Published December 31, 2004 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Eupalamides cyparissias subsp. cyparissias Fabricius 1776

Description

Eupalamides cyparissias cyparissias (Fabricius 1776) (Fig. 1)

This is a well known pest of oil palm (Elaeis guianeensis), coconut (Cocos nucifera), and other palms (Arecaceae) in the near­by countries of Guyana and Surinam (Miller 1986, 1987). It can be easily distinguished from E. guyanensis (Houlbert) (common in near­by Venezuela) by the presence of long, thread­like scales that cover half of the under side of the forewing (González 1999). Although Cock (1985) states that this species [cited as Lapaeumides dedalus (Cramer)] is restricted to mainland South America, we found one specimen from Trinidad.

Urich (1909, 1915) cites a record by Mr. Ottier who found caterpillars of Telchin licus (reported as Castnia licus) attacking young coconut palms. It is possible that Ottier confused this species with E. cyparissias since their larvae are quite similar (Miller 1987) (see discussion under T. licus below). We believe that the specimen studied could have been a vagrant from the mainland. Curiously, it is a rather small specimen.

Material Examined: TRINIDAD: 1Ψ, 5 Jun 1925 (CUIC).

Notes

Published as part of González, Jorge M. & Cock, Matthew J. W., 2004, A synopsis of the Castniidae (Lepidoptera) of Trinidad and Tobago, pp. 1-19 in Zootaxa 762 on pages 3-4, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.158237

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

References

  • Fabricius, J. C. (1776) Genera insectorum eorumque characters naturals secundum numerum, figuram, situm et proportionem omnium partum oris adiecta mantissa specierum nuper detectarum. Bartsch, Chilonii, 310 pp.
  • Miller, J. Y. (1986) The taxonomy, phylogeny, and zoogeography of the Neotropical Castniinae (Lepidoptera: Castnioidea: Castniidae). Ph. D. thesis. University of Florida, Gainesville, USA, 571 pp.
  • Miller, J. Y. (1987) Castniidae (Castnioidea). In: Stehr, F. W. (ed.). Immature Insects. Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, Iowa, 417 - 419.
  • Gonzalez, J. M. (1999) Castniinae (Lepidoptera: Castniidae) from Venezuela. III: Genera represented by only one known species. Diagnosis and comments. Ciencia (Maracaibo), 7 (3), 229 - 235.
  • Cock, M. J. W. (ed.) (1985) A review of biological control of pests in the Commonwealth Caribbean and Bermuda up to 1982. Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control, Technical Communication 9. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau, Farnham Royal, UK, 218 pp.