Gaden S. Robinson

A review and checklist of the Neotropical Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera)

SYNOPSIS. Fieldwork in2000-2001 hasaddedsubstantially toourknowledge ofthe Nepticulidae of the upper Amazon basin and the Andes and increased the number of species known from the Neotropical Region from 58 to 74. Two species - Manoneura basidactyla(Davis) and Ectoedemia fiiscivittata Puplesis & Robinson - are recorded from equatorial America for the first time here and areredescribed, withamplifieddescriptions andillustrations. A revisedchecklistof the Neotropical Nepticulidaeis given together withan updateddistributionmapfor Central and SouthernAmerica. Fomoria latipennata Puplesis& Robinsonis transferredto Acalyptris, comb. n. Four new speciesgroups (Stigmella tiliella-group, S. barbata-gmup, Fomoria molybditis-group and Acalyptris latipennata-group) are defined. Hostplant data are reviewed and further hostplant genera from which mines or cocoons have been collected are noted. The diversity and distribution of the Neotropical Nepticulidae are discussed.

Phylogeny and composition of the Hieroxestinae (Lepidoptera: Tineidae)

The tineid subfamily Hieroxestinae, comprising 275 valid species, is reviewed. The morphology of the group is examined and a fully resolved phylogeny presented for the six constituent genera. Eighteen generic synonyms are noted of which three are new; fourteen specific synonyms are noted, one of them new. Seventy‐one new specific combinations are established. A comprehensive checklist of species is provided as an appendix. Three species are left unplaced in Oinophila sensu lato, and two species (one with two subspecies) are transferred to Oecophoridae (Stathmopodinae). The biology of the Hieroxestinae is briefly reviewed. Hieroxestinae larvae are predominantly detritophagous but several species feed facultatively on green plant material, and Opogona sacchari is a pest of seedlings and nursery stock in the U.S.A. and Mediterranean region. The group is predominantly tropical and is distributed throughout the world but is depauperate in the Americas. There has been considerable radiation of Opogona and Amphixystis on the islands of the Indian Ocean that lie within the Malagasy Subregion (Seychelles, Mauritius, Réunion, etc.) where there are fifty‐three endemic species. A lesser radiation of Opogona (twenty species) has occurred on St Helena.

Phylogeny, systematics and evolution of mimetic wing patterns of Eterusia moths (Lepidoptera, Zygaenidae, Chalcosiinae)

Abstract.  The aim of the present study was to investigate the phylogeny, systematics and evolution of the mimetic wing patterns of Eterusia, a day‐flying moth genus that exhibits great morphological diversity, as well as the highest insular differentiation in eastern Asia and which has the most chaotic taxonomic history in the family Zygaenidae. We examined the wing patterns of the insects involved using visible and ultraviolet light (both reflectance and fluorescence). The phylogeny of thirty‐four taxa, including all the recognized species of Eterusia plus two species of Soritia as outgroups, was reconstructed based on eighty adult morphological characters, including forty‐one derived from colour patterns. Phylogenetic relationships based on the whole dataset revealed that (1) the most current concept of Eterusia is monophyletic, and (2) different types of mimetic pattern show different levels of phylogenetic conservation. To investigate the evolution of their colour patterns we inactivated all the relevant characters and reconstructed another phylogeny, which was found to differ significantly from the one based on the whole character set in the position of the E. risa species group. We used these phylogenetic hypotheses to test evolutionary predictions based on conventional Müllerian mimicry and quasi‐Batesian mimicry dynamics. The results of permutation–tail–probability tests showed that the coloration characters are phylogenetically conserved, thus justifying a Müllerian interpretation. However, when comparing the observed topologies with hypothetical trees constrained to fit perfect Müllerian or quasi‐Batesian scenarios using the Kishino–Hasegawa test, the observed phylogenies were more consistent with the phylogenetic prediction of quasi‐Batesian mimicry. Therefore, we consider that applying these two phylogenetic methods to justify mimicry models may not always be practical. Finally, the taxonomy of Eterusia is revised. In total, two new species (E. austrochinensis, E. guanxiana), one new subspecies (E. risa palawanica) and four new synonyms (E. lativitta and E. fasciata of E. sublutea, E. coelestina of E. subcyanea, E. angustipennis gaedei of E. angustipennis angustipennis) are established.

