Britain and Ireland

The UK Butterflies website covers butterfly species from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Vice Counties

Species distribution is often described with reference to one or more vice counties, which are shown in the figure below. The concept of a vice county was introduced by Hewett Cottrell Watson who first used them in the third volume of his Cybele Britannica, published in 1852, based on the ancient counties of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), although these were occasionally subdivided to create smaller, more uniform units. In 1901 Robert Lloyd Praeger introduced a similar system for Ireland. A vice county provides a stable basis for recording and remain unchanged by any government reorganisations, allowing historical and modern data to be more accurately compared.

Listings of all vice counties is given below (by name, and by number). The 112 vice counties in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) has a name and a number. Vice county 38, abbreviated to "VC38", is called "Warwickshire". The Irish vice counties are numbered from H1 to H40 ("H" for "Hibernia"). Vice county (or VC) H3 is "West Cork".

Vice County Listing - by Name

Great Britain Vice County VC   Vice County VC Anglesey 52   Montgomeryshire 47 Angus 90   Moray 95 Argyllshire 98   North Aberdeenshire 93 Ayrshire 75   North Devon 4 Banffshire 94   North Ebudes 104 Bedfordshire 30   North Essex 19 Berkshire 22   North Hampshire 12 Berwickshire 81   North Lincolnshire 54 Breconshire 42   North Northumberland 68 Buckinghamshire 24   North Somerset 6 Caernarvonshire 49   North Wiltshire 7 Caithness 109   Northamptonshire 32 Cambridgeshire 29   North-east Yorkshire 62 Cardiganshire 46   North-west Yorkshire 65 Carmarthenshire 44   Nottinghamshire 56 Channel Islands 113   Orkney 111 Cheshire 58   Outer Hebrides 110 Clyde Isles 100   Oxfordshire 23 County Durham 66   Peebleshire 78 Cumberland 70   Pembrokeshire 45 Denbighshire 50   Radnorshire 43 Derbyshire 57   Renfrewshire 76 Dorset 9   Roxburghshire 80 Dumfriesshire 72   Selkirkshire 79 Dunbartonshire 99   Shetland 112 East Cornwall 2   Shropshire 40 East Gloucestershire 33   South Aberdeenshire 92 East Inverness-shire 96   South Devon 3 East Kent 15   South Ebudes 102 East Lothian 82   South Essex 18 East Norfolk 27   South Hampshire 11 East Perthshire 89   South Lancashire 59 East Ross 106   South Lincolnshire 53 East Suffolk 25   South Northumberland 67 East Sussex 14   South Somerset 5 East Sutherland 107   South Wiltshire 8 Fifeshire 85   South-east Yorkshire 61 Flintshire 51   South-west Yorkshire 63 Glamorganshire 41   Staffordshire 39 Herefordshire 36   Stirlingshire 86 Hertfordshire 20   Surrey 17 Huntingdonshire 31   Warwickshire 38 Isle of Man 71   West Cornwall 1 Isle of Wight 10   West Gloucestershire 34 Kincardineshire 91   West Inverness-shire 97 Kintyre 101   West Kent 16 Kirkcudbrightshire 73   West Lancashire 60 Lanarkshire 77   West Lothian 84 Leicestershire (with Rutland) 55   West Norfolk 28 Merionethshire 48   West Perthshire 87 Mid Ebudes 103   West Ross 105 Mid Perthshire 88   West Suffolk 26 Middlesex 21   West Sussex 13 Midlothian 83   West Sutherland 108 Mid-west Yorkshire 64   Westmorland (with Furness) 69 Monmouthshire 35   Wigtownshire 74       Worcestershire 37

Ireland Vice County VC Antrim H39 Armagh H37 Carlow H13 Cavan H30 Clare H9 Down H38 Dublin H21 East Cork H5 East Donegal H34 East Mayo H26 Fermanagh H33 Kildare H19 Kilkenny H11 Laois H14 Leitrim H29 Limerick H8 Londonderry H40 Longford H24 Louth H31 Meath H22 Mid-Cork H4 Monaghan H32 North Kerry H2 North Tipperary H10 North-east Galway H17 Offaly H18 Roscommon H25 Sligo H28 South Kerry H1 South Tipperary H7 South-east Galway H15 Tyrone H36 Waterford H6 West Cork H3 West Donegal H35 West Galway H16 West Mayo H27 Westmeath H23 Wexford H12 Wicklow H20

