Distribution patterns of skippers (Lepidoptera:Hesperiidae) in China based on parsimony analysis of endemicity

Objective To determine the biogeographical regions of skippers in China based on their distribution, and to infer the causes of the distribution pattern.

Method The distribution of 328 species of skippers in China were summarized. China was initially divided into 294 quadrats of 2° latitude×2° longitude. Subsequently, these quadrats were further pooled into 28 areas based on topographical characteristics, vegetation and distribution patterns of all known skippers. Parsimony analysis of endemicity(PAE) was used to classify the 28 areas according to the shared distributional patterns of skippers.

Result China was found to have ten major biogeographical regions based on the distributional patterns of skippers: central region (B₁), southern region (B₂), Taiwan region (B₃), central northern region (C₂), western region (C₃), northern region (D₂), Qingling-Daba mountains region (D₃), eastern northern region (D₄), western southern region (E₁) and Tibet region (E₂). Among them, Taiwan region and Tibet region formed a independent clade respectively. A comparison of the distributional patterns of skippers and geological provinces revealed that the skippers were mainly distributed in Qinba mountains, eastern southern Tibet, southeast Himalayan slope, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, and south China. Compared with the distributional patterns of existing organisms, five distributional regions of skippers were found to be matched: central region (B₁), southern region (B₂), western region (C₃), northern region (D₂) and eastern northern region (D₄).

Conclusion The distributional patterns of skippers in China correspond broadly to geological provinces.