ABUNDANCE-RANGE SIZE RELATIONSHIPS OF MACROLEPIDOPTERA IN BRITAIN - THE EFFECTS OF TAXONOMY AND LIFE-HISTORY VARIABLES

1. A positive relationship between the local abundances and regional d istributions of species in an assemblage has been observed for a wide variety of taxa, but its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understoo d. 2. Taxonomically controlled analyses of a group of the British macr olepidoptera (moths) find a strong, abundance-range size relationship. 3. Degree of polyphagy and habitat generalism explain significant wit hin-taxon variation in both range size and abundance, with polyphages and habitat generalists having larger ranges and greater local abundan ces than specialists. 4. Taxa that feed in niches considered to be ass ociated with a high diversity of parasitoids have significantly smalle r range sizes than other taxa. 5. With the possible exception of body size, none of the life history variables examined explain significant variation around the range size-abundance relationship.