Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok XVIII. - Natura Somogyiensis 34. / Miscellanea 18. (Kaposvár, 2020)
Schmidt P. et al.: A faunistic contribution to the butterfly fauna of Oman (Lepidoptera: Diurna)
Submitted: 21.03, 2020; Accepted: 05.04, 2020; Published: 15.04, 2020 Natura Somogyiensis 34: 153-188. Kaposvár, 2020 DOI: 10.24394/NatSom.2020.34.153 www.smmi.hu/termtud/ns/ns.htm A faunistic contribution to the butterfly fauna of Oman (Lepidoptera: Diuma) Peter Schmidt1, Sándor Jenő Simonyi2, Levente Ábrahám1, Szabolcs Sáfián3 & Sándor Ilniczky4 !Rippl-Rónai Museum Kaposvár Fő str. 10., Hungary, e-mail: peter.schmidt.smmi@gmail.com and labraham@smmi.hu 2H-1031 Budapest, Sóvári str. 30. fsz. 1., Hungary, e-mail: simonyisandotjeno@gmail.com institute of Silviculture and Forest Protection, University of Sopron, H-9400 Sopron Bajcsy-Zsilinszky str. 4., Hungary, e-mail: szsafian@gmail.com 4H-1173 Budapest, Szenczi Molnár Albert str. 35., Hungary, e-mail: ilniczkysandor@gmail.com Schmidt, P., Simonyi, S. J., Ábrahám, L., Sáfián, Sz. & Ilniczky, S.: A faunistic contribution to the butterfly fauna of Oman (Lepidoptera: Diurna). Abstract: During five entomological field expeditions between 2008 and 2019, butterfly speciemens were collected in Oman, and a total of 492 specimens of 46 species were documented. Faunistic and distribution data for each species is presented, along a short overview of the physical geography of Oman and biogeographical notes of the butterfly fauna. With 30 figures. Keywords: butterfly, faunistic, distribution, Oman. Introduction The Sultanate of Oman is located at the southeastern coast of the Arabian Penninsula. The country’s landscape is divided into two major ecoregions, (1) Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, (2) Deserts and xeric shrublands. The former includes the higher regions of the rocky, 650 km long A1 Hajar Mountain range from the tip of the Musandam peninsula to Ra's A1 Had. The rest of the country falls in the second group, but is not homogeneous and further subdivided into five subregions. The Gulf of Oman desert and the semi-desert subregion stretches 270 km long in the Batinah Plain, an inland strip running along the southwest of the A1 Hajar Mountains. The Arabian Desert and East Saharo-Arabian xeric shrublands are part of the Arabian Desert that dominates the peninsula and also extends to Oman. The Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert, which is a narrow coastal stretch of land along the southeastern and southwestern coast of the peninsula. Perhaps the most special area is found in Southwest Oman. The Southwestern Arabian foothills savannah in the Qara Mountain Range (or the Dhofar Mountains) is the most unique due to permanent influence of subtropical monsoon climate (Burgess et al. 2004). Studies of the butterfly fauna of the Arabian Peninsula date back to the first half of the 19th century (Klug 1829-32). However, the research of Lepidoptera fauna in Oman intensified only much later in the second half of the 20th century. The area's first cata-ISSN 1587-1908 (Print); ISSN 2062-9990 (Online) I
