Diario del proyecto Waterton Lakes National Park Lepidoptera

To date, survey work has led to the documentation of 750+ species in the park, making it the most diverse place for Lepidoptera in Alberta. This works out to about 30% of the Lepidopera species known in Alberta including 46 families of Lepidopterans. Though I suspect we have likely found the lion’s share of species that reside here, there are likely at least another 200 species or so that remain undiscovered as we try and explore some of the harder to reach habitats in the alpine and more isolated regions of the park.

Some of the notable discoveries over the past century include the following species: four species of Greya (G. obscuromaculata; G. enchrysa & G. subalba; G. variata); Platphalonidia imitabilis (known globally only from the park); Western Sheep Moth; Sooty Hairstreak (Waterton is the sole Canadian population known); Pale Swallowtail; Clodius Parnassius; Nemoria darwiniata; Drepanulatrix falcataria; Tetracis cervinaria; Tolype dayi; Lygephila victoria; Drasteria sabulosa; Catocala californica; Catocala grotiana; Pseudeva palligera; Sympistis amun; Apamea antennata; Andropolia theodori; Zosteropoda hirtipes; Hydroeciodes serrata; Dichagyris grotei; Euxoa shasta; Euxoa perexcellans; Agrotis antica; Parabagrotis sulinaris; Abagrotis forbesi; and Pronoctua typica just to name a few (see the notes in Pohl et al. 2010 for many more species known in AB only from Waterton).