Butterflies Fauna Sinica: Lycaenidae

China is within the Oriental and Palaearctic regions; its butterfly fauna is very rich due to its broad landmass and varied topography and climate. Early studies on Chinese Lycaenidae were mainly by western researchers. The present book is a summary of the research that recorded 515 species of Lycaenidae and 390 subspecies belonging to 146 genera from 1993 to the present. Among these records are the establishment of one new subfamily, one new genus, six new species and one new subspecies. In addition to these, one genus and eight species are newly recorded from China. The species total confirms that China is among the richest countries in Lycaenidae, comparing favorably with neighboring countries and with the well-studied European and North American faunas.