VI. Athis Hübner, [1819]

Athis is the Castniidae genus with the largest number of species (currently 17) and one of the genera of this family with the widest distribution in the Americas, ranging from northern Mexico throughout Central America and through South America to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, with the presence of some species on three Caribbean islands (Pierre & Pierre-Baltus 2003; González 2004; González & Cock 2004; González et al. 2006; Pierre et al. 2008; Vinciguerra et al. 2011; Pierre & Lalanne-Cassou 2014). Bromeliads have been reported as hosts, with some Athis species known to feed on species of the genera Billbergia Thunberg, 1821, Hechtia Klotzsch, 1835 and Tillandsia L., 1753 (González 2004; González et al. 2006; González et al. 2021; García-Díaz et al. 2019, 2020, 2022; García-Díaz 2022b; iNaturalist 2023). Most Athis species have triangular forewings with a characteristic wing pattern, they have a tawny brown forewing base and a diagonal band that runs from the wing base to the subapical region; one to three white or translucent spots are present in the apical region (González 2004; González et al. 2021; García-Díaz 2022b; García-Díaz et al. 2022). Curiously, not much is known about the ecology, behavior, and life cycle of most of these species (Vinciguerra et al. 2011), although some authors have written briefly about them (i.e. González & Fernández-Yépez 1992, Pierre & Pierre-Baltus 2003; González 2004; González et al. 2006, 2021; Pierre et al. 2008; García-Díaz et al. 2019, 2020, 2022; García-Díaz 2022b). The rarity of some Athis species is evident, as is the case with A. ahala (H. Druce, 1896), A. analibiae (Espinoza-Sanabria & González, 2005), A. delecta (Schaus, 1911), A. jaliscana López-Godínez & Porion, 2012 and A. pirrelloi Vinciguerra, 2011, which are known from just a few specimens.