Keith Willmott

Scientists with large butterfly nets
Field work, Ecuador 2016, with Julia and Jamie Robinson Willmott and Jason Hall.

Curator of Lepidoptera
McGuire Center for Lepidoptera & Biodiversity
Florida Museum of Natural History
3215 Hull Road
Gainesville, FL 32611-2710
352-273-2012
kwillmott@flmnh.ufl.edu

I work on Neotropical butterfly systematics in the broadest sense of the word – my interests and those of my collaborators and students are in studying butterfly diversity, understanding its spatial and temporal patterns, investigating the evolution and maintenance of diversity, and applying results to biodiversity conservation. Our research includes field work throughout the Neotropics with a focus on the tropical Andes, involving rapid inventories to efficiently gather distribution data, in addition to more in-depth ecological studies at individual sites. In the lab we use morphology and molecular data to address species-level taxonomy as well as infer phylogenies, and investigate the tempo and mode of diversification.

Butterflies of EcuadorButterflies of Ecuador
Systematics, ecology and biogeography of the butterflies of one of the world’s three most diverse countries.
Systematics and evolution of EuptychiinaSystematics and evolution of Euptychiina
Phylogenetic analysis, taxonomic monographs and biogeography of this diverse group of lowland Neotropical forest and savannah satyrines.
Systematics and evolution of IthomiiniSystematics and evolution of Ithomiini
Phylogenetic analysis, taxonomic monographs and field studies of a fascinating group of Neotropical butterflies.
adelphaBiotic interactions and latitudinal gradients in Adelpha
Quantifying the strength of biotic interactions in Adelpha communities in the USA and the Neotropics.

Recent publications

2026. Mena, S., Salazar-Carrión, P., Páez, E., Nogales, S., Artieda, N., Torres, K., Levy, E., Rodríguez, J., Ojeda, V., Bustos, L., Bustos, A., Tonato, L., Aldaz, R., Medina, A., Morochz, C., Willmott, K. R., Checa, M. F.  Diversity and horizontal turnover depend on the vertical position in Neotropical butterfly communities. Journal of Biogeography, 2026; 53:e70209, 15 pp. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.70209 (online 4 April 2026).

2026. KC, S., McGuire, W. W., Willmott, K. R., Sapkota, A., Shirey, V. A new species of Tequila Giant Skipper Aegiale C. Felder & R. Felder, 1860 (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae, Megathymina) from Sonora, Mexico. ZooKeys, 1272: 157-171. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1272.181963 (online 5 March 2026).

2025. Willmott, K. R., Boyer, P., Pyrcz, T., Florczyk, K., Hall, J. P. W., Nakahara, S. A distinctive new species of Zischkaia from eastern Ecuador (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae, Euptychiina). Tropical Lepidoptera Research, 35(2): 94-98. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17782353 (online 19 December 2025).

 

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