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Eight species of the genus Notosemus Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) are reported, three of which are new to science: N. albimaculatus Sheng & Sun, sp. nov. and N. planus Sheng & Sun, sp. nov., both collected from Xizang Autonomous Region, SW China, and N. wugongicus Sheng & Sun, sp. nov., collected from Jiangxi Province, S China. One new record for China, N. bohemani (Wesmael, 1855), was reared from Zeiraphera griseana (Hübner, 1789) (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae), a leaf pest of Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr. (Pinaceae) in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, NW China. A key to the species of the genus Notosemus is provided.
Twenty-two species of Strymon are known from the vicinity of Cacaulandia in Rondonia, Brazil, of which 14 are new species. These belong to 5 species groups: the "oreala" group [Strymon megarus (Godart)]; the "ziba" group [Strymon ziba (Hewitson), Strymon thulia (Hewitson), Strymon spinatus new species, Strymon latamaculus new species, Strymon pallidulus new species, Stlymon tholus new species]; "valentina" group [Strymon rotundum new species]; "crossoea" group [Strymon crossoea (Hewitson), Strymon crambusa (Hewitson), Stlymon germana new species, Strymon novasignum new species, Strymon clavus new species, Strymon implexus new species, Strymon inmirum new species, Strymon incanus new species, Strymon faunalia (Hewitson), Strymon halos new species, Strymon conspergus new species, Strymon bazochii (Godart), Strymon diagonalis new species]; and "eurytulus" group [Strymon bubastus (Stoll)]. Tentative subgroups of species are suggested for the "crossoea" group as they occur in Rondonia. A neotype is designated for Tmolus basilides and the name synonymized with Strymon megarus. The "basilides" group of Johnson et al. (1990) is renamed the "ziba" group. Based on lectotype designations and superficial and genital differences, S. ziba and S. thu.lia are elevated to specific status.
The species of Gigantombra and Angulopis encountered in the Caca ulandia area of central Rondonia, Brazil, are reviewed. These include ten species (all new) of Gigantombra (G. microserrata, G. dl:vergens, G. quadramacula, G. ampla, G. fuscafascia, G. silva, G. rondonia, G. obscura, G. pelplexa, G. pUlpura) and one new species of Angulo pis (A. tenuis). Thecla sangala Hewitson (1868) is recognized as having priority over Theela autoelea Hewitson (1863-1878 [1877]), new synonym. Rondonia continues to appear as a center ofthecline endemism and to provide abundant examples of sibling species diversity.
A taxonomic overview for the fritillary genus Speyeria Scudder (= Argynnis Fabricius) and its placement within the Heliconiinae (Nymphalidae) is presented. Taxonomic accounts, type images, and relevant literature for the 25 subspecies within the Speyeria atlantis (Edwards) and Speyeria hesperis (Edwards) complexes and the 16 nominate Speyeria species are included. Errors in nomenclature are identified, taxonomic, life history, and distributional information are updated, and type locality information is discussed. Images of primary type specimens for all 16 Speyeria species and the 25 subspecies in the atlantis - hesperis complexes appear together in color here for the first time. One new combination of a species-subspecies is created: Speyeria hesperis hanseni Emmel, Emmel, and Matoon, 1998, new combination, which was previously Speyeria atlantis hanseni Emmel, Emmel, and Matoon.
In the literature, various environmental factors are described as being capable of influencing the reproductive output of insect females irrespective of their body size. Still, female body size or weight is widely used as a proxy for fecundity. In the present study, a seven-year data set on the autumnal moth, Epirrita autumnata (Borkhausen) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), was used to analyze whether the body weight-fecundity relationship in this capital breeding, cyclic forest defoliating lepidopteran is constant across years. Ambient temperature conditions and density of conspecifics during larval development, the length of the pupal period, as well as moth densities in the parent generation were examined as factors capable of modifying the body weight-fecundity relationship. While the regression slope of potential fecundity (total egg numbers per female) on pupal mass was constant across years, the mean total egg number per given body weight (the regression intercept) was significantly different between years. This residual variance in egg numbers after controlling for the effect of pupal mass was best explained by the pooled geometrid density (autumnal and winter moths) in the parent generation. The total egg number per given body weight decreased with increasing density of geometrid moths in the parent generation. Thus, maternal density effects on offspring fecundity were found in this system. Their rather weak nature suggests, however, that this maternal effect alone does not have the potential of causing cyclic population dynamics in the autumnal moth.
