DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1vhhmgr12
title: A checklist of European butterfly larval foodplants

description: Butterflies are charismatic insects, and have been well studied,
 particularly in Europe. They are disproportionately used in generating and
 testing hypotheses; on everything from general evolutionary processes,
 such as speciation, or host association dynamics; to conservation-related
 studies, such as climate change or habitat loss. Accurate lists of the
 larval foodplants for European butterflies are not readily available.
 Mistakes are propagated and information can’t be checked for accuracy. The
 level of evidence is unknown, and how usage varies between countries
 poorly understood. The study consulted 1,119 references to produce 19,488
 records of larval foodplants for European butterflies. This resulted in
 5,589 larval host plant records for 464 European butterfly species, with
 multiple references, enabling  information to be checked.
 Information was unavailable for 59 species. The level of evidence for each
 relationship show the current state of knowledge. Significant issue were
 identified for 3.9% of records extracted from references due to mistakes,
 ambiguous or unknown plant names, distribution issues, resulting in
 information being lost. Plants with a questionable distributions suggest
 either misidentification, or species that have been split. Little is known
 about plant usage in eastern Europe. The larval foodplants of many
 monophagous and Satyrinae butterflies are poorly studied. Only 64% of
 threatened 2010 Red Listed butterflies have reliable host plant records.
 The study has provided ecologists with a valuable resource, of a more
 accurate checklist of the larval foodplants for each European country. Why
 plant usage varies over a butterfly’s distribution, opens up some
 interesting research questions.
description: Two strategies were deployed to obtain information on larval
 foodplants. Firstly books providing lists of larval foodplant usage for
 each country. And, secondly, publications providing primary evidence
 (oviposition, eggs or larvae found in the wild) for larval foodplant
 usage. Breeding records were included to support usage in the wild
 records, or where there was limited information on a particular butterfly
 species.
description: Title: A checklist of European butterfly larval foodplants Author: Harry
 E. Clarke Address: 70 Norwood Road, Effingham, Leatherhead, Surrey KT24
 5NX, United Kingdom e-mail: Date of
 collection: 11 December 2023 Georgraphy: Europe Keywords: Hostplants,
 habitat, conservation, Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea INTRODUCTION These are
 the files and data that was used to produce the paper "A checklist of
 European butterfly larval foodplants" The database used in the study
 was PostgreSQL version 12 and later version 14 The R scripts used to load
 data, and to produce Figures 2 to 5 was version 4.2.2. The R scripts
 reqire the following packages to be installed
 install.packages("RODBC") install.packages("odbc")
 install.packages("RPostgres") install.packages(ggplot2)
 install.packages(dplyr) install.packages(extrafont) # fonts
 install.packages(stringr) # For string wrap install.packages(patchwork) #
 for combining plots together QGIS version 3.32 was used in the production
 of the maps. NOTE the order of creating the database tables, and loading
 the data into the tables has not been tested, although they are believed
 to be correct. CONTENTS A - SQL scripts to create the database tables - 2
 files B - Open source data files downloaded from external sources - 9
 files C - Data files created as part of the study - 9 files D - SQL
 scripts used to enter the raw data - 7 files E - SQL scripts used to
 undertake checks and to create the larval_host_plant table - 12 files F -
 SQL scripts used to undertake analysis and outputs - 17 files G - Files
 used to produce maps and figures for the paper - 4 files TOTAL number of
 files = 60 + 1 = 61 including this file (README.txt) # A - SQL scripts to
 create the database tables (Zenodo) The SQL scripts wwere used on a
 PostgreSQL database version 12 and 14. As PostgreSQL complies very closely
 with SQL Standards, the scripts should work on any relational database
 with little or no modification. 1. create_tables.sql text file containing
 a SQL script to create the database tables. It assumes the database
 contains two schemas "world" and "europe". 2.
 create_views.sql text file containing a SQL script to create views of the
 database tables # B - Open source data files downloaded from external
 sources Dryad for files 1, 3, 4, 6-9 Zenodo for file 5 1. apg4.csv - data
 downloaded from APG IV (2016) An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group
 classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV.
 Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 181(1): 1–20.
 id integer, unique
 scientific_name text taxon_rank text authors text parent_name text
 accepted_name text nomenclatural_status text 2. No file provided. The data
 for the table wiemers_2018 is available at
 3.
 butterfly_red_list_2010.csv - data extracted from van Swaay C, Cuttelod A,
 Collins S, Maes D, Munguira ML, S̆as̆ić M, Settele J, Verovnik R,
 Verstrael T, Warren M, Wiemers M, Wynhoff I (2010) European Red List of
 Butterflies. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 47 pp.
