Athis delecta ( Schaus, 1911 )

García-Díaz, José De Jesús, Espinoza-Sanabria, Bernardo A., Worthy, Robert, González, Jorge M., Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2024, Synopsis of the Castniidae (Lepidoptera) of Costa Rica, Zootaxa 5481 (2), pp. 151-202 : 169-171

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5481.2.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:547F19D4-4558-4D8A-8D01-2ECCCB133A5D
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12752781
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/2F6D87D4-3243-FFCF-FF4B-3C84C55AFCF9
treatment provided by	Plazi (2024-07-16 10:37:07, last updated 2024-11-24 23:25:40)
scientific name	Athis delecta ( Schaus, 1911 )
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Treatment

10. Athis delecta ( Schaus, 1911) View in CoL

( Figs. 7C, 7D View FIGURE 7 , 12C View FIGURE 12 )

Castnia delecta Schaus, 1911 View in CoL ; Schaus, 1911. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) 7 (38), p. 192.

Orthia delecta ; Houlbert, 1918. Étud. Lép. Comp. 15, pp. 65, 509, 695, 721 pl. CDXXXIX 3781.

Athis delecta View in CoL ; Miller, 1995, in Heppner. Castnioidea: Castniidae View in CoL : Castniinae View in CoL , Checklist part 2, Atlas Neo. Lep., p. 133. Athis delecta View in CoL ; Lamas, 1995. Revta. Per. Ent. 37, p. 76.

Athis delecta View in CoL ; Moraes & Duarte, 2014. Zoo. Jour. Linn. Soc. 170 (2), p. 29.

General comments. Described as Castnia delecta Schaus, 1911 from specimens collected in Mexico (Córdoba) and Costa Rica (Esperanza [del Guarco]) ( Schaus 1911; Strand 1913; Miller 1995; Lamas 1995; López-Godínez & Porion 2012). Houlbert (1918) included it in Orthia Herrich-Schäffer, [1853] , but Miller (1986, 1995) transferred it to Athis Hübner.

Athis delecta is, together with A. ahala and A. jaliscana , one of the smallest species in the genus. López-Godínez & Porion (2012) mentioned that A. jaliscana is close to A. delecta , since, despite being easily distinguishable from each other, they share some morphological characteristics including wing pattern, coloration, and size. Not much is known about this species, and it is one of the least represented Athis in entomological collections worldwide (García-Díaz, in prep.).

Males and females have similar wing patterns, as the species exhibits very little sexual dimorphism. The apex of the female forewing is slightly rounded. Dorsally, there is a dark brown diagonal band that runs from the apex to the anal margin on the forewing; the base-color in males is dark brown on the marginal side of the band and light brown on the basal side, while in the females the coloration is lighter and more homogeneous throughout the wing; near the costa in the discal region there is a circular maculation, which is larger and oval in females; there is a translucent spot at the apex and it may be accompanied by another barely perceptible spot in both sexes; the hindwing base-color is pale orange, there is a dark brown marginal band and another band of dark brown spots in the postdiscal region. Ventrally, the wing pattern in both sexes is similar to what is observed dorsally, but the base-color is orange and lighter, the maculation is more discrete, and the band of postdiscal spots on the hindwing is creamy-whitish.

Ecology and behavior. Ecological and behavioral aspects of the species are currently unknown. However, based on information being collected in Mexico, A. delecta is a territorial species with diurnal habits that flies in the tree canopy over epiphytic bromeliads (García-Díaz, in prep.).

Distribution and biogeography. Athis delecta is, together with A. inca ( Walker, 1854) , one of the Athis species with the widest distribution, having been found in Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica ( Schaus 1911; Strand 1913; Miller 1995; Lamas 1995; López-Godínez & Porion 2012; González & Hernández-Baz 2012; Niño-Maldonado et al. 2013; Morales-Morales et al. 2015). Only the male syntype of the species (from Esperanza del Guarco, Cartago) was previously known from Costa Rica, but two additional specimens were found in MNCR, collected in the province of San José; and one male in MGCL, collected in Turrialba, Cartago. According to Morrone et al. (2022), these localities belong, respectively, to the Guatuso-Talamanca and Puntarenas-Chiriquí provinces of the Pacific dominion in the Brazilian subregion.

