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journal of the Lepidojtferists' Society 58! I), 2004,51-M
IMMATURE STAGES OF CALYDNA VENUSTA MORIO (RIODIMDAE) FROM TRINIDAD
Addition:!] key words: balloon setae, Olacaeeae, Ximenia americana.
Trinidad, which forms part of Trinidad and Tobago, has a long history of entomological exploration, and successive generations of resident and visiting collectors have together compiled a reasonably complete picture of the butterfly fauna of this species-rich, continental island. The landmark publication for the country, Bareants (1970) "Butterflies of Trinidad and Tobago", recognized 103 riodinid species from Trinidad. Nevertheless, new records of Riodinidae continue to be added, and the authors are preparing an updated checklist. One of these additions is Calydna venusta morio Stichel (Riodininae: incertae sedis section), discovered in 1984 by S. Alston-Smith at Point Gourde, on the northwestern peninsula of Trinidad, as indicated in D'Abrera (1994) and Hall (2002). This taxon is poorly represented in collections, but can be locally common in nature from central Panama through northern Colombia and Venezuela to Trinidad, the Guianas, and eastern and southern Brazil, where it occurs in relatively dry habitats (Hall 2002).
MJWC visited Point Gourde, still the only known locality for C. venusta in Trinidad, on 16 May 1999, and observed C. venusta females flying slowly in amongst the low, dry, scrubby forest, resting beneath leaves with wings outspread and, in the vicinity of the Coast Guard Station on the top of Point Gourde, visiting flowers of Bidem pilosa L. (Asteraceae) (Fig, 1). Several late instar caterpillars of C. venusta were also found there and reared through to adults, A partial life history for the species is described and illustrated here for the first time.
Rearing notes. While searching for caterpillar shelters of Ilespcriidae, several fourth and fifth instar caterpillars of C. venusta were found in shelters on a single bush of Ximcnia americana P. (Olacaceae) growing alongside the forest track. This plant is a semi-seandent bush-forming shrub or tree, 2-7 m high, that is sometimes semi-parasitic, with haustoria on the host roots (e.g., Mabberley 1987). The larvae were in leaf shelters, made by rolling one edge of a leaf upwards and tying the edge to the leaf lamina with strands of silk. There were small (2-3 mm) black ants on the bush and in the shelters, but no interactions were ob-sei-ved between the cateipillars and these ants. A herbarium specimen of the food plant was prepared (MJWC 0252) and subsequently identified at the National Herbarium of Trinidad & Tobago,
Two fifth instar and one fourth instar caterpillars were collected and reared (rcf. MJWC 99/4) using leafy twigs of X. americana that were cut at the time of
larval collection and stored in refrigerated plastic bags until used. The caterpillars were kept in individual plastic screw-top jars (5.7 cm height x 5.8 cm diame-ter) at ambient conditions in Trinidad until 19 May, and thereafter at 25°C in a cons taut-tempera lure quarantine room. When not feeding, the caterpillars rested in leaf shelters. The caterpillar collected as fourth instar took approximately 10 days to complete the fifth instar. Pupation was in a silk-lined shelter between two leaves, and adults eclosed between 10 and 13 days later. The three reared adult females are currently in the collection of MJWC, but voucher specimens will be deposited in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, and CABI Bioscience, Curepe, Trinidad and Tobago.
The egg and first through third instar caterpillars remain unknown, and here we hriefly describe only the fifth instar caterpillar and pupa. The fourth instar eateipillar (total length 10 mm on 16 May, moulted by 20 May) (Fig. 2) differs primarily from the fifth instar (Fig. 3) by having a red-puqjle dorsal line,
Fifth instar (total length 17 mm on 15 May, pre-pupa on 20 May) (Fig, 3): The head is approximately circular and slightly translucent pale brown. The pro-thoracic shield is pale brown, medially desclerotized dorsally, and bears two types of setae anteriorly that form a prominent corona over the head. The first type of seta, known as a balloon seta (first described by Guppy (1904) in two Tlieupe species from Trinidad), is long, inflated, pinkish-fawn and slightly distally expanded to a rounded tip. The second type is longer, slender and whitish. T2 and T3 are pale green and evenlv scattered with tiny wedg^-shaped setae (1 [all et al. 2004), The abdomen is pale green, with a slightly darker green, dorsal, longitudinal stripe, bounded on each side with a narrower whitish band that continues to the posterior edge of A9, The dorsal surface is generally smooth, with scattered wedge-shaped setae as on T2-T3, and each segment has a lateral fringe of long white setae. The spiracles are white. At the pre-pupal stage, the caterpillars turned reddish-purple.
