counties each), Banat and Dobrogea (2 counties each), Crișana, Satu Mare, and Muntenia (1 county each), and the capital Buchrest. The species presented in this paper also include the extinct taxon Polygonia egea, Eugen Worrell collection and two species that are endemic to Romania: Melitaea retyezatica, Daniel Czekelius collection and Boloria pales caprathomeridionalis, both Viktor Weindel collection.

Keywords
Butterfly, conservation, collections, endemic, Museum of Natural History in Sibiu