Moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the continental part of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia

Authors

Until very recently, Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO), located in the northeastern

part of European Russia, was the least studied region of Russia in terms of

itsmoth fauna. Intensive sampling in the surroundings of Naryan-Mar, combined

with critical revision of earlier publications and evaluation of museum collections,

resulted in the discovery of a relatively rich fauna of Lepidoptera. The first

regional checklist of moths and butterflies of the continental part of NAO includes

324 species (169 species of microlepidoptera and 155 species of

macrolepidoptera), 178 of which are reported fromNAOfor the first time.We estimate

that 40 to 180 species remain to be found in the study region. The recorded

speciesmostly belong to residents of northern boreal forests and bogs. The fauna

of moths and butterflies of NAO clearly differs from the fauna of Fennoscandia,

due to the relatively higher proportion ofEast Palaearctic andBeringian species.