 And linked to the butterfly_synonym table NOTE This file must be loaded
 AFTER the table europe.butterfly_synonym has been loaded. butterfly text
 authors text europe_red text eu27_red text butterfly_id integer links to
 field id in table buttefly_synonym Legend for fields europe_red and
 eu27_red are as per IUCN definitions EX = Extinct EW = Extinct in the wild
 CR = Critically Endangered EN = Endangered VU = Vulnerable NT = Near
 Threatened LC = Least Concern DD = Data Deficient NE = Not Evaluated 4.
 wcvp-v11.zip - version 11 of the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP)
 downloaded from This zip file
 contains three files README_WCVP.xlsx wcvp_distribution.csv wcvp_names.csv
 These three files will need to be extracted from the ZIP file. 4a)
 README_WCVP.xlsx - key to to wcvp distribution and names files 4b)
 wcvp_distribution.csv plant_locality_id integer, unique plant_name_id
 integer, links to plant_name_id field in table wcvp_names
 continent_code_l1 integer - Level 1 continent text, region_code_l2
 integer, - Level 2 region text, area_code_l3 text, Level 3 area text,
 introduced integer, extinct integer, location_doubtful integer For
 defintions of Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 see files 6-9 below. 4c)
 wcvp_names.csv plant_name_id integer, unique ipni_id character, id for the
 taxon published in taxon_rank text,
 taxon_status text, family text, genus_hybrid text, genus text,
 species_hybrid text, species text, infraspecific_rank text, infraspecies
 text, parenthetical_author text, primary_author text, publication_author
 text, place_of_publication text, volume_and_page text, first_published
 text, nomenclatural_remarks text, geographic_area text,
 lifeform_description text, climate_description text, taxon_name text,
 taxon_authors text accepted_plant_name_id integer, basionym_plant_name_id
 text, replaced_synonym_author text, homotypic_synonym boolean,
 parent_plant_name_id text, powo_id text, the same as field ipni_id, plus
 unpublished ids. hybrid_formula text, reviewed text 5. read_wcvp.R - text
 file containing an R script to load the WCVP data into the database
 tables, as they cannot be imported directly. The file will need to be
 edited to provide the connection and password to the database, and the
 location of two files extracted from the file wcvp-v11.zip 6-9) Four files
 of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions
 (WGSRPD) was downloaded from These
 files are only required for the generation of the map for Figure 6 a)
 plant_geography_level1.zip b) plant_geography_level2.zip c)
 plant_geography_level3.zip d) plant_geography_level4.zip Each ZIP file
 contains a GIS Shapefile (consisting of several files). The Shapefiles
 were loaded into QGIS, which was then used to populate the four database
 tables: world.plant_geography_level1 world.plant_geography_level2
 world.plant_geography_level3 world.plant_geography_level4 # C - Data files
 created as part of the study (Dryad) There are 7 CSV files with UTF8
 encoding. The fields, plant_name_id, powo_id and ipni_id are as defined in
 version 11 of the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), which is
 available from the Plants Of the World Online website
 1. butterfly_synonym.csv - accepted
 and synonym scientific names of European butterflies id integer, unique
 family text subfamily text genus text species text subspecies text
 taxon_name text authors text rank text taxonomic_status text accepted_id
 integer, is NULL if taxonomic_status is "Accepted", otherwise id
 of taxon that is accepted. parent_id integer species_order integer, number
 to order species in taxonmic order tribe text subtribe text 2.
 reference.csv - References used for larval foodplants of European
 butterflies id integer, unique short_ref text full_reference text ref_type
 character(1) - not used. 3. region.csv - Countries id integer, unique
 region_name text iso3166_2_code text vehicle_code text area_code_l3 text
 region_code_l2 integer continent_code_l1 integer 4.
 wiemers_distribution.csv the data was downloaded from Wiemers M, Balletto
 E, Dincă V, Faltynek Fric Z, Lamas G, Lukhtanov V, Munguira ML, van Swaay
 CAM, Vila R, Vliegenthart A, Wahlberg N, Verovnik R (2018) An updated
 checklist of the European Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea).
