Biodiversity and biogeography of Mexican butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea)

We present a brief history of the scientific study of butterflies in Mexico, which began in the 18th century, and provide an overview of the holdings of Mexican butterfly specimens in institutional collections worldwide. The current status of a massive database on Mexican butterflies, at present containing over 450,000 distributional records, is detailed. Around 1800 species of butterflies have been reported from Mexico, which equals roughly 10% of the world butterfly fauna, placing Mexico among the ten most butterfly-rich countries in the world. About 14.8% of Mexico's butterfly species are endemic, and six genera appear to be endemic to Mexico. For the first time, we present a list of all endemic Mexican butterfly taxa: 88 species and 150 additional subspecies of Papilionoidea, and 171 species and 14 additional subspecies of Hesperiidae. Patterns of species richness and endemism are not alike; the richest areas are in the southeastern part of Mexico, mostly in the tropical evergreen forests, whereas endemism is greater in the arid north, and the humid montane forest in the central and southern parts of the country. The twenty richest sites for butterfly diversity in Mexico are identified, and comparisons are made between these sites and regions.