Arctic and alpine environments present extreme, but different, challenges to survival. We therefore studied the ecological adaptation of the arctic-alpine fritillary Boloria napaea in northern Sweden and compared these results with the eastern Alps. Using mark-release-recapture, we analysed phenology, mobility, activity patterns, change in wing condition and nectar sources. The phenology showed no protandry, but a longer flight period of the females. Wing conditions revealed a linear decay being quicker in males than females. The mean flight distances were higher for males than females (143 vs 92 m). In general, males were more flight active, while females invested more time in feeding and resting. The shortness of the flight period in the Arctic is apparently a particular adaptation to these harsh conditions, not even allowing protandry, and constraining all individuals to hatch during a short period. These conditions also forced the individuals to concentrate on flight and alimentation. In general, Arctic and Alpine populations of B. napaea show few differences, but the species seems to be even better adapted to the northern environments. Thus, the short temporal separation of these populations seems not to have been sufficient for a divergent adaptation in the southern mountains.

The ichneumonid genus Cidaphus Förster, 1869, and its three known European species Cidapus areolatus (Boie, 1850), C. alarius (Gravenhorst, 1829) and C. atricillus (Haliday, 1839) are reported as new to Sweden based primarily on specimens collected in light traps during projects monitoring nocturnal moths. The available material indicates that C. areolatus is a rather abundant and widespread species throughout most of the southern and central parts of Sweden. The trapping data indicates that it flies in one prolonged generation from July until October. Cidaphus atricillus and C. alarius are both rather rare and their distribution is much less clear, but both species appear to fly earlier in the season than C. areolatus.

Synanthedonvespiformis L. (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) is considered a rare insect in Sweden, discovered in 1860, with only a few observations recorded until a sex pheromone attractant became available recently. This study details a national survey conducted using pheromones as a sampling method for this species. Through pheromone trapping we captured 439 specimens in Southern Sweden at 77 sites, almost tripling the number of previously reported records for this species. The results suggest that S. vespiformis is truly a rare species with a genuinely scattered distribution, but can be locally abundant. Habitat analyses were conducted in order to test the relationship between habitat quality and the number of individuals caught. In Sweden, S. vespiformis is thought to be associated with oak hosts, but our attempts to predict its occurrence by the abundance of oaks yielded no significant relationships. We therefore suggest that sampling bias and limited knowledge on distribution may have led to the assumption that this species is primarily reliant on oaks in the northern part of its range, whereas it may in fact be polyphagous, similar to S. vespiformis found as an agricultural pest in Central and Southern Europe. We conclude that pheromones can massively enhance sampling potential for this and other rare lepidopteran species. Large-scale pheromone-based surveys provide a snapshot of true presences and absences across a considerable part of a species national distribution range, and thus for the first time provide a viable means of systematically assessing changes in distribution over time with high spatiotemporal resolution.

Naturcentrum AB har på uppdrag av Länsstyrelsen i Västra Götaland genomfört inventeringar av naturvårdsintressanta arter på kalkhällmarker i östra Dalsland. Inventeringen har fokuserat på särskilt intressanta arter t ex rödlistade arter, sällsynta arter m m, inom grupperna fjärilar, bin, lavar, mossor och marksvampar. Dessutom har presenteras spridda observationer inom andra grupper, till exempel tvåvingar och trollsländor.

De dalsländska kalkrika lerskifferhällmarkerna utgörs av någon mil breda, omvandlade berggrundsstråk i de mellersta och östra delarna av landskapet. Dessa kalkmarker skiljer sig från de geologiskt yngre och sedimentära kalkområdena som är typiska för till exempel Öland och Gotland. Förutsättningarna för floran och faunan i Dalslands kalkområden är unika genom det milda och fuktiga klimatet och att markke- min avviker något från de flesta andra kalkrika trakterna i Sverige. Dessa specifika förhållanden gynnar en lång rad sällsynta eller rödlistade arter.

Fyra av de besökta områdena ligger på Ryrhalvön norr om Köpmannebro och den femte vid Ånimskogs kyrka. Samtliga delområden utgörs av västvända branter i direkt anslutning till sjöarna Ånimmen och Östebosjön. Miljöerna är generellt öppna och det västvända läget skapar ett varmt och solexponerat mikroklimat. I anslutning till de kala hällarna finns partier med tunna, kalkhaltiga jordlager och grusmarker. Graden av beskogning varierar både inom och mellan de olika delområdena.

Inventeringarna genomfördes under några dagar under sommaren 2006 samt med en dags kompletterande lavinventering under februari 2008. Totalt på träffades 24 rödlistade arter fördelade enligt följande; sju fjärilsarter, två biarter, tre lavar, sex olika mossor och sex arter av svampar. Flera av dessa är ytterst sällsynta och har sin huvudsakliga utbredning i landet på dessa kalkrika lerskifferhällar. Vidare noterades ett 30-tal nya arter för landskapet Dalsland. Det största antalet nya fynd gjordes inom gruppen insekter vilket visar att kännedomen om landskapets insektsfauna är mycket bristfällig.

