Published July 16, 2024 | Version v1

Amauta Houlbert 1918

  • 1. Posgrado en Ciencias, Instituto de Ecología A. C., Red de Biodiversidad y Sistemática, Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, 91073 Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico; Sociedad Mexicana de Lepidopterología A. C.
  • 2. BioAlfa, Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund Costa Rica, 749 - 1000, San José, Costa Rica
  • 3. 10 The Hill, Church Hill, Caterham, Surrey CR 3 6 SD, U. K.
  • 4. Austin Achieve Public Schools, Austin, Texas, (Research Associate, McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity), USA
  • 5. Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Description

I. Amauta Houlbert, 1918

This genus includes several large species distributed in Central and South America; they are mostly dark moths with crepuscular habits (Worthy et al. 2022). Described by Houlbert (1918), it was considered a valid genus until Moraes & Duarte (2014) synonymized it with Telchin Hübner, [1825]. However, Worthy et al. (2022) reinstated the genus, recognizing four species (A. angusta (H. Druce, 1907); A. cacica (Herrich-Schäffer, [1854]); A. papilionaris (Walker, [1865]) and A. procera (Boisduval, [1875])), from which a few subspecies derive. They also erected the new genus Vadina Worthy, González & Zilli, 2022 for Castnia hodeei Oberthür, 1881, originally included in Amauta before Moraes & Duarte (2014). The larvae of these species feed on heliconias (Heliconia spp., Heliconiaceae), bananas and/or plantains (Musa spp., Musaceae) and they might be associated with bromeliads (Bromeliaceae) (Suárez-Capello et al. 2002; Miller & Sourakov 2009; Aya et al. 2022; Worthy et al. 2022).

Notes

Published as part of García-Díaz, José De Jesús, Espinoza-Sanabria, Bernardo A., Worthy, Robert, González, Jorge M., Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2024, Synopsis of the Castniidae (Lepidoptera) of Costa Rica, pp. 151-202 in Zootaxa 5481 (2) on page 153, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5481.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/12749637

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Additional details

References

  • Houlbert, C. (1918) Revision monographique de la sous-famille des Castniinae. Etudes de Lepidopterologie comparee, 15, i - xvi + 1 - 730, pls. 437 - 462, figs. 1 - 242.
  • Worthy, R., Gonzalez, J. M. & Zilli, A. (2022) A review of the genera Amauta Houlbert, 1918 and Divana J. Y. Miller, 1982 (Lepidoptera: Castniidae) with description of a new genus. Zootaxa, 5194 (3), 301 - 342. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 5194.3.1
  • Moraes, S. & Duarte, M. (2014) Phylogeny of Neotropical Castniinae (Lepidoptera: Cossoidea: Castniidae): testing the hypothesis of the mimics as a monophyletic group and implications for the arrangement of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 170 (2), 362 - 399. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / zoj. 12102
  • Suarez-Capello, C., Belezaca, C., Flowers, W., Echeverria, F., Carroll, R. R., Williams, R., Ellis, M., Norton, G., Alwang, J. & Justicia, R. (2002) IPM for plantain / coffee agro forestry system in northwestern Ecuador: a land use alternative to low-quality pasture within a fragile agro-ecosystem. The Integrated Pest management Collaborative Research Support Program (IPM CRSP), Ninth Annual Report, 2002, pp. 315 - 324.
  • Miller, J. Y. & Sourakov, A. (2009) Some observations on Amauta cacica procera (Boisduval) (Castniidae: Castniinae) in Costa Rica. Tropical Lepidoptera Research, 19 (2), 113 - 114.
  • Aya, V. M., Pabon, A., Gonzalez, J. M. & Vargas, G. (2022) Morphological and molecular characterization of Castniidae (Lepidoptera) associated to sugarcane in Colombia. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 112 (3) 399 - 410. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0007485321000997