Athis palatinus staudingeri (H. Druce, 1896 )

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 : 172-174

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.12752783
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/2F6D87D4-3244-FFCC-FF4B-3CF7C51DF806
treatment provided by	Plazi (2024-07-16 10:37:07, last updated 2024-11-24 23:25:40)
scientific name	Athis palatinus staudingeri (H. Druce, 1896 )
status

Treatment

12. Athis palatinus staudingeri (H. Druce, 1896) View in CoL

( Figs. 6 View FIGURE 6 , 10F, 10G View FIGURE 10 , 12C View FIGURE 12 )

Castnia staudingeri H. Druce, 1896 View in CoL ; Druce, 1896. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) 18(103), p. 28.

Aciloa staudingeri ; Houlbert, 1918. Étud. Lép. Comp. 15, pp. 64, 459, 692, 727, fig. 156.

Athis staudingeri View in CoL ; Miller, 1995, in Heppner. Castnioidea: Castniidae View in CoL : Castniinae View in CoL , Checklist part 2, Atlas Neo. Lep. , p. 134. Athis palatinus staudingeri View in CoL ; Lamas, 1995. Revta. Per. Ent. 37, p. 77.

General comments. The northernmost taxon of the “ palatinus View in CoL ” complex. Described by Druce (1896) as Castnia staudingeri Druce, 1896 View in CoL based on specimens collected in Chiriquí. Houlbert (1918) included it in Aciloa Houlbert, 1918 View in CoL , but Miller (1986) placed it in Athis View in CoL , as a subspecies of Athis palatinus (Cramer, 1777) View in CoL . Later, Miller (1995) considered staudingeri View in CoL a valid species, but Lamas (1995) included it as a subspecies of A. palatinus View in CoL .

Athis palatinus staudingeri is a rare taxon that is poorly represented in entomological collections. Until the first decade of the 21st century, specimens were only known from Panama, but Vinciguerra (2011) and Vinciguerra & González (2011) reported it for the first time for Costa Rica (Corcovado), extending its distribution in Central America.

The wing pattern differs from other subspecies of Athis palatinus by having a slightly more orange base-color both on the fore- and hindwing. Athis p. staudingeri shows some sexual dimorphism: (i) females are normally larger than males; (ii) female forewings have a marked curvature at the outer margin; (iii) the subapical, postdiscal and costal spots in the female forewing are larger than in the male; (iv) the spots of the postdiscal band of the hindwing are smaller in males.

Ecology and behavior. No ecological or behavioral information on this subspecies is known. It has been observed in the province of Puntarenas from January to May. Adults fly on sunny days along paths or openings in the forest; males are territorial. On one occasion a male was seen feeding on an unidentified flower ( Fig. 10G View FIGURE 10 ) (Chantelle Taylor & Ted Armstrong, pers. comm.). The host plant of A. p. staudingeri is unknown but considering the hosts of other species or subspecies in the palatinus complex, it is probably a bromeliad ( Bromeliaceae ) (see Moss 1945; Miller 1986; González & Fernández-Yépez 1992; García-Díaz et al. 2020, 2022; González et al. 2021; García-Díaz 2022b).

Distribution and biogeography. Athis palatinus staudingeri is only known from a few localities in Costa Rica and Panama. In Costa Rica, it has only been registered within the cantons of Aguirre, Golfito, and Osa, in the province of Puntarenas, localities that belong to the Puntarenas-Chiriquí province of the Pacific dominion in the Brazilian subregion ( Morrone et al. 2022).

References

Druce, H. (1896) Descriptions of some new genera and species of Heterocera from Central and tropical South America. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 6, 18 (103), 28 - 42. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222939608680406

Garcia-Diaz, J. J., Miller, J. Y. & Gonzalez, J. M. (2020) Observations on the courtship and other biological aspects of Athis hechtiae (Dyar, 1910) (Castniidae) in Tehuacan, Puebla, Mexico. Tropical Lepidoptera Research, 30 (2), 86 - 89. https: // doi. org / 10.5281 / zenodo. 4317558

Garcia-Diaz, J. J. (2022 b) Synopsis of Athis thysanete (Dyar, 1912) (Castniidae: Castniinae) populations, courtship behavior and other observations on its biology. Tropical Lepidoptera Research, 32 (2), 91 - 99. https: // doi. org / 10.5281 / zenodo. 7246181

Gonzalez, J. M. & Fernandez-Yepez, F. (1992) Descripcion de una nueva especie de Athis Hubner de Venezuela (Lepidoptera: Castniidae: Castniinae). Memoria de la Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle, 52 (137), 5 - 10.

Gonzalez, J. M., Lopez-Godinez, B., Garcia-Diaz, J. J., Simon, S., Sarto i Monteys, V. & Worthy, R. (2021) Reinstatement of Athis miastagma (Dyar, 1925) (Lepidoptera: Castniidae) as a valid species inhabiting the Pacific slope of Central Mexico. Zootaxa, 5061 (2), 300 - 322. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 5061.2.4

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.

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.

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

Moss, A. M. (1945) The Castnia of Para with notes on others (Lep. Castniidae). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (B), 14, 48 - 52.

Vinciguerra, R. & Gonzalez, J. M. (2011) Observations on distribution of Athis palatinus staudingeri (Druce, 1896) (Lepidoptera: Castniidae). SHILAP Revista de Lepidopterologia, 39 (154), 155 - 159.

Figures

FIGURE 6. A–B: Athis palatinus staudingeri; A: ♂, Corcovado, Osa Peninsula, Puntarenas, May 2014 (RW); B: ♀, Corcovado, Osa Peninsula, Puntarenas, May 2014 (RW). Scale bar = 2cm.

FIGURE 10. A–B: Amauta procera; A: ♀, Golfito, Puntarenas, 19-II-2002 (photo: Gernot Kunz); B: ♂, Sarapiquí, Heredia, 06-III-2014 (photo: Matthew Grube); C: ♀, Prometheus zagraea zagraea, Osa, Puntarenas, 02-III-2012 (photo: GringoCurt); D–E: Divana diva diva; D: ♂, Puntarenas, Puntarenas, 27-V-2018 (photo: David Curlis); E: ♀, San Ramón, Alajuela, 27-V- 2010 (photo: John B. Schneider); F–G: Athis palatinus staudingeri; F: ♀, Golfito, Puntarenas, 08-II-2021 (photo: Chatelle Taylor); G: ♂, Aguirre, Puntarenas, 16-I-2020 (photo: Ted Armstrong); H: ♂, Athis analibiae, Talamanca, Limón, 09-V-2023 (photo: Heiner Ziegler); I: ♀, Athis clitarcha, Coto Brus, Puntarenas, 14-III-2020 (photo: Casey Owen); J: ♂, Athis inca inca, Sarapiquí, Heredia, 26-X-2018 (photo: Laurens Halsey).