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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
ture I reviewed only cited convolvulaceous foodplants for this moth, but Silva and d'Araujo (1968) list Tabemamontana coronaria (Apocynaceae).
Pleuroptya silicalis (Guenee). Larvae of this species were collected and reared on Ipomoea batatas, I. setifera, Merremia umbellata (Convolvulaceae) and Rivinia humilis (Phytolacaceae). The distribution of this species includes Panama, Guyana and Brazil (Druce 1881). Bruner et al. (1975) recorded it from Cuba on Bouganvillea spectabilis (Nyctaginaceae) and Bohemeria nicea (Urticaceae).
I thank Vitor O. Becker for identifying the Lepidoptera, and Eddy Martinez and Angela Beyra (CIMA, Camaguey, Cuba) for identifying the foodplants.
Literature Cited
Alayo, P. & E. Valdes. 1982. Lista anotada de los microlepidopteros de Cuba. Acade-mia de Ciencias de Cuba, La Habana. 122 pp.
Bruner, S. C, Scaramuzza, L. C. & A. R. Otero. 1975. Catalogo de insectos que ata-can a las plantas economicas de Cuba. Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, Instituto de Zoologia, La Habana. Ed. Academia, 2da. edicion, revisada y aumentada. 399 pp.
COVELL, C. V. 1984. A field guide to the moths of eastern North America. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 496 pp.
DRUCE, H. 1881. Biologia Centrali-Americana. Lepidoptera, Heterocera. Vol. 1. London. 490 pp.
Hampson, G. F. 1901. Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the collection of the British Museum, London. London, British Museum (Natural History). 690 pp.
PASSOA, S. 1985. Taxonomy of larvae and pupae of economically important Pyralidae in Honduras. Unpubl. M. Sc. Thesis, Univ. Florida, Gainesville, Florida. 486 pp.
SJLVA, A. G. & A. D'Araujo. 1968. Quarto catalogo dos insetos que vivem sobre plantas do Brasil Rio de Janeiro, Minesterio de Agricultura, pt. 2, to. 1. 622 pp.
Watson, A. & D. T. GOODGER. 1986. Catalogue of the neotropical tiger-moths. London, British Museum (Natural History). Occas. Pap. Syst. Entomol. No. 1. 71 pp.
AURORA BENDICHO-LOPEZ, Centra de Investigaciones de Medio Ambiente, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnologia y Medio Ambiente, Cisneros 105 (altos), Camaguey 70100, Cuba.
Received for publication 17 October 1997; revised and aceepted 16 January 1998.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 52(2), 1998, 216-217
NEW ANT ASSOCIATIONS FOR GLAUCOPSYCHE LYGDAMUS DOUBLEDAY (LYCAENIDAE)
Additional key words: myrmecophily, silvery blue, Astragalus.
Larval myrmecophily among the Lycaenidae is well known and documented. In North America, the silvery blue, Glaucopsyche lygdamus Doubleday, and its associated ants have been studied by Pierce and Mead (1981) and Pierce and Easteal (1986). Larvae of G. lygdamus secrete substances (e.g., sugars, amino acids) that attract and feed ants, while ants provide protection against predators and parasitoids (Pierce & Easteal 1986).
While collecting in the Ozarks (Christian County, Missouri) in April 1996, we discovered a colony of G. lygdamus. We attempted to find its larval host by observing adult females and searching legumes for larvae. We subsequently discovered that most larvae were found on Astragalus crassicarpus var. trichocalyx (Nutt.) (Fabaceae); Vicia carolini-ana Walt. (Fabaceae) was also infrequently used. The larvae often were tended by ants, and we noted size discrepancies among the ants. A few ants were collected for identification purposes. In a return trip to the area in 1997, we decided to look more closely at the ant-larva relationship and collect a larger sample of larvae and their associated ant tenders. We also observed that the larger instars appeared to be tended by larger ants.
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Pierce and Esteal (1986) recorded six species of ants that tended G. lygdamus in Colorado and Ballmer and Pratt (1991) listed three species in California. We found eight species in Missouri: Prenolepis imparls (Say), Camponotus pennsylvanicus (De Geer), Cam-ponotus americanus Mayr, Formica schaufussi dolosa Wheeler, Tapinoma sessile (Say), Monomorium minimum (Buckley), Crematogaster punctulata Emery, and Leptothorax pergandei Emery. Of these ants, only T. sessile had been previously reported as tending G. lygdamus.
We had hypothesized that the smaller species of ants were tending earlier instars, so we grouped ant species into three size categories: large (7.0-9.0 mm; C. americanus, C. pennsylvanicus, F. s. dolosa), small (2.5-4.0 mm; C. punctulata, P. imparis, T. sessile, L. pergandei), and minute (<2.0 mm; M. minimum). Large ants tended second, third, and fourth instars; small ants tended second and third instars, and minute ants tended first instars. However, larval samples may have been unrepresentative because first and second instars usually burrow into the inflorescence and do not often come in contact with ant tenders (Pierce & Easteal 1986). It also seemed that the number of ant tenders per larva increased as ant size decreased, which would be consistent with Wagner's (1993) observations on Hemiargus isola (Beakirt). Most larvae we found were feeding on open flowers or buds, with very few on stems or leaves. No statistical testing was attempted due to the small sample sizes.
We thank Leon Higley and Tom Hunt for reviewing an earlier draft of this manuscript, and Gregory Ballmer, Bichard Heitzman, and an anonymous reviewer for reviewing the submitted draft. We are grateful to Mark Dubois for ant identifications. Voucher ants have been deposited in the University of Nebraska State Museum and/or in Mark Dubois' personal collection. This is paper number 12085 of the journal series of the Nebraska Agricultural Besearch Division and contribution number 970 of the Department of Entomology, University of Nebraska.
Literature Cited
Ballmer, G. B. & G. F. Pratt. 1991. Quantification of ant attendance (myrmecophily) of lycaenid larvae. J. Bes. Lepid. 30:95—112.
Pierce, N. E. & S. Easteal. 1986. The selective advantage of attendant ants for the larvae of a lycaenid butterfly, Glaucopsyche lygdamus. J. Animal Ecol. 55:451-462.
Pierce, N. E. & P. S. Mead. 1981. Parasitoids as selective agents in the symbiosis between lycaenid butterfly larvae and ants. Science 211:1185—1187.
Wagner, D. 1993. Species-specific effects of tending ants on the development of lycaenid butterfly larvae. Oecologia 96:276—281.
S. M. Spomer and W W Hoback, Department of Entomology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA.
Received for publication 26 November 1997; revised and accepted 2 March 1998.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 52(2), 1998, 217-219
ON THE TBUE TYPE LOCALITIES OF MESOTAENIA VANINKA DELAFUENTEI NEILD AND MEMPHIS VILORIAE PYBCZ & NEILD (NYMPHALIDAE)
Additional key words: butterflies, holotypes, Lepidoptera, Pantepui, Venezuela.
In his recent book on the butterflies of Venezuela, A. Neild (1996) described the new subspecies Mesotaenia vaninka delafuentei, apparently based on a color picture made by }. Wojtusiak of the unique female specimen at the Museo del Instituto de Zoologia Agri-cola, Maracay, Venezuela (MIZA). Neild provided the following in the text: "an extraordi-