Cyprus Butterflies by Eddie John F. L. S., F. R. E. S.

A Guide to the Butterflies of Cyprus,

Cyprus Butterfly Recording Scheme and

Cyprus Butterfly Study Group



Butterfly Recording Scheme for Cyprus – a request for records

“Readers with an interest in the butterflies of Cyprus may well be aware that I have published distribution maps, based on UTM 10 km squares (John, E. 2000. Butterflies of Cyprus 1998 [Records of a year’s sightings] Bull. amat. Ent. Soc., Pamphlet No.15:46 pp.). The addition of records from many more sources enabled updated versions of these maps to be published in Makris 2003 (Butterflies of Cyprus. Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, Nicosia).

I am now in the process of converting all records to re-distribute them within UTM 5 km squares, and hope to have these published in the not too distant future. I should be most interested to hear from any reader who has not previously been in touch and who may have records to contribute – whatever the vintage.”

John, E. 2004. Butterfly Recording Scheme for Cyprus - a request for records. Entomologist’s Rec. J. var. Vol 116: 262.

BUTTERFLY RECORDING SCHEME FOR CYPRUS:

Sources of data
Contributing recorders are identified on the “Acknowledgements” page. To date, there are records from over 200 sources, with many people contributing on more than one occasion. Included are data derived from all, known, published records. Among these sources are the papers from Parker (1983), Manil (1990) and John (2000) - see “Bibliography” for further details.

Much effort has been made to ensure that the vast majority of records date from 2000, thereby placing a minimum of reliance on older sightings.


Mapping system used

Distribution Maps used for the CYPRUS BUTTERFLY RECORDING SCHEME are based on 5 km square and 10 km square UTM grids and are updated regularly. Please refer to the ‘Maps’ section on my News page for information on how to obtain a copy of the map produced by the Cyprus Tourism Organisation.

Although the CTO maps show 5 km or 10 km grid squares, they are not clearly numbered so potential recorders may care to contact me for a copy of my own computer-prepared map to enable easy annotation of the CTO version. A portion of my map is shown below, as an illustration of the recording procedure.

Typical habitat of White-banded Grayling (Pseudochazara anthelea acamanthis),
Troodos Mountains 1380 m. © Eddie John

EXAMPLES OF 10 KM SQ. DISTRIBUTION MAPS

The selected maps show the known distribution (to Nov 2005) within the entire island for the Paphos Blue (Glaucopsyche paphos), a common endemic species, compared with the far less common but also widely distributed Eastern Baton Blue (Pseudophilotes vicrama). Whereas most of the Paphos Blue records are post-2000, the map for the less frequently recorded Eastern Baton Blue relies more heavily on slightly older data.

See examples of Maps on Page 4.1.

Similar maps were provided by me for the book, “Butterflies of Cyprus”, by Christodoulos Makris. Additional records are always welcomed and may be sent to:

Habitat of Little Tiger Blue (Tarucus balkanicus) foothills of Troodos Mountains / Mesaoria Plain, 290 m. © Eddie John

Hillside track, Mosphiloti (300 m), June 2003. Banks such as these attract a range of species, in particular The Hermit (Chazara briseis) and Cyprus Meadow Brown (Maniola cypricola) © Eddie John

Bibliography

Part of my computer-prepared map showing 5 km grid UTM squares within the larger, 10 km squares. The Larnaka Salt Lake area is enlarged to show the 10 km square WD 56, within which the 5 km square WD 56SE is arrowed.