In spring 2010, we encountered 60 butterfly species during field surveys centred
mainly
in the under
-
surv
eyed southeastern part of the Republic of Macedonia. We visited 23 localities, where
several interesting
observations were made. Among these, new sites of
some rare species such as
Pontia chloridice
,
Pieris krueperi
,
Plebejus sephirus
,
Scolitantides orion
,
Tarucus balkanicus
,
Melitaea ornata
,
Carcharodus orientalis
, and
Erynnis marloyi
should be mentioned. Such a high number of species observed indicates an overall high butterfly
diversity of this region, particularly in the lower Vardar valley. Here, sever
al specific habitats hosting rare and
threatened species were discovered. The anthropogenic pressure on important butterfly habitat is still low in the
surveyed area; however, the first signs of large scale abandonment are already visible.
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