Hemiceratinae

The diverse and taxonomically complex Hemiceratinae has over 200 described species in the Neotropical Region (Miller et al. 2018) (Figure 4A–B). Adults have a proboscis longer than the thorax and an androconial patch on the male hindwing vein CuA2, making them easily recognizable in biological collections (Miller et al. 2018). A phylogenetic study of the subfamily and its genera is urgently needed.

Hemiceras are abundant in the Neotropics and at some localities, they are the most common moths in light traps (Miller et al. 2018), as we were able to confirm in our fieldwork in Caquetá. Likewise, these are common in museums, in the visited biological collections a total of 253 Hemiceras specimens were found. A remarkable genitalia characteristic that can be found in the group is the presence of the “Bath organ”, which consists of an extremely large pleated sacculus (Miller 1991). Recently, Schintlmeister (2022) revised the genus, reviewing 210 species distributed from the USA to Argentina and Paraguay.

Hemiceratinae larvae are noctuiform (Figure 5E) and specialize on Inga spp. trees (Miller et al. 2018) (Table 3). In Colombia, Cárdenas & Posada (2001) recorded high population outbreaks of “ Hemiceras cadmia ” Gueneé, 1852 on Inga trees near coffee plantations, causing defoliation.