The following are the regional Lepidoptera lists by continent.

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described speci ...

is the insect order consisting of both the

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

and

moths Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

. Lepidoptera are among the most successful groups of insects. They are found on all continents, except

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. Lepidoptera inhabit all terrestrial habitats ranging from desert to rainforest, from lowland grasslands to montane plateaus but almost always associated with higher plants, especially angiosperms (

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

s). Among the most northern dwelling species of butterflies and moths is the Arctic Apollo (''

Parnassius arcticus ''Parnassius arcticus'', the Siberian Apollo, is a high-altitude butterfly which is found in Northeastern Yakutia, Russia. It is a member of the snow Apollo genus ('' Parnassius'') of the swallowtail family, Papilionidae. The taxonomic status of ...

''), which is found in the Arctic Circle in northeastern

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...

, at an altitude of 1500 meters above sea level. In the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

, various Apollo species such as ''

Parnassius epaphus ''Parnassius epaphus'', the common red Apollo, is a high altitude butterfly which is found in India and Nepal. It is a member of the snow Apollo genus (''Parnassius'') of the swallowtail family (Papilionidae). It is found from from Chitral Distr ...

'', have been recorded to occur up to an altitude of 6,000 meters above sea level. Some lepidopteran species exhibit

symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or para ...

phoretic Phoresis or phoresy is a non-permanent, commensalistic interaction in which one organism (a phoront or phoretic) attaches itself to another (the host) solely for the purpose of travel. Phoresis has been observed directly in ticks and mites s ...

, or

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

life-styles, inhabiting the bodies of organisms rather than the environment.

Coprophagous Coprophagia () or coprophagy () is the consumption of feces. The word is derived from the grc, κόπρος , "feces" and , "to eat". Coprophagy refers to many kinds of feces-eating, including eating feces of other species (heterospecifics), of ...

pyralid The Pyraloidea (pyraloid moths or snout moths) are a moth superfamily containing about 16,000 described species worldwide, and probably at least as many more remain to be described. They are generally fairly small moths, and as such, they have b ...

moth species, called sloth moths, such as ''

Bradipodicola hahneli ''Bradypodicola hahneli'' is a sloth moth in the family Pyralidae that lives exclusively in the fur of the pale-throated three-toed sloth (''Bradypus tridactylus''), a three-toed sloth found in South America. It is the only species of the genu ...

'' and ''

Cryptoses choloepi ''Cryptoses choloepi'' is a sloth moth in the snout moth family that as an adult lives exclusively in the fur of sloths, mammals found in South and Central America. Adult female moths live in the fur of the brown three-toed sloth '' Bradypus va ...

'', are unusual in that they are exclusively found inhabiting the fur of

sloth Sloths are a group of Neotropical xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their l ...

s, mammals found in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. Two species of ''

Tinea Dermatophytosis, also known as ringworm, is a fungal infection of the skin. Typically it results in a red, itchy, scaly, circular rash. Hair loss may occur in the area affected. Symptoms begin four to fourteen days after exposure. Multiple ar ...

'' moths have been recorded as feeding on horny tissue and have been bred from the horns of cattle. The larva of ''

Zenodochium ''Zenodochium'' is a genus of moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximat ...

coccivorella'' is an internal parasite of the

coccid Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than the ...

'' Kermes'' species. Many species have been recorded as breeding in natural materials or refuse such as owl pellets, bat caves, honey-combs or diseased fruit. Of the approximately 174,250 lepidopteran species described until 2007, butterflies and skippers are estimated to comprise approximately 17,950, with moths making up the rest. The vast majority of Lepidoptera are to be found in the tropics, but substantial diversity exists on most continents. North America has over 700 species of butterflies and over 11,000 species of moths, while there are about 400 species of butterflies and 14,000 species of moths reported from Australia. The diversity of Lepidoptera in each faunal region has been estimated by John Heppner in 1991 based partly on actual counts from the literature, partly on the card indices in the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

(London) and the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7. ...

(Washington), and partly on estimates:

Species by continent

Africa

Asia

Europe

North America

South America

Oceania

Antarctica

No Lepidoptera species are known from the continent of Antarctica. However, there are records from nearby islands.