Search

Global insect decline has recently become a cause for major concern, particularly in the tropics where the vast majority of species occurs. Deforestation is suggested as being a major driver of this decline, but how anthropogenic changes in landscape structure affect tropical insect communities has rarely been addressed.We sampled Saturniidae and Sphingidae moths on 27 farms located in Brazilian Amazonia (Pará state) and characterised by different deforestation histories. We used functional traits (forewing length, body mass, wing load, trophic niche breadth and resource use strategy), analysed by combining RLQ and null model analyses, to investigate the responses of their taxonomic and functional diversity to landscape change dynamics and current structure.We found that communities had a higher proportion of large and polyphagous species with low wing load in landscapes with low forest quality and relative cover and high land use turnover. This was mainly due to a significant response to deforestation by saturniids, whereas the more mobile sphingids showed no significant landscape‐related pattern. We also observed an overall increase of species richness and functional dispersion in landscapes that have been deforested for a long time when compared with more recent agricultural settlements.Our results highlight the complex way in which landscape structure and historical dynamics interact to shape Neotropical moth communities and that saturniid moths respond clearly to the structure of the surrounding landscape, confirming their potential use as an indicator group for environmental monitoring programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new species of the hawkmoth genus Xylophanes Hübner, 1819 from Colombia are described based on morphological characters and DNA barcodes: Xylophanes camilae Correa-Carmona & Giusti sp. n., Xylophanes pijao Giusti & Correa-Carmona sp. n., and Xylophanes tayrona Correa-Carmona & Giusti sp. n. The new species are compared with the most morphologically similar species within the informal Xylophanes crotonis species-group: Xylophanes aristor (Boisduval, 1870), Xylophanes crotonis (Walker, 1856) and Xylophanes huloti Haxaire & Vaglia, 2008. Diagnoses, distribution maps, photographs of genital structures and habitus are provided for each new species. In addition, a dichotomous key is provided to identify the new species and the most morphologically similar species within the group. To stabilize the nomenclature and fi x the taxon concept, a neotype is designated for Xylophanes aristor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to provide information about the diversity and distribution of Eudocima species in Colombia, 261 specimens deposited in entomological collections were examined and identified. We found seven of the eight species of Eudocima recorded in the Neotropics: E. anguina, E. colubra, E. collusoria, E. memorans and E. serpentifera, all being recorded for the first time from the country. We provide a list of the species, comments on the biology and distribution data, illustrations of the adults, and keys for species identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an annotated checklist of the species of Bombycidae, Saturniidae and Sphingidae collected in the Utría National Natural Park, Chocó, Colombia. We used mercury light trap for 31 days in four different habitats. We found 35 species: 19 Saturniidae, 15 Sphingidae and 1 Bombycidae. Eighteen species are recorded for the first time in the department of Chocó. These include the Chocó endemic Syssphinx chocoensis, the first specimen of Manduca dalica dalica, in a Colombian collection, and the fifth instar of Isognathus scyron. Our results agree with the lunar phobia hypothesis. This work is the first approach to the diversity of these families in the Utría National Park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]