Ecology, Natural History, and Larval Descriptions of Arctiinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Erebidae) from a Cloud Forest in the Eastern Andes of Ecuador

Adults and larvae in the subfamily Arctiinae (family Erebidae), along with their host plants and the parasitic wasps and flies that attack them, are important components of most terrestrial food webs, but basic taxonomic and life-history knowledge for the arctiines of the Neotropics is still poorly...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of the Entomological Society of America 2011-11, Vol.104 (6), p.1135-1148
Main Authors: Rab Green, Suzanne B, Gentry, Grant L, Greeney, Harold F, Dyer, Lee A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adults
Arctiinae
Diptera
ecosystems
Ecuador
food webs
host plants
Hymenoptera
immatures
insect larvae
larval morphology
Lepidoptera
life history
morphospecies
natural enemies
natural history
Noctuoidea
parasitic wasps
parasitism
parasitoid
rearing
SPECIAL FEATURE ON NATURAL HISTORY AND INTERACTION DIVERSITY OF NEOTROPICAL PLANT-CATERPILLAR-PARASITOID SYSTEMS
surveys
systematic review
trophic interactions
tropical montane cloud forests
tropics
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Summary:Adults and larvae in the subfamily Arctiinae (family Erebidae), along with their host plants and the parasitic wasps and flies that attack them, are important components of most terrestrial food webs, but basic taxonomic and life-history knowledge for the arctiines of the Neotropics is still poorly known. This is true for most groups of Lepidoptera in hyperdiverse countries such as Ecuador. To examine host affiliations and natural enemies in diverse ecosystems, we collected 6,243 arctiine caterpillars (representing 821 larval morphospecies) at elevations ranging from 400 to 3,500 m as part of a larger ecological and taxonomic survey of trophic associations centered at the Yanayacu Biological Station in Napo province, eastern Ecuador. Here, we provide a brief review of the systematics of Neotropical Arctiinae, provide basic information on host affiliations and parasitism rates of arctiines reared from Napo province in Ecuador and describe the immature stages of 16 species encountered in the region.
ISSN:0013-8746
1938-2901
DOI:10.1603/AN10165