Description of three new species of Automeris Hübner, 1819 from Colombia and Brazil (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae, Hemileucinae).

Thibaud Decaëns,Rodolphe Rougerie,Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia,Frédéric Bénéluz,Diego Bonilla

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1031.56035

Abstract

The Saturniidae is one of the most emblematic families of moths, comprising nearly 3000 species distributed globally. In this study, DNA barcode analysis and comparative morphology were combined to describe three new species within the genus Automeris, which is the most diverse genus in the family. Automeris llaneros Decaëns, Rougerie & Bonilla, sp. nov., Automeris mineros Decaëns, Rougerie & Bonilla, sp. nov., and Automeris belemensis Decaëns, Rougerie & Bénéluz, sp. nov. are described from the Colombian Orinoco watershed, the Colombian Eastern Cordillera, and the area of endemism of Belém in the Brazilian Amazonia, respectively. They all belong to the Automeris bilinea (Walker, 1855) species subgroup, which comprises a number of species that are sometimes difficult to distinguish from each other using morphology alone. Here, the description of these three new species is based on significant differences from their closest relatives, either in terms of wing patterns, genitalia, DNA barcodes or a combination of these features.

Highlights

The Saturniidae family, popularised as the wild silkmoths, is one of the most emblematic families of moths, because of the giant size, colourful patterns, or tailed hindwings of some of its species
The diversity in habitus of these moths is extreme: size ranges from small moths a few centimetres in wingspan to very large ones approaching a wingspan of 20 cm; wing patterns can be cryptic, mimicking leaves, can harbour large eyespots, or can be aposematic in colour; wings can be rounded (e.g., Dirphia Hübner, 1919) or elongated, or some taxa have spectacular tailed hindwings (e.g., Copiopteryx Duncan, 1841)
We use a combination of morphological features and molecular data (DNA barcodes) to propose the description of three new species from Colombia and Brazil within the group of Automeris bilinea (Walker, 1855), which was defined by Lemaire (2002) as a subgroup within the larger species group of Automeris illustris (Walker, 1855)

Summary

Introduction

The Saturniidae family, popularised as the wild silkmoths, is one of the most emblematic families of moths, because of the giant size, colourful patterns, or tailed hindwings of some of its species. The diversity in habitus of these moths is extreme: size ranges from small moths a few centimetres in wingspan (e.g., in the genus Hylesia Hübner, 1820) to very large ones approaching a wingspan of 20 cm (e.g., in Arsenura Duncan, 1841); wing patterns can be cryptic, mimicking leaves (e.g., in Copaxa Walker, 1855), can harbour large eyespots (e.g., in Automeris Hübner, 1919), or can be aposematic in colour (e.g., in Citheronia Hübner, 1919); wings can be rounded (e.g., Dirphia Hübner, 1919) or elongated (e.g., in Syssphinx Hübner, 1819 and Ptiloscola Michener, 1949), or some taxa have spectacular tailed hindwings (e.g., Copiopteryx Duncan, 1841). Within subfamily Hemileucinae, the genus Automeris comprises species whose size ranges from small to very large; their main feature is the presence of a large eyespot on the dorsal surface of the hindwings. It is the most diverse genus within the family. We use a combination of morphological features and molecular data (DNA barcodes) to propose the description of three new species from Colombia and Brazil within the group of Automeris bilinea (Walker, 1855), which was defined by Lemaire (2002) as a subgroup within the larger species group of Automeris illustris (Walker, 1855)

Materials and methods

Discussion

Wenczel

Findings

Carlot 10-Apr-1997 French