Biodiversity and ecology of Colombian diurnal butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea + Papilionoidea): application of the genetic barcoding technique (MARIPOSA)

Roger Vila Ujaldón, Paul Hebert, Keith Richard Willmott, Gerardo Lamas, Andrew David Warren, Robert Robbins, Mauricio Linares Porto, Sandra Inés Uribe Soto, Efraín Reinel Henao Bañol, Claudia Patricia Sañudo Restrepo, Hannier Wadith Pulido Barrios, Jean François Le Crom, Lorena Ramírez Restrepo, Mario Alejandro Marin Uribe, Yenny Correa Carmona, Alejandra Milena Clavijo Giraldo, Carlos Eduardo Giraldo Sánchez, Ana María Vélez Arango, Carlos Antonio Peña Bieberach, Fredy Montero Abril, Haidy Salinas Hernández.

The MARIPOSA project seeks to study the biodiversity and ecology of a hyperdiverse group (butterflies) in one of the countries richest in biodiversity (Colombia). This undertaking will require the aid of new DNA barcoding techniques and an international team of 21 researchers belonging to 12 institutions in seven different countries.

Our stock of knowledge on butterfly biology, taxonomy and distribution is comparable only to the knowledge we have of vertebrate species. Also, they are in frequent use as bioindicators given their acute sensitivity to climate changes and habitat alteration.

The project will have important implications not only for our understanding and documentation of butterfly biodiversity, but also for the effort to conserve their habitats. The most spectacular, popular butterflies often serve as “umbrella species”, whose protection contributes simultaneously to the conservation of other invertebrates and their habitats.