 ZooKeys 811: 9–45. and
 re-arranged id integer, unique wiemers_id integer linked to the field id
 in the table wiemers_2018 regions_id integer linked to the field id in the
 table region status text Legend for the status field is: A = Absent P =
 Present P? = Possibly present M = Regular migrant I = Irregular migrant Ex
 = Regionally extinct 5. wcvp_extendedb.csv - plant names and status id
 integer, unique plant_id text plant_name_id text - defined in wcvp11_names
 ipni_id text - as in table wcvp11_names taxon_name text taxon_authors text
 name_status text notes text 6. larval_plants.csv - data extracted from
 references for larval foodplants of European butterflies id integer,
 unique butterfly text plant text habitat text usage text region text
 country_id integer - see region table ref_id integer - see reference table
 source_ref_id integer stage text butterfly_id integer - see
 butterfly_synonym tables plant_id text - see wcvp_extendedb table notes
 text questionable integer 7. larval_host_plant_status.csv - status of
 larval foodplants of European butterflies id integer, unique description
 text evidence text 8. larval_host_plant.csv - larval foodplants of
 European butterflies (accepted names) id integer, unqiue butterfly_id
 integer powo_id text - defined in wcvp11_names status integer - links to
 id in table larval_host_plant_status references text - list of short
 references, full reference is given in table reference countries text -
 list of countries questionable_countries text - list of countries 9.
 mnemosyne.csv The data for this table was created from the data in the
 table "europe.larval_plants", and the geometry from the table
 "world.plant_geography_level3". It was used to produce the map
 in Figure 6. It provides the larval plants of the butterfly Parnassius
 mnemosyne id integer, unique area_code_text - links to field area_code in
 table regions blanda integer = 1 when Corydalis blanda present pumila
 integer = 1 when Corydalis pumila present solida integer = 1 when
 Corydalis solida present b_larvae integer = 1 when Corydalis blanda used
 by larvae p_larvae integer = 1 when Corydalis pumila used by larvae
 s_larvae integer = 1 when Corydalis solida used by larvae geom
 geometry(MultiPolygon,4326) cava integer = 1 when Corydalis cava present
 intermedia integer = 1 when Corydalis intermedia present c_larvae integer
 = 1 when Corydalis cava used by larvae i_larvae integer = 1 when Corydalis
 intermedia used by larvae distribution integer - not used # D - SQL
 scripts used to enter the raw data (Zenodo) data was entered manually into
 the table "region" 1. insert_butterfly_synomyn.sql text file
 containing a SQL script to select and insert a new butterfly synomym 2.
 insert_reference.sql text file containing a SQL script to insert a new
 reference 3. insert_published_plant.sql text file containing a SQL script
 to insert a published plant into table wcvp_extendedb 4.
 insert_ambig_plant.sql text file containing a SQL script to insert an
 ambiguous plant into table wcvp_extendedb 5. insert_agg_plant.sql text
 file containing a SQL script to insert an aggregate plant species into
 table wcvp_extendedb 6. insert_larval_plant.sql text file containing a SQL
 script to insert a larval foodplant, extracted from a reference, into the
 larval_plants table 7. select_plant.sql text file containing a SQL script
 to list all plants for a given taxon_name, and their accepted name if it
 exists # E - SQL scripts used to undertake checks and to create the
 larval\_host\_plant table (Zenodo) 1. check_butterfly_distribution.sql
 text file containing a SQL script to manually check the distribution of a
 butterfly 2. select_reference.sql text file containing a SQL script to
 manually check the references for a butterfly 3.
 seclect_accepted_plant.sql text file containing a SQL script to manually
 check entered, assumed and accepted plant and butterfly names are
 reasonablee for a butterfly 4. insert_accepted_butterfly_plants.sql text
 file containing a SQL script to insert records into the larval_host_plant
 table for a butterfly - stage 1 5. select_evidence.sql text file
 containing a SQL script to manually check the evidence for each larval
 host plant for a butterfly 6. edit_larval_host_plant.sql text file
 containing a SQL script to manually the larval_host_plant table to enter
 the evidence 7. select_larval_host_plant.sql text file containing a SQL
 script to manually check the larval host plants evidence for a butterfly
 (readable format) 8. check_plant_orders.sql text file containing a SQL
 script to manually check the plant orders for a particular
 subfamily/tribe/subtribe 9. edit_butterfly_synonym.sql text file
 containing a SQL script to check the ordering and details of the accepted
 butterfly species 10. select_butterfly_country.sql text file containing a
 SQL script to list the countries/regions with host plant records 11.
 select_larval_plants.sql text file containing a SQL script to list the
 larval plant usage. Edit script for different conditions. 12.
 update_accepted_butterfly_plants.sql text file containing a SQL script to
 update the larval_host_plant table following some edits to the
 larval_plants table. # F - SQL scripts used to undertake analysis and
 outputs (Zenodo) 1. output_plant_taxon_rank.sql text file containing a SQL
 script to output data for Table 2 in the Article 2.