References

Gonzalez, J. M. & Hernandez-Baz, F. (2012) Polillas y taladradores gigantes de la familia Castniidae (Lepidoptera) de Guatemala. In: Cano, E. B. & Schuster, J. C. (Eds.), Biodiversidad de Guatemala. Vol. 2. Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala, pp. 145 - 153.

Houlbert, C. (1918) Revision monographique de la sous-famille des Castniinae. Etudes de Lepidopterologie comparee, 15, i - xvi + 1 - 730, pls. 437 - 462, figs. 1 - 242.

Lamas, G. (1995) A critical review of J. Y. Miller´s checklist of the Neotropical Castniidae (Lepidoptera). Revista Peruana de Entomologia, 37, 73 - 87.

Lopez-Godinez, B. & Porion, T. (2012) Notes sur le genre Athis Hubner, [1819] et description d'une nouvelle espece du Mexique (Lepidoptera, Castniidae). Les cahiers du Musee des Confluences - Etudes scientifiques, No. 3, 75 - 81. https: // doi. org / 10.3406 / mhnly. 2012.1580

Miller, J. Y. (1986) The Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Zoogeography of the Neotropical Castniidae (Lepidoptera: Castnoidea: Castniidae), Ph. D. Thesis, University of Florida, Gainesville, 571 pp.

Miller, J. Y. (1995) Castniidae. In: Heppner, J. B. (Ed.), Checklist: Part 2. Hyblaeoidea-Pyraloidea-Tortricoidea. Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Association for Tropical Lepidoptera / Scientific Publishers, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 133 - 137 + 176 - 177.

Moraes, S. & Duarte, M. (2014) Phylogeny of Neotropical Castniinae (Lepidoptera: Cossoidea: Castniidae): testing the hypothesis of the mimics as a monophyletic group and implications for the arrangement of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 170 (2), 362 - 399. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / zoj. 12102

Morales-Morales, C. J., Guevara-Hernandez, F., Gomez-Castaeda, J. C., Espinosa-Moreno, J. A. & Gutierrez-Martinez, A. (2015) Castnidos depositados en la Coleccion Entomologica de la Facultad de Ciencias Agronomicas (UN. A. CH.), Villaflores, Chiapas (Lepidoptera: Castniidae). Dugesiana, 22 (1), 65 - 66.

Morrone, J. J., Escalante, T., Rodriguez-Tapia, G., Carmona, A., Arana, M. & Mercado-Gomez, J. D. (2022) Biogeographic regionalization of the Neotropical region: New map and shapefile. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias, 94, e 20211167. https: // doi. org / 10.1590 / 0001 - 3765202220211167

Nino-Maldonado, S., De Leon-Gonzalez, E. I., Miller, J. Y. & Sanchez-Reyes, U. J. (2013) New records of Castniidae (Lepidoptera) from Queretaro and Tamaulipas, Mexico. Acta Zoologica Mexicana, Nueva Serie, 29 (2), 452 - 453. https: // doi. org / 10.21829 / azm. 2013.2921127

Schaus W. (1911) New species of Heterocera from Costa Rica. V. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 8, 7 (38), 173 - 193. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222931108692920

Strand, E. (1913) Gattung: Castnia F. In: Seitz, A. (Ed.), Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde. Vol. 6. A. Kernen, Stuttgart, pp. 7 - 17.

Walker, F. (1854) List of specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part I-Lepidoptera Heterocera. Vol. 1. British Museum, London, 278 pp.

Figures

FIGURE 7. A–B: Mirocastnia pyrrhopygoides smalli; A: ♂, Holotype, Panama, Panama, Cerro Jefe, ca. 900m. iii-11-1977, G.B. Small / 111078 6,7, Gordon Small Collection, MGCL/FLMNH Specimen no. 47927, UF FLMNH MGCL 1138161 (MGCL); B: ♀, Prov. Guanacaste, Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Sector Orosi, Pico Volcán Orosi, 1440m, 09/Jun/2002, P. Ríos & C. Moraga, 02-SRNP-12897, 10.95045, -85.54173 (MNCR); C–D: Athis delecta; C: ♂, San José, Museo Nacional de C. R., 4 de mayo 2001, Joaquín Sánchez, MNCR-E 55746, MNCR-A5055746 (MNCR); D: ♀, San José, Museo Nacional de C. R., 8 de mayo 2001, Ernesto Carman, MNCR-E 55745, MNCR-A5055745 (MNCR). Scale bar = 2cm.