BUTTERFLIES OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA, THE: THEIR SYSTEMATICS AND BIOLOGY

New Guinea, the world's second largest island, lies at the heart of the Australasian centre of species diversity. Their remarkable faunal richness of the region is no more spectacularly evident than in its bewildering and beautiful array of butterflies. Michael Parsons draws on 15 years of study to present a comprehensive description of this butterfly fauna, describing and celebrating their evolution and ecology. New Guinean butterflies provide an excellent example of how a single animal group can diversify to fully exploit the wide array of niches within a tropical rainforest environment, especially in a country where the some of the world's highest mountains produce extreme weather effects, such as phenomenal rainfall and temperatures representing climatic changes to temperate and even tundra-like conditions near the peaks. Consequently, New Guinea is rich in montane endemic butterflies like the renowned Delias and Graphium weiskei, as well as spectacular indigenous giants like the famed birdwings, Ornithoptera. More than 960 butterfly species have so far been recorded from the island and its adjacent archipelagos, and each has developed a unique relationship to its environment, foodplants, predators, and competitors. The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea: Their Systematics and Biology presents a reference of outstanding importance, essential to both the amateur naturalist with an interest in butterflies as well as to the evolutionary ecologist interested in adaptation and speciation. The text describes the geography of New Guinea, the origins and characteristics of its butterfly fauna, and special aspects of New Guinea butterfly ecology and conservation. The 820 species recorded from Papua New Guinea (PNG) are taxonomically and systematically documented and their biologies and ecological specialisations are described in detail. A complete checklist of the 960 species occurring in PNG and Irian Jaya as a whole further enhances this systematic treatment.