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A preliminary catalogue of the moths (Lepidoptera except Papilionoidea) of Tobago, West Indies
(2017)
This catalogue comprises records of 355 species of moths (non-papilionoid Lepidoptera) from Tobago, of which 15 are partially identified. Of this total, all except 17 (5%) are known from Trinidad, although not all these records from Trinidad are published yet. Of these 17, eleven are expected to occur in Trinidad as they also occur on the mainland of South America and two are only known from Tobago but will probably also occur in Trinidad. This leaves just four species (1% of the total) that are known from the Lesser Antilles and are currently not known from further south than Tobago. The families represented by the most species are Erebidae, Crambidae, Geometridae, Noctuidae and Sphingidae, which between them account for 73% of records. Taxonomic changes are made as follows. Podalia farmbri (Kaye, 1925) sp. rev. (Megalopygidae) is removed from the synonymy of P. nigrescens Schaus, 1905. Podalia walkeri Hopp, 1935 and P. dimidiata (Walker, 1865) are syn. nov. of P. farmbri Kaye, 1925. Renia bipunctata (Kaye, 1901) (Erebidae) is a comb. nov. for Zanclognatha bipunctata. Aristaria trinitalis Schaus, 1906 (Erebidae) is a syn. nov. of Renia bipunctata Kaye, 1901. Aglaonice deldonalis Walker, 1859 sp. rev. (Erebidae) is removed from the synonymy of A. hirtipalpis Walker, [1859]. Plusiodonta cupristria Kaye, 1923 (Erebidae) is a syn. nov. of Oraesia excitans Walker [1858]. Oroscopa abluta (Schaus, 1912) (Erebidae) is a comb. nov. for Freilla abluta Schaus, 1912, which is a new combination in common use, but not previously published. Ptichodis dorsalis (Fabricius, 1797) (Erebidae) is a comb. nov. for Noctua auct. dorsalis Fabricius, a new combination already in use, but not formally published. I endorse the unpublished conclusion of I.W.B. Nye that Ptichodis basilans (Guenée, 1852) is a syn. nov. of Ptichodis dorsalis (Fabricius, 1797). Ptichodis agrapta Hampson, 1913 is also a syn. nov. of Ptichodis dorsalis (Fabricius, 1797).
Pandirodesmus rutherfordi, n. sp., represented by 18 individuals including eight adult males, occurs in secondary forests near Charlotteville and Speyside, Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago. Along with the type and second species, P. disparipes Silvestri, from Guyana and known only from females, the segmental legs of P. rutherfordi alternate between long (anterior pairs) and short (posterior ones), spiracular openings are on straw-like tubules, and ozopores are located on paramedian metatergal spines. These features appear to be adaptations for biotopes of loose sand, detritus, or frass, and 17 specimens, including the six juveniles, exhibit coatings of “sand grains” that are loosely cemented together and to the smooth, translucent, grayish-white exoskeleton. The tubules and spines elevate the spiracles and ozopores above the coating, thereby ensuring that they remain open and functional.
The coating, which provides camoufl age and lends strength and rigidity to the poorly sclerotized exoskeleton, is a subuniform “pavement” that covers the entire animal except the labrum/clypeus, tarsal and antennal apices, prozonae, paraprocts, and the gonopods in males. Ramose/dendritic setae, particularly on narrowly rounded podo-/antennomeres, trap “sand grains,” and the ozopore secretions apparently constitute the “glue” that cements the coating, as evidenced circumstantially by layers of “sand” between the spines on the anterior metaterga, where they are physically closest. The alternating segmental leg lengths, in part due to differing ventrolateral and ventromedial origins, appear to be an adaptation for lateral/sideways motion in which the long (anterior) legs extend laterally and pull the body to the level of the short (posterior) ones, which continue the motion while the anterior legs extend to begin the next stroke. The opposing legs perform the complementary pushing motion a fraction after the long legs initiate the pulling stroke and hence are slightly and purposefully out of sync. An adult male paratype lacks the coating, probably because it had just molted and lacked time to amass it; the juvenile female paratype of P. disparipes also is “naked,” as was, according to Silvestri, the now lost adult female holotype. Until fresh material is collected, coatings cannot be confi rmed for P. disparipes even though it shares the anatomical modifi cations that seem adaptions for such. The minute, triramous gonotelopodites of P. rutherfordi are unlike any known for a chelodesmid, so the current generic placement, in a monotypic tribe in the nominate chelodesmid subfamily, is retained. With species in both South America and the southern Antilles, Pandirodesmus/ini had to exist on both the “proto-Antillean” terrane and the adjoining part of Pangaean Gondwana before the former rifted in the Cretaceous/Paleocene, ~66 million years ago, and P. rutherfordi is a remnant of the former population that became isolated on present-day Tobago when the terrane fragmented. Affi nity between Guyanan and southern Antillean platyrhacid millipeds (Polydesmida: Leptodesmidea) suggest that Pandirodesmus/ini may occur sporadically as far north in the island chain as St. Lucia.
A revised checklist for the butterfly families Papilionidae, Pieridae and Nymphalidae of Trinidad (Trinidad and Tobago) is presented, bringing nomenclature in line with modern usage, indicating synonyms from earlier lists and adding new records since the last checklist was published in 1970. Migrant and vagrant species are provisionally recognised, and records considered incorrect are discussed. The checklist includes 204 species: 15 Papilionidae, 29 Pieridae and 160 Nymphalidae. The only taxonomic change is to treat Hamadryas feronia insularis (Fruhstorfer) as a synonym of H. f. feronia (Linnaeus), syn. nov., and not as a synonym of H. feronia farinulenta (Fruhstorfer).