The montane butterfly fauna of the Spring Range, Nevada

The butterflies of the Spring Range in southern Nevada show complex biogeographical relationships and several features of an insular fauna. The range is at the southern end of a series of north-south mountain ranges of the Great Basin, is the highest in the Mojave Desert and is near the boundary of the hot southern and cool northern deserts. Five of its 80 butterfly taxa are endemic; the remaining taxa show affinities towards the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains among the truly montane species. There is also considerable impoverishment not only in total species number when compared to areas of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains but also in number of montane species.