EXTENT OF ENDEMISM OF NEPAL'S LEPIDOPTERA A REVIEWColin Smith and Subodh SharmaAbstract The present total lists of Lepidoptera recorded in Nepal stand at around 650 species of butterflies and 3,950 species of moths.The extent of endemism of Nepal's Lepidoptera is likely to be at least comparable with that noted by Thapa (1998) for the other groups of insects i.e. with 15-20% of the species found here described from Nepal. Note that this is only the first stage in considering the question of endemism.The second stage-whether the species occurs outside the area in question in much more problematic. Even if it has not been found there yet, it may still be found to occur there laterThis means that we can never be absolutely sure that a certain species is truly endemic to Nepal.
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