Primary data, such as geographical records of species, are base-line for conservation status assessments. For many years, data on Brazil's threatened butter ies (58 taxa) have been in need of improvement and the present paper provides a careful review of their geographical distribution data as well as an update of extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO). In total, ~ 6,700 records were compiled from several sources; 1,053 records are non duplicated geographical data. Of these 1,053 records, 566 (69%) come from surveyed literature (published records), 258 (31%) are unpublished records, and 229 (22%) were found to contain errors after data curation. Comparing "previous" to "current" estimates of both, EOO and AOO, changes in geographical range were reported for 48 taxa (83%). Based on current data (applying the thresholds of criterion B), there is a potential for changes in conservation status categories for 51 taxa (88%). Importantly, approximately half of unpublished records are from scienti c collections and the remainder were provided by civil society (via personal communication), showing the importance of both data sources. The present updates of geographical records (and consequently, EOO and AOO) of Brazilian threatened butter ies may aid future conservation status assessments and also reinforce the importance of data curation.
Implications For Insect ConservationThe present study represents the most up-to-date effort to estimate EOO and AOO of Brazilian threatened butter ies. The new data presented here can be used for a more acurate conservation status assessments for these taxa, revealing a more realistic scenario for several species included in the national and global Red lists.Recently, one of the proposed solutions to solve problems related to EOO and AOO estimates for threatened species has been the application of species distribution modelling (see: