Telchin licus laura (H. Druce, 1896)

(Fig. 8)

Castnia laura H. Druce, 1896

Taxonomic history. The ssp. was originally described (as Castnia laura) by Herbert Druce (1896). Miller (1995) considered it a synonym of Leucocastnia licu s (Drury) and Lamas (1995) placed it as a ssp. of Telchin licus (Drury) . Benítez (2002) mentions Castnia sora (= Synpalamides phalaris) and Castnia licus in his list of forest and agricultural pests of Paraguay based on specimens deposited at the FCA/ DE. The first author visited this collection in 2009 and only saw specimens of Synpalamides phalaris (Fabricius), Castnia invaria penelope Schaufuss and Gazera heliconioides micha (H. Druce) deposited there. These facts allow us to conclude that the “ Castnia licus ” mention in Benitez (2002) is just a misspelling of “ Castnia linus ” (= G. heliconioides).

Distribution. The type described by Druce is from Chapada dos Guimarães (Mato Grosso, Brazil) (Druce 1896). In a broader sense, Telchin licus (Drury) is found primarily in the Amazon Basin, with subspecies ranging from Honduras to Bolivia (Lamas 1995; González 2003).

One specimen collected in 1984, and deposited at the MNHNPY (see below), appears to be the first valid Paraguayan record of the species. It was collected in a region with a mixture of Atlantic Forest and Cerrado vegetation.

Biology and behavior. Benítez (2002) reports that this species is a pest of pineapples [ Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.; Bromeliaceae] and Bananas ( Musa spp.; Musaceae), however we could not autenticate these data in Paraguay since it was part of a host plant literature related to Telchin licus (Drury) .

Material examined. CANINDEYÚ: 13, 34 km SE of Catueté. 19.II.1984. Coll. T. Bonace (MNHNPY).