Agradecimentos: We would like to thank L. C. Garcia for the help with circular analyses and the two anonymous referees for the comments that helped us to improve the manuscript. We thank the Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA) and the Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) for providing...

Agradecimentos: We would like to thank L. C. Garcia for the help with circular analyses and the two anonymous referees for the comments that helped us to improve the manuscript. We thank the Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA) and the Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) for providing meteorological information about São Luiz do Paraitinga. We also thank the several landowners who permitted fieldwork within their properties. DBR thanks FAPESP for a fellowship (grant #03/11697‐0). AVLF acknowledges the FAPESP (grants #00/01484‐1 and #04/05269‐9), the CNPq (fellowship #300282/2008‐7), and the National Science Foundation (DEB grant #0527441). PIP acknowledges the FAPESP and CNPq (fellowship #303878/2008‐8). This project is part of BIOTA‐FAPESP program (grants #98/05101‐8 to AVLF and #02/08558‐6 to PIP)

The Atlantic Forest deserves special attention due to its high level of species endemism and degree of threat. As in other tropical biomes, there is little information about the ecology of the organisms that occur there. The objectives of this study were to verify how fruit‐feeding butterflies are...

The Atlantic Forest deserves special attention due to its high level of species endemism and degree of threat. As in other tropical biomes, there is little information about the ecology of the organisms that occur there. The objectives of this study were to verify how fruit‐feeding butterflies are distributed through time, and the relation with meteorological conditions. Species richness and Shannon index were partitioned additively at the monthly level, and β diversity, used as a hierarchical measure of temporal species turnover, was calculated among months, trimesters, and semesters. Circular analysis was used to verify how butterflies are distributed along seasons and its relation with meteorological conditions. We sampled 6488 individuals of 73 species. Temporal diversity of butterflies was more grouped than expected by chance among the months of each trimester. Circular analyses revealed that diversity is concentrated in hot months (September–March), with the subfamily Brassolinae strongly concentrated in February–March. Average temperature was correlated with total abundance of butterflies, abundance of Biblidinae, Brassolinae and Morphinae, and richness of Satyrinae. The present results show that 3 mo of sampling between September and March is enough to produce a nonbiased sample of the local assemblage of butterflies, containing at least 70 percent of the richness and 25 percent of abundance. The influence of temperature on sampling is probably related to butterfly physiology. Moreover, temperature affects resource availability for larvae and adults, which is higher in hot months. The difference in seasonality patterns among subfamilies is probably a consequence of different evolutionary pressures through time

CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQ

300282/2008‐7; 303878/2008‐8

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESP

03/11697‐0; 00/01484‐1; 04/05269‐9; 98/05101‐8; 02/08558‐6

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