Among cyclic populations of herbivores, inter-specific temporal synchrony has been attributed to both climatic factors and trophic interactions. In northern Europe, winter and autumnal moths undergo regular 9–11 year population cycles. The winter moth cycle has typically been phase-locked with that of the autumnal moth, but with a 1–3- year phase lag. We examined potential effects of natural enemies on this phase lag using field experiments and observational data. We found that larval parasitism was significantly higher in autumnal than in winter moths. Conversely, pupal predation by generalist invertebrates was clearly greater in winter than in autumnal moths. The difference in parasitism rates may contribute to the earlier collapse of the autumnal moth cycle. In addition, the phase lag may be strengthened by higher pupal mortality in winter moths in the early increase phase of the cycles. As a consequence, we put forward a hypothesis on reversed effects of natural enemies, providing a potential explanation for phase-lagged population cycles of these moth species.
Land use change has led to large-scale insect decline, threatening ecosystem resilience through reduced functional diversity. Even in nature reserves, losses in insect diversity have been detected. Hereby, changes in local habitat quality and landscape-scale habitat quantity can play a role driving functional diversity toward erosion. Our aim was to analyze how local and landscape-scale factors simultaneously affect functional insect diversity. Therefore, we sampled moths in two Italian coastal forest reserves at 60 sites. Our focus was on functional richness, redundancy and niche occupation, being important for ecosystem resilience, following the insurance framework. Ecological information about 387 species and 14 traits was used to analyze functional diversity. Twenty-five functional groups were recognized and used to estimate niche occupation and redundancy. Fourteen local and 12 landscape-scale factors were measured and condensed by using Principal Components Analysis. The resulting PC-axes served as predictors in linear mixed effects models. Functional richness, redundancy and niche occupation of moths were lower at sites with low habitat quality and quantity, indicating reduced ecosystem resilience. Especially landscape diversity and habitat structure, viz. a humidity-nutrient gradient, but also plant diversity, were promoting functional richness. Landscape fragmentation, indicating increased impermeability for insects, reduced local functional richness, redundancy and niche occupation. Local habitat quality and landscape-wide habitat quantity are both important for maintaining functional insect diversity inside reserves. Therefore, small and isolated nature reserves might fail in preserving biodiversity and ecosystem functions through adverse effects acting from the surrounding landscape structure and configuration.
Predator-induced plasticity in life-history and antipredator traits during the larval period has been extensively studied in organisms with complex life-histories. However, it is unclear whether different levels of predation could induce warning signals in aposematic organisms. Here, we investigated whether predator-simulated handling affects warning coloration and life-history traits in the aposematic wood tiger moth larva, Arctia plantaginis. As juveniles, a larger orange patch on an otherwise black body signifies a more efficient warning signal against predators but this comes at the costs of conspicuousness and thermoregulation. Given this, one would expect that an increase in predation risk would induce flexible expression of the orange patch. Prior research in this system points to plastic effects being important as a response to environmental changes for life history traits, but we had yet to assess whether this was the case for predation risk, a key driver of this species evolution. Using a full-sib rearing design, in which individuals were reared in the presence and absence of a non-lethal simulated bird attack, we evaluated flexible responses of warning signal size (number of orange segments), growth, molting events, and development time in wood tiger moths. All measured traits except development time showed a significant response to predation. Larvae from the predation treatment developed a more melanized warning signal (smaller orange patch), reached a smaller body size, and molted more often. Our results suggest plasticity is indeed important in aposematic organisms, but in this case may be complicated by the trade-off between costly pigmentation and other life-history traits.
Pholetesor acrocercophagus sp. nov., P. camerariae sp. nov. and P. indicus sp. nov.(Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) are described as new to science. These three species were reared from Acrocercops sp., Acrocercops phaeospora Meyrick, 1916 and Cameraria virgulata Meyrick, 1914 (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), respectively. Characteristics of these new species and their affinities with related taxa are discussed. Data on habitat, host records and host plant species for all the parasitoid species is provided. A key to the Indian species of the genus Pholetesor Mason, 1981 reared from lepidopteran leafminers is also given.