The research has as objective to compare the esteemed diversity for seven of Santa Maria's counties, RS, Brazil, with different urbane levels, based on the study of abundance, similarity and steadiness among 15 Papilionidae species, from September 1994 to March 1995 and November 1995 to February 1996. Captures were performed in intervals of thirty days, using entomological net, during intervals of 4 hours average. The butterflies were transported in glassine envelopes, individualized, properly labeled to the Laboratory at UFSM Biology Department. The results suggest that the canopy carries out an important function in the distribution and abundance of those butterflies. The mechanisms that act in wider geographical scales can be different from those that act in smaller scales. Coppices and urban landscapes can represent locals, where butterflies can use these complex environments exhibiting a reaction norm that minimizes competition and natural enemies' actions use these complex environments exhibiting a reaction norm that minimizes competition and natural enemies' actions.
Insecta; Rhopalocera; Papilionoidea
