Editorial Unimagdalena

Description in English: This work presents 296 species of diurnal butterflies, grouped in six families and 23 subfamilies, found in the city of Santa Marta, in the Sierra Nevada and its foothills (Tayrona National Natural Park). The study was made from sea level to 2,700 m elevation. With few exceptions, in situ photographs of these beautiful insects are shown.Butterflies are fragile creatures that beautify natural spaces, they fulfill the role of pollinators and depend largely on vegetation, where they lay their eggs, find shelter and many of them take advantage of the nectar of flowers, regardless of whether these are as showy as an orchid or as discreet as the tiny flowers of a weed such as Boerhavia erecta. However, the disturbances generated by the expansion of the agricultural frontier, fumigation, and deforestation threaten the survival of this group of organisms. This work is, then, a window that leads to a little-known fraction of the biodiversity of our region and provides an opportunity to know a sample of our butterfly universe before it is too late.