Klot-tegellaven Psora globifera är klassad som starkt hotad (EN) och har huvuddelen av sina kända före- komster i kalkrika områden i Dalsland. Arten växer på lättvittrade, solexponerade, kalklerskifferhällar. I delområde 3 förekommer arten rikligt och i delområde 4 något mera sparsamt. Klotsporig skifferlav Sarcogyne distinguenda (VU) är en annan mycket sällsynt lav med få kända lokaler i landet av vilken den ena utgörs av delområde 5 (Carlsson 1998). Arten är knuten till klippor av kalklerskiffer. Det stora antalet arter gelélavar Collema spp. (sju stycken) är anmärkningsvärt även om ingen av arterna är rödlistade. Av mos-sorna bör särskilt nämnas hår-rosettmossa Riccia ciliata (VU), dvärgrosettmossa Riccia warnstorfii (VU) och trubbklockmossa Encalypta mutica (NT) vilka alla är mer eller mindre knutna till kalkhällar eller kalkrika jordar. Rosettmossorna växer rikligt i delområde 1 medan trubbklockmossan, som omfattas av habitatdi-rektivet inom Natura 2000, noterades i delområde 5. Brun fingersvamp Clavaria pullei (EN) noterades på gräsmarkerna i delområde 5. Arten verkar vara knuten till öppna och hävdade kalkrika marker. Bland in-sekterna utgör nyponsandbiet Andrena nitida (VU), fibblesandbiet A. fulvago (NT) och jungfrulinpraktmal Hypercallia citrinalis (NT) några av de mest anmärkningsvärda arterna. Nyponsandbiet som noterades i del-område 1 är mycket sällsynt och observerades senast 1949 i Dalsland.

Inventeringarna som utförts är av stickprovskaraktär och det bedöms som sannolikt att fler värdefulla arter kan påträffas vid fördjupade inventeringar. Detta gäller både de behandlade delområdena och kalk-lerskiffermarker i allmänhet.

Long-range, seasonal migration is a widespread phenomenon among insects, allowing them to track and exploit abundant but ephemeral resources over vast geographical areas. However, the basic patterns of how species shift across multiple locations and seasons are unknown in most cases, even though migrant species comprise an important component of the temperate-zone biota. The painted lady butterfly Vanessa cardui is such an example; a cosmopolitan continuously-brooded species which migrates each year between Africa and Europe, sometimes in enormous numbers. The migration of 2009 was one of the most impressive recorded, and thousands of observations were collected through citizen science programmes and systematic entomological surveys, such as high altitude insect-monitoring radar and ground-based butterfly monitoring schemes. Here we use V. cardui as a model species to better understand insect migration in the Western Palaearctic, and we capitalise on the complementary data sources available for this iconic butterfly. The migratory cycle in this species involves six generations, encompassing a latitudinal shift of thousands of kilometres (up to 60 degrees of latitude). The cycle comprises an annual poleward advance of the populations in spring followed by an equatorward return movement in autumn, with returning individuals potentially flying thousands of kilometres. We show that many long-distance migrants take advantage of favourable winds, moving downwind at high elevation (from some tens of metres from the ground to altitudes over 1000 m), pointing at strong similarities in the flight strategies used by V. cardui and other migrant Lepidoptera. Our results reveal the highly successful strategy that has evolved in these insects, and provide a useful framework for a better understanding of long-distance seasonal migration in the temperate regions worldwide.

Recent global change has had a substantial influence on the distribution of organisms, and many species are currently expanding their ranges. To evaluate the underlying processes, long-term data with good geographic resolution are essential. One important but generally overlooked data source is offered by the taxon-specific national catalogues of first provincial records that are kept in many countries. Here, we use such data to quantify trait-based influences on range expansion in Swedish butterflies and moths between 1973 and 2010. Of 282 species meeting pre-defined quality criteria, 170 expanded their northern range margin, with a mean expansion rate of 2.7 km per year. The analyses demonstrate that habitat and diet generalists, forest species and species active during warm conditions have expanded their ranges more rapidly than other species. Notably, range expansion in diet specialists was positively related to a nitrogen-favoured larval diet, an effect not found among oligo- or polyphagous species. In contrast to the general view, this shows that specialist species can undergo rapid range expansion. We suggest that increased areas of nitrogen-rich habitat, and increased availability of a nitrogen-favoured diet, are among the most important drivers of range expansions, potentially having far-reaching consequences for a wide variety of organisms.

Twenty-nine butterfly species are listed on the Annexes of the Habitats Directive. To assist everyone who wants or needs to take action for one of these species, we compiled an overview of the habitat requirements and ecology of each species, as well as information on their conservation status in Europe. This was taken from the recent Red List and their main biogeographical regions (taken from the first reporting on Article 17 of the Directive). Most important are the Dos and Don`ts, which summarize in a few bullet points what to do and what to avoid in order to protect and conserve these butterflies and their habitats.