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Evolution, genomics and conservation of butterflies and moths

Nature Reviews Biodiversity (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

Butterflies and moths, together forming Lepidoptera, are among the most diverse groups of insects, with at least 161,572 described species. Lepidoptera have a pivotal role as pollinators, represent among the most species-rich clades of herbivorous insects and serve as essential components of food webs, providing sustenance for birds, reptiles, bats and arthropods. Although Lepidoptera have become a model system for many disciplines, a synthetic understanding of their remarkable biodiversity, evolution, distribution and importance is lacking. Here, we address this gap and highlight several key findings. Relationships of some Lepidoptera superfamilies, particularly within Ditrysia, remain unclear. Diversification rates are higher in later-diverging clades of butterflies than earlier-diverging clades. Taxonomic and genomic research on butterflies and large moths are improving in the modern era but remain poor in small moths. Although diversity hotspots are concentrated in the tropics, research efforts have disproportionately focused on temperate regions. Conservation measures such as the creation and restoration of natural habitats that are better connected and managed to improve their quality should be considered in the context of climate and habitat change.

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Fig. 1: Time-calibrated phylogeny of lepidopteran superfamilies.
Fig. 2: Global diversification dynamics of six diverse butterfly families.
Fig. 3: Trends in genomic resources for Lepidoptera.
Fig. 4: Global genera-level richness for Lepidoptera.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank D. Plotkin for helping with the construction of figures and tables. C.J.W. was supported by the Wellcome Trust award 220540/Z/20/A ‘Wellcome Sanger Institute Quinquennial Review 2021–2026’. V.M.S. was supported by a David H. Smith Postdoctoral Conservation Research Fellowship and startup funding from the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida. F.L.C. was supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project GAIA, agreement no. 851188). N.E.P. was supported by US National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB #1541560 and PoLS 1411123, and the Putnam Fund of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. A.Y.K. was supported by NSF grant numbers DEB #2426250, EF #2217159 and IOS #1920895.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Charlotte J. Wright, Vaughn M. Shirey.

  2. These authors jointly supervised this work: Niklas Wahlberg, Akito Y. Kawahara

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tree of Life, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK

    Charlotte J. Wright

  2. McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Vaughn M. Shirey & Akito Y. Kawahara

  3. Marine and Environmental Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Vaughn M. Shirey

  4. CNRS, Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Fabien L. Condamine

  5. Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK

    Jane K. Hill

  6. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Naomi E. Pierce

  7. Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Niklas Wahlberg

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Contributions

C.J.W.: data research, writing, review, editing. V.M.S.: data research, writing, review, editing. F.L.C.: data research, writing, review, editing. J.K.H.: data research, writing, review, editing. N.E.P.: data research, writing, review, editing. N.W.: data research, writing, review, editing. A.Y.K: project organization, data research, writing, review, editing.

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Correspondence to Akito Y. Kawahara.

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Related links

Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA): https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org

iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org

IUCN Red list: https://www.iucnredlist.org/

MothBox: https://digital-naturalism-laboratories.github.io/Mothbox/

National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/datasets/genome/

NatureServe: https://www.natureserve.org/

PollardBase: https://pollardbase.org/

The Insect Survey: https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/national-capability/the-insect-survey

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Wright, C.J., Shirey, V.M., Condamine, F.L. et al. Evolution, genomics and conservation of butterflies and moths. Nat. Rev. Biodivers. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-025-00128-8

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