The Butterflies and Moths of Galiano Island, BC

Last updated May 2022

To date our community has documented a total of 196 species of butterflies and moths (Order: Lepidoptera) for Galiano Island, confirming 65% of the historical records and adding 176 new species to the list. A total of 207 species are now reported for the island, with 11 historically reported species—as well as many, many more previously unreported species—still at large.

With over 670 species known for Vancouver Island (Yip & Miskelly 2014; L. Avis pers. comm. 2017) and 2,832 species reported to date for British Columbia (Pohl et al. 2015), our dataset represents a tiny fraction of the total diversity of butterflies and moths known for our region. If you would like to contribute to our knowledge of Galiano Island’s Lepidoptera, please add your observations to the Biodiversity Galiano project. Because of the great diversity of this group, it’s very likely you’ll add a new species to the list. Unlike many other groups, which require lots of effort to track down, moths will come to you! Just leave on a light at night…

Below you can explore a data visualization showing the species reported for Galiano. Click the links to view local Galiano island-based observations of species documented so far.

Special thanks to Libby and Rick Avis, and Scott Gilmore, for their work helping to identify the island’s Lepidoptera.