Forewing Length Research Articles

New Osmylopsychopid Taxa from the Middle Jurassic of Northeastern China (Neuroptera: Osmylopsychopidae)

One new genus with four new species sharing the similar character of a forewing length of ca. 10 mm, namely, Minipsychops spasulus gen. et sp. nov., Minipsychops polychotomus sp. nov., Minipsychops densus sp. nov., and Minipsychops unicus sp. nov., are described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia in China. These new insects can be attributed to Osmylopsychopidae for their distinctive configuration of costal space and the venations of RP1 and Cu. Compared with the typically medium to large body sizes of known osmylopsychopids, these new Middle Jurassic taxa of a particularly miniaturized lineage not only enrich the species diversity of Osmylopsychopidae, but also enhance our understanding of the historical evolution of these poorly known lacewings.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE QUALITY OF HONEY BEE (Apis mellifera) QUEENS DEVELOPED FROM LARVAE AFTER THE COLLECTION OF ROYAL JELLY

Rearing bee queens is almost done utilizing grafting young larvae while the effects of grafting using old larvae after the collection of royal jelly on the quality of queens are not known. In fact, the production of royal jelly depends on grafting, then discarding the larvae to collect the royal jelly. This study aimed to investigate this point by grafting old larvae after removing them from their original cells without food. Larvae at age about 2 days were grafted into plastic queen cell cups (selection and grafting method or S&G method) leaving royal jelly behind and then resultant queens were compared with naturally reared ones (or NQ). The study showed the absence of significant variations between the queens reared from the two methods in characteristics of queens and cells. Meanwhile, no significant differences were found in regard to the performance of colonies. The colonies with queens from S&G method had slightly higher performance than those with NQ. The study concluded that grafting using old larvae without their original food does not impair the quality of queens. During the production of royal jelly, larvae may be grafted into new cells to continue their normal development instead of discarding them.

Phylogenetic and Morphological Characteristics Reveal Cryptic Speciation in Stingless Bee, Tetragonula laeviceps s.l. Smith 1857 (Hymenoptera; Meliponinae).

Tetragonula laeviceps sensu lato (s.l.) Smith 1857 has the most complicated nomenclatural history among the Tetragonula genera. The objective of this study was to investigate whether T. laeviceps s.l. individuals with worker bees are grouped in the same or nearly the same morphological characteristics and have similar COI haplotype cluster groups. A total of 147 worker bees of T. laeviceps s.l. were collected from six sampling sites in Sabah (RDC, Tuaran, Kota Marudu, Putatan, Kinarut and Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture (FSA)), but only 36 were selected for further studies. These specimens were first classified according to the most obvious morphological characteristics, i.e., hind tibia color, hind basitarsus color and body size. Group identification was based on morphological characteristics important for distinguishing the four groups within T. laeviceps s.l. The