DOI: 10.3897/zoologia.38.e63526

Authors: Vitor Osmar Becker

Abstract: Bardaxima Walker, 1858 includes 12 species, eight of them occurring in Brazil. The Brazilian species are treated here, including diagnoses and illustrations of both adults and genitalia to allow their identification: B. donatian (Schaus), B. fulgurifera (Walker, 1869), stat. rev. (= demea (Druce, 1895)); B. ionia (Druce, 1900) (= albolimbata (Dognin, 1909), syn. nov., B. ambigua (Dyar, 1908), syn. nov., B. metcalfi (Schaus, 1928), syn. nov.); B. lucilinea Walker, 1858; B. marcida (C. Felder, 1874); B. procne (Schaus, 1892) (= meyeri (Schaus, 1928), syn. nov.); B. sambana (Druce, 1895), stat. rev. (= belizensis Thiaucourt, 2010, syn. nov., bolivari Thiaucourt, 2010, syn. nov., coloradorum Thiaucourt, 2010, syn. nov., panamensis (Draudt, 1932), syn. nov.); B. subrutila (Dognin, 1908); and B. terminalba Jones, 1908 (= oakley (Schaus, 1939)). Bardaxima perses Druce, 1900 is transferred to Elasmia Möschler, 1883 as a new combination, Elasmia perses (Druce, 1900). Stragulodonta gen. nov. is proposed to accommodate Heterocampa stragula Möschler, 1883, comb. nov. (= belua (Draudt, 1932), syn. nov.).

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DOI: 10.3897/zoologia.36.e34604

Authors: Gilson R.P. Moreira, Cristiano M. Pereira, Vitor O. Becker, Alexandre Specht, Gislene L. Gonçalves

Abstract: Larvae of many-plumed moths (Alucitidae), especially in the world-wide genus Alucita Linnaeus, 1758 are known as borers or gall-inducers on flowers, fruits and shoots of a few dicotyledonous families, including Bignoniaceae, Caprifoliaceae and Rubiaceae. However, there is no study available on the biology of the monotypic, Neotropical genus Prymnotomis Meyrick, 1931 except for its original description that was based on a single male, the holotype of Prymnotomis crypsicroca Meyrick, 1931 from Espirito Santo, Brazil. We describe here a second species for this genus, Prymnotomis cecidicola sp. nov. whose larvae induce galls on Cordiera elliptica (Cham.) Kuntze (Rubiaceae), a dioecious plant with dimorphic inflorescences found in the Brazilian Cerrado, Planaltina City, Federal District. Adults, larvae, pupae and galls are illustrated under light and scanning electron microscopy. Galls are green, spherical, unilocular and develop individually on C. elliptica flower buds. During development they look like fruits in shape and colour but are larger, do not have style scars when on female plants, and are induced also in male inflorescences. Pupation occurs outside the gall within a silk cocoon, presumably in the litter. A preliminary analysis of DNA barcode sequences including putative members of other alucitid lineages and Neotropical BINs (Barcode Index Number) supports Prymnotomis cecidicola sp. nov. as an independent phylogenetic unit, with 12 to 18% divergence. Its nearest-neighbour was the BIN cluster 5 (BOLD:AAA0842) that includes specimens from Costa Rica.

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DOI: 10.3897/zoologia.36.e32053

Authors: André V. L. Freitas, Luísa L. Mota, Eduardo P. Barbosa, Junia Y. O. Carreira

Abstract: The present paper describes the immature stages of the Neotropical satyrine butterfly Euptychia mollina (Hübner, [1813]) from the Brazilian Amazon Forest. Eggs were laid singly on the under surface of the fronds of its host plant, Selaginella sp. (Bryophyta: Selaginellaceae). Larvae are solitary in all instars, presenting a color pattern and shape that make them cryptic on its host plant. The pupa is short, smooth and varies from rusty brown to green. Despite the lack of a close phylogenetic relationship, larvae of Euptychia are very similar to those of the paleotropical satyrines Ragadia and Acrophtalmia, suggesting that camouflage is likely to be one of the factors explaining the similarities among them.

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DOI: 10.3897/zoologia.36.e27708

Authors: Wesley O. de Sousa, Lincey E. Sousa, Fátima R.J. da Silva, Wildio I. da Graça Santos, Rodrigo Aranda

Abstract: Due to the important ecological role of Nymphalidae as consumers of fermented fruits, excrement, exudates of decomposed plants and animals, as well as bioindicators of environmental quality that attract the interest of the general public, this study aimed to characterize the fauna of frugivorous butterflies at the Serra Azul State Park – PESA (Mato Grosso, Brazil) with regards to composition, taxonomic richness and spatial distribution. Collections were carried out in 2014 from six 250 m plots in a RAPELD module (5x5 km). We defined five sampling points in each plot and placed a Van Someren-Rydon trap (VSR), with a bait made from banana fermented in cane juice, positioned 1 m above the ground for 24 hours. We collected 204 specimens of Nymphalidae from five subfamilies, 22 genera, and 40 species. Satyrinae was the most abundant and species-rich subfamily. The community structure varied spatially, with the gallery forest presenting the greatest richness, diversity, and equitability, while ‘cerrado ralo’ presented higher abundance and less diversity and equitability. Therefore, according to the pattern of abundance in the PESA, species were best adapted to the log series model. Yphthimoides renata (Stoll, 1780) (Satyrinae), Hamadryas feronia (Linnaeus, 1758), and Callicore sorana (Godart, 1824) (Biblidinae) were the most abundant species, 19 species were singletons, and eight were doubletons. Richness estimators showed that 63% of all species were sampled. Our results indicate that the frugivorous butterfly community is structured according to phytophysiognomies, and the dominance of species that are tolerant to disturbances indicates landscape fragmentation within the PESA, which interferes with species substitution pattern and their abundances in different environments of the park.

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DOI: 10.3897/zoologia.35.e23481

Authors: Xuan Huang, Xiaoyu Quan, Xia Wang, Yueli Yun, Yu Peng

Abstract: Spiders, as predators of insects and other invertebrates, are an important part of the natural enemies, and they are recognized as an important biological control agent. Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus, 1758), the diamondback moth (DBM), is a well-known and destructive insect pest of brassicaceous crops worldwide. Here, we analyzed the functional responses of four spiders (Araneae) – Ebrechtella tricuspidata (Fabricius, 1775) (Thomisidae), Pardosa laura (Karsch, 1879) (Lycosidae), Pardosa astrigera (Koch, 1878) (Lycosidae), and Pardosa pseudoannulata (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) (Lycosidae) – on P. xylostella larvae. We also analyzed intraspecific disturbances in the predation reaction and the intensity of scrambling competition of the spiders to P. xylostella larvae. Our results demonstrated that the functional responses of four spiders of different genera were in line with the Holling II model. Two Lycosidae spiders (P. astrigera and P. pseudoannulata) had the potential to control P. xylostella, and female and male spiders that belonged to the same species had different functional responses to P. xylostella. The functional responses of female predation of P. astrigena, P. laura, and P. pseudoannulata was stronger than the males, but male E. tricuspidatus had stronger functional responses to predation than females. We used the Hassell model to describe the intraspecific disturbance experiments of four spiders. There were intraspecific disturbances in the predation reactions of spiders, indicating that the predation ratio of spiders decreased in relation to the increase of its density, and with the increase of spider density, the intensity of scrambling competition of the spider increased.

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