 output_plant_taxon_status.sql text file containing a SQL script to output
 data for Table 3 in the Article 3. count_records_evidence.sql text file
 containing a SQL script to count the number of records, used to create
 Figure 2 in the Manuscript. The script must be edited (see comments) to
 produce output for the various columns of the table. 4.
 count_butterfly_evidence.sql text file containing a SQL script to count
 the number of butterfly species for each level of evidence, used to create
 Figure 2 in the Manuscript. The script must be edited (see comments) to
 produce output for the various columns of the table. 5.
 count_red_list_evidence.sql text file containing a SQL script to count the
 number of butterfly species for each level of Red List vulnerability, used
 to create Figure 3 in the Manuscript. The file is edited to produce the
 output for all and reliable records. 6. count_red_list_butterflies.sql
 text file containing a SQL script to count the number of butterfly species
 for each level of Red List vulnerability, used to create Figure 3 in the
 Manuscript. 7. count_monophageous_evidence.sql text file containing a SQL
 script to count the number of butterfly species, used to create Figure 4
 in the manuscript in the Results Table. The script must be edited (see
 comments) to produce output for the various columns of the table. 8.
 count_monophageous_butterflies.sql text file containing a SQL script to
 count the number of butterfly species, used to create Figure 5 in the
 manuscript in the Results Table. The script must be edited (see comments)
 to produce output for the various columns of the table. 9.
 count_butterfly_subfamilies.sql text file containing a SQL script to count
 the number of accepted butterflies in each subfamily. Used to create the
 totals in Figure 5 in the manuscript. 10. count_num_plant_taxons.sql text
 file containing a SQL script to count the number of entries for each
 unique plant taxon name used in larval_plants table. Used to find some
 examples for the manuscript. 11. count_num_plant_usage.sql text file
 containing a SQL script to count the number of different plants with the
 same taxon name, but different taxon authors extracted from the
 references. Used to find some examples for the manuscript. 12.
 select_parnassius_mnemosyne_larval_plants.sql text file containing a SQL
 script used to generate the larval foodplants in each country for the
 butterfly Parnassius mnemosyne. Used as an intrim script to create the
 table europe.mnemosyne 13. output_larval_host_plant.sql text file
 containing a SQL script to output content for Supplementart file S1 14.
 output_reference.sql text file containing a SQL script to output content
 for Supplementary file S2 15. count_monophageous.sql text file containing
 a SQL script to manually count the number of plant orders, families,
 genera and species for each butterfly where the evidence is at levels 1,
 2, 3 and plant distribution is reasonable (reliable records) output
 content for Supplementary file S4 16.
 select_plant_families_for_butterfly_subtribes.sql text file containing a
 SQL script to output content for Supplementary file S5 17.
 select_red_list.sql text file containing a SQL script to output content
 for Supplementary file S6 # G - Outputs This section contains 4 files.
 There usage is described below: 1. num_plant_records.qml (Zenodo) 2.
 result-data-figures.xlsx (Dryad) 3. Plot figures for Larval foodplant.R
 (Zenodo) 4. europe_mnemosyne.qml (Zenodo) 5. To recreate Figure 1 using
 QGIS a) connect to the database table world.plant_geography_level3 This
 table is used to provide the background outlines for the TDWG Level 3
 regions b) connect to the database view europe.num_plant_records This view
 provides the number of records per country/region c) Load the qgis style
 file num_plant_records.qml 6. result-data-figures.xlsx Microsoft Excel
 file containg the data for Figures 2 to 5. For the source of this data,
 see the comments in the file plot_figures_for_larval_foodplant.R 7.
 plot_figures_for_larval_foodplant.R text file containing an R script to
 generate figures 2 to 5. The data was manually entered from the the file
 "result-data-figures.xlsx". Comments identify the SQL scipts
 that were run to produce the data, which was entered into the Excel File,
 and then copied into the data frames to produce the plots. Running the
 script will generate the figures. The script will need modifying to the
 folder to store the figures in. 8. To recreate Figure 6 using QGIS a)
 connect to the database table world.plant_geography_level3 This table is
 used to provide the background outlines for the TDWG Level 3 regions b)
 connect to the database table europe.mnemosyne and rename layer to
 "Corydalis distribution" This table contains the distribution of
 larval plants for the butterfly Parnassius mnemosyne c) Load the qgis
 style from file europe_mnemosyne.qml for the "Corydalis
 distribution" layer