The Lepidoptera of Greenland; Some Geographic Considerations

• Published in: The Canadian Entomologist
• Main Author: Downes, J. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1966
• Subjects: Insect Science; Molecular Biology; Physiology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Structural Biology; Arctic; Baffin Island; Ellesmere Island; Canada; Greenland; Baffin; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/ent981135-11; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008347X00057424

Abstract From the revised list of the Lepidoptera of Greenland and from recent work in Ellesmere Island it is shown that almost all the species found in high arctic Canada occur also in Greenland, predominantly in the north, and that this high arctic element constitutes a large fraction of the fauna of Greenland as a whole. It is suggested that this part of the fauna originated entirely from the nearctic by the little-interrupted land route across the arctic islands. The poverty of southerly Lepidoptera in Greenland stands in sharp contrast. It is illustrated by a comparison with the vascular plants and by other comparisons with the Lepidoptera found in the corresponding life zones in North America, and this section of the paper includes the first published list of the Lepidoptera of Baffin Island. It is suggested that this southerly fauna is of adventitious origin, by casual dispersal from overseas (Labrador, Iceland) or perhaps in a few cases by introduction by man. Thus Greenland, in respect of its fauna of southerly type, is an oceanic island of post-glacial age. Similar evidence suggests that Iceland also has been populated mainly in the same way. The conclusions derived from the Lepidoptera apply to several other groups of insects and also to the mammals, including man.