1'npa (total length 10 mm) (Fig. 4): The pupa is siiwhtk dorso-wiitralh eoirijirvwd and pale brown
with variably dense darker brown speckling. The abdomen has a dark brown dorsal line, and the metatho-rax has a pair of large, round, black spots. The spiracles are white and surrounded by dark brown. Each abdominal and thoracic segment lias long, whitish, lateral setae, and the mesothorax has a small cluster of fawn-colored balloon setae that project laterally on each side.
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Journaloktiie Lei'iikhtfrists' Scxiiety
Fkjs. L—4. CaUjdnu wmista morio at Point Gourde, Trinidad- 1, Adult female feeding on Bidetis pilosa flowers near the coastguard station on the hilltop at Point Gourde. 2, Lateral view of fourth in-star caterpillar {10 nun) 1—3 days before moult. 3, Dorsal view of fifth instar caterpillar (17 mm) 3 davs hefore prepupa. 4, Dorsal view of pupa (10 nun).
Discussion. This is only the second species of Ca-hjdna to be reared. Dan Janzen and co-workers have reared Calydna sturnula (Geyer) on Schoepfia schre-beri J.F. Gmel., also in the Olacaceae, numerous times since 1987 in the dry forest of northwestern Costa Rica, and the results: are presented on their website (Janzen & Hallwaehs 2003), briefly in Hall (2002), and in detail in Hall et af. (2004). This last paper included SE images of surface u It restructure and a discussion
on the phylogenetic implications of these findings. Although the caterpillars of C. venusta and C, sturnula are very similar, the most conspicuous difference being the pinkish-fawn instead of dark purple color of the balloon setae in C venusta, the pupa of C. venusta is notable for also having balloon setae. This trait is found elsewhere in the Riodinidae only in Helicopte (Helicopini), but in that genus they are present on the prothorax instead of the mesothnrax (Harvey 1987, Hall et al. in press). The absence ol balloon setae on the pupa of C. sturnula might be explained by the fact that it belongs to a different species group than C. venusta (Hall 2002).
Ximenia americana, the food plant of C. venusta, is widespread in the tropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia, and is especially associated with dry forests and coastal areas (World Agroforestry Centre 2003). Williams (1930) recorded it in the Flora of Trinidad and Tobago from only one locality in Trinidad, on the south coast beach between Erin and Chatham. However, more recent records include Erin Beach, Quoin Beach and Chacaehacare Island (Y. Comeau pers. com). Point Gourde is therefore a new locality record. There is a small group of Trinidad butterfly species that have been found only on Chacaehacare Island (to the west of Trinidad's northwestern peninsula, mid-way to the l'aria Peninsula of Venezuela), Point Gourde and/or Gasparee Island (just south of Trinidad's northwestern peninsula): Ileliopijrgtta (knni-cella (Erichson) (Hesperiidae), Anteros caraustus Westwood (Riodinidae), and Ascia (Ganijra) menciae janeta Dixey (Pieridae) (Cock L981, MJWC unpublished data, S. Alston-Smith pers. com.). These three localities represent the driest parts of Trinidad and its offshore islands where butterflies have been collected. It seems likely that C. vemtsia will eventually be found oil Chacaehacare Island, and perhaps at the south coast localities forX. americana.
MJWC thanks Scott Alston-Smith for introducing him to the Point Gourde site and sharing his experiences of this buttenHy. and Winston Johnson and Yasmin Comeau at the National Herbarium of Trinidad & Tobago for identifying and cheeking the distribution of the food plant, respectively JPWH thanks the National Science Foundation (DEB 0HJ3746) for financial support.
Literature Cited
RakcaNT. M. 1970. Butterflies of Trinidad and Tobago. Collins,
London, UK. 314 pp. COCK. M. J. W. 1981. Butterflies from Chacaehacare Island including three spwies new to Trinidad. Living World 1981/2:25. D'ABKEllA, B. 1994. Butterflies ofthe Neotropical Region, Part VI.
Riodinidae. Hill House, Victoria, Australia. Pp. 880-1096. Guppy ]r., P. J. L. 1904. Notes on the habits and early stages of
some Trundad butterflies. Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond.
1904:225-228. Hall, J. P. W. 2002. A phylogenetic revision of Calydna and
relatives [Lepidoptera; Riodinidae). Insect Syst. T\vol, 33:
185-237.
Volume 58, Numbek 1
53
Hall, J. P.W., D.J. HaBvey&D. H. Janzen. In press. Life history of Cahjdna sfumiiln, with ;i review oliurval unci pupal balloon setae in the Riodinidae (Lepidoptera). Ann. Entomot. Soc. Amer.
Harvey, D. J, 1987. The higher classification of the Riodinidae (Lepidoptera). Pli.D. Dissert at ion, University of Texas, Austin.
JanzeM, D. H. & W. HaUWACHS, 2003. Philosophy, navigation and use of a dynamic database ("ACG Caterpillars SRNP") for an inventory of the macrocaterpi liar fauna, audits food plants and parasitoids, of" the Area de Couservaeion Cnanacaste (ACG), northwestern Costa Kiea (http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu).
MaBBERlev, D. J. 1987. The Plant Book. Camhridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 707 pp
Williams, K, O. 19.10, Olaeales. Flora Trin. Tob. 1(2):165-169.
Would Agroporestry Centre 2003, Agroforestry database (http:/Avww. worldagroforestrycentre.org).
Journal of the Lepidojiterists' Society 5S(1), a«)4,53-55
Immature stages of butterflies arc increasing in importance as sources of systematic characters, and often give important clues as to the placement of species in major groups (DeVriesetal. 1985, Freitas et al. 2002). The Satyrinae genus Amphidecia Butler, 1867 has been placed in the Pronophilini by Miller (1968), although Viloria (20U3, and in press) removed the genus from this tribe without assigning it to any other group. The species in this genus differ from all other known Pronophilini in morphology, habits and distribution (Miller 1968, Viloria pers, com.), with two species most common in Amazonian lowlands, and a third species, A. reynoldst Sharpe, 1890 (Fig. 1), recorded from low to medium elevation sites in the states of Goias, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and Santa Catarina, and in the Distrito Federal, in Brazil. The habitat of A. reynoldsi is riparian forest (including the populations in the Cerrado biome in Goias, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais and Distrito Federal), and dense nun forest (Sao Paulo and Santa Gatarina).
The present paper describes the early stages of A. reynoldst, comparing them with those of other known Pronophilini.
Study sites and methods. Adults of Amphidecia reynoldst were studied in the field in two different localities in Sao Paulo State, SE Brazil: Montane forests in Intervales Park, Sede (Capao Bonito, 900-1100 m), and in the riparian forests of Monte Mor (600-650 m). One fertile egg was expressed i'roin a vcr\ old wild caught female from Monte Moron ]() November2002 (no additional eggs were found in the abdomen). The larva was reared in a plastic container cleaned daily; fresh plant material was provided every two or three days (following Freitas 1991). Data were taken on be-
Matthew J. W. Gock, CABI Bioscience Switzerland Center, Rue des Grillons 1, CH-2800 Delemont, Switzerland; email: m.cock@cubi.org and Jason" P. W. Hall, Department of Systematic Biology-Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0127, USA; email: h alljaso n@iimnh.si. edit
Received for publication ] IJtiltj 2003, revised and accepted 29 October 2003.
havior and development times for all stages, and head capsules and pupal easting were preserved (AVLF collection). Taxonomic nomenclature follows Miller i. IfOfiS: and Viloria (in press'.
Description of early stages. Egg. Spherical; cream, without visible ridges or marks under the optic microscope. Height 1,0 mm, diameter 0.9 mm. Duration: 5 days.
First in star (Figs. 1, 2). Head capsule light green with a transverse dark stripe in the front and a darker area between the pair of short scoli on vertex; five pairs of conspicuous pointed black setae (Fig. 2), Head capsule width 0.88 mm; head scoli 0.12 mm. Hody beige (light green after feeding), with short black setae; a pair of subdorsal white stripes and additional longitudinal red stripes conspicuous on the last abdominal segments; a pair of short caudal filaments on Alt). Maximum length 8.5 mm. Duration: 5 days.
Second in star. Head green with two long red diverging scoli on vertex. Head capsule width 1.16 mm; scoli 1.4 mm. Body slender, light green with many longitudinal white stripes; caudal projections salmon, long, parallel and fused. Maximum length 15 mm. Duration: 4 days.
Third in star. Head as in previous instar: width 1.8 mm, scoli 3.5 mm. Body slender, light bluish green with many longitudinal white lines; caudal projections salmon, long (similar to head scoli) parallel and fused. Maximum length 25 mm. Duration: 6 days.
Fourth (last) instar (Fig. 1). Head green with two long diverging scoli on vertex; these brown with black tips. Head capsule width 2.67 mm; scoli 5,67 mm. Body slender, light bluish green with many longitudi-
IMMATUKE STAGES OF AMPHIDECTA REYNOLDSI (NYMPHALIDAE: SATYRINAE)
Additional key words: Bamboo feeders, ProiiopEiiliiri.