Vice County Listing - by Number

Great Britain VC Vice County   VC Vice County 1 West Cornwall   57 Derbyshire 2 East Cornwall   58 Cheshire 3 South Devon   59 South Lancashire 4 North Devon   60 West Lancashire 5 South Somerset   61 South-east Yorkshire 6 North Somerset   62 North-east Yorkshire 7 North Wiltshire   63 South-west Yorkshire 8 South Wiltshire   64 Mid-west Yorkshire 9 Dorset   65 North-west Yorkshire 10 Isle of Wight   66 County Durham 11 South Hampshire   67 South Northumberland 12 North Hampshire   68 North Northumberland 13 West Sussex   69 Westmorland (with Furness) 14 East Sussex   70 Cumberland 15 East Kent   71 Isle of Man 16 West Kent   72 Dumfriesshire 17 Surrey   73 Kirkcudbrightshire 18 South Essex   74 Wigtownshire 19 North Essex   75 Ayrshire 20 Hertfordshire   76 Renfrewshire 21 Middlesex   77 Lanarkshire 22 Berkshire   78 Peebleshire 23 Oxfordshire   79 Selkirkshire 24 Buckinghamshire   80 Roxburghshire 25 East Suffolk   81 Berwickshire 26 West Suffolk   82 East Lothian 27 East Norfolk   83 Midlothian 28 West Norfolk   84 West Lothian 29 Cambridgeshire   85 Fifeshire 30 Bedfordshire   86 Stirlingshire 31 Huntingdonshire   87 West Perthshire 32 Northamptonshire   88 Mid Perthshire 33 East Gloucestershire   89 East Perthshire 34 West Gloucestershire   90 Angus 35 Monmouthshire   91 Kincardineshire 36 Herefordshire   92 South Aberdeenshire 37 Worcestershire   93 North Aberdeenshire 38 Warwickshire   94 Banffshire 39 Staffordshire   95 Moray 40 Shropshire   96 East Inverness-shire 41 Glamorganshire   97 West Inverness-shire 42 Breconshire   98 Argyllshire 43 Radnorshire   99 Dunbartonshire 44 Carmarthenshire   100 Clyde Isles 45 Pembrokeshire   101 Kintyre 46 Cardiganshire   102 South Ebudes 47 Montgomeryshire   103 Mid Ebudes 48 Merionethshire   104 North Ebudes 49 Caernarvonshire   105 West Ross 50 Denbighshire   106 East Ross 51 Flintshire   107 East Sutherland 52 Anglesey   108 West Sutherland 53 South Lincolnshire   109 Caithness 54 North Lincolnshire   110 Outer Hebrides 55 Leicestershire (with Rutland)   111 Orkney 56 Nottinghamshire   112 Shetland       113 Channel Islands

Ireland VC Vice County H1 South Kerry H2 North Kerry H3 West Cork H4 Mid-Cork H5 East Cork H6 Waterford H7 South Tipperary H8 Limerick H9 Clare H10 North Tipperary H11 Kilkenny H12 Wexford H13 Carlow H14 Laois H15 South-east Galway H16 West Galway H17 North-east Galway H18 Offaly H19 Kildare H20 Wicklow H21 Dublin H22 Meath H23 Westmeath H24 Longford H25 Roscommon H26 East Mayo H27 West Mayo H28 Sligo H29 Leitrim H30 Cavan H31 Louth H32 Monaghan H33 Fermanagh H34 East Donegal H35 West Donegal H36 Tyrone H37 Armagh H38 Down H39 Antrim H40 Londonderry

Zoogeographical Regions

The world can be divided into the zoogeographical regions shown in the figure below. The divisions follow the World Wildlife Fund ecozones with the addition of an Arctic region that is occasionally used in Lepidoptera-related descriptions.

• Afrotropic. A region including Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Arctic. A region including the areas in and around the Arctic circle.
• Australasia. A region including Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands. The northern boundary of this zone is known as the Wallace line.
• Holarctic. A term used to describe the combination of the Nearctic and Palearctic regions.
• Indomalaya. A region including the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and southern China.
• Nearctic. A region including most of North America.
• Neotropic. A region including South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
• Palearctic. A region including the bulk of Europe, Asia and North Africa.