The butterflies (Rhopalocera: Papilionoidea) from the Cuatro Cienegas Basin, Coahuila, Mexico

The state of Coahuila is one of the largest in Mexico yet one of the least studied with respect to insects. It contains several environments and types of vegetation, from coniferous forests to deserts.

Within the state, the Cuatro Cienegas Basin is one of the most biologically interesting areas for the study of insects. It is a desert isolated area situated in a 40 Km wide depression at the center of the state. This site has nearly 200 ponds filled by subterranean water which flows from the nearby Sierra de San Marcos. The vegetation types present at the Cuatro Cienegas Basin are halophilic vegetation, grasslands, sedges and marshes, gypsum dune assemblages, desert scrub, and chaparral.

Historically the butterflies of the desert areas have not been studied systematically. In Cuatro Cienegas no systematic faunistic studies for these insects had been made until now. In this work we got the list of species, the distribution in six localities and the food preferences in the dry and wet seasons.

To date, 55 species in 43 genders and 5 families have been collected for Cuatro Cienegas Basin, Coahuila, Mexico.