New Neotropical Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera) from the western Amazonian rainforest and the Andes of Ecuador

Synopsis 19 Introduction 19 Material and methods 20 Abbreviations of institutions 20 Acknowledgements 21 Descriptions of new species 21 Enteucha Meyrick 21 Stigmella Schrank 23 Fomoria Beirne 26 Acalyptris Meyrick 27 References 34 Index 34 Fieldwork in 2000–2001 in the upper Amazon basin and the Andes (Ecuador) has yielded 16 new species of Nepticulidae, described here. Four genera are represented: Enteucha Meyrick (two species: E. acuta , E. guajavae ), Stigmella Schrank (four species: S. montanotropica , S. nubimontana , S. rubeta , S. austroamericana ), Fomoria Beirne (two species: F. repanda , F. tabulosa ) and Acalyptris Meyrick (8 species: A. ecuadoriana , A. onorei , A. basihastatus , A. pseudohastatus , A. articulosus , A. rotundus , A. amazonius , A. insolentis ); the authors of all new taxa are Puplesis & Diskus. Larvae have been reared from three genera of different plant families: Psidium (Myrtaceae), Acalypha (Euphorbiaceae) and Rubus (Rosaceae). The adult moths of all 16 species treated are illustrated in black and white, with line drawings of genitalia and, for four species, drawings of leaf-mines.

Describing and comparing high invertebrate diversity in tropical forest — a case study of small moths in Borneo

The description and comparison of invertebrate diversity in tropical habitats poses enormous problems. Diversity indices, of which there is a plethora, are often seen as ends in themselves; this has led to much sterile phenomenology which is opaque to most naturalists. We mimic field samples by bootstrap sampling from computer-generated populations based on logarithmic series. This provides a simple way of comparing samples in terms of their shared species, defining confidence limits and describing diversity in easily understood terms. Field samples of Microlepidoptera from sites in Borneo, including two sites 1 km apart in the Batu Apoi Forest Reserve, are used to demonstrate how simple questions such as “Are the moth faunas of these habitats the same?”, “How diverse are they?” or “How different are they?” may be answered. Extrapolations from these field samples to minimum estimates of the total number of species of a habitat or territory are attempted, and some of the problems and limitations encountered in sampling are examined.

Hidden diversity in small brown moths ‐ the systematics of Edosa (Lepidoptera: Tineidae) in Sundaland

Abstract This paper is an account of the species of Edosa (Perissomasticinae) inhabiting Sundaland, the area of South‐East Asia that comprises the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, Palawan and Balabac. Edosa is highly diverse; its members are mostly small to medium‐sized brown moths with a characteristic resting posture. They run rapidly with a lurching, scuttling gait, and are commonly encountered in light‐collecting throughout the region, but their biology is otherwise unknown. The genus is redefined and its previous taxonomic history and its biological and morphological characteristics are reviewed. Fifty‐two species are described, illustrated and keyed; 45 species are new, and one of the seven previously known species, Edosa trita Meyrick, is treated as incertae sedis. The impossibility of associating male and female of the same species (except in a few instances) has necessitated a taxonomy based upon males; females are only described formally where they can be confidently identified, and that applies to very few species. The genitalia of a few tentatively identified females are illustrated also to give some idea of morphological variation. A phylogenetic analysis including representatives of all perissomasticine genera indicates that Neoepiscardia, Cylicobathra and Phalloscardia are groups subordinate within a monophyletic Edosa with which they are here synonymised. Edosa is diagnosed by the male and female genital structure: in the male the uncus has a broad, shouldered base and the bulbus ejaculatorius has a sharp bend at about one‐half its length, with the distal region abruptly differentiated into a ‘cup’ which is reflexed caudally back onto the preceding length of the bulbus; females have a complex colliculum consisting of transverse or oblique rings or flanges which are invaginated in many species to form an elongate digitate internal process or pair of processes. It is suggested that, with some 250 species recognised of which 160 are described, Edosa is the most species‐rich genus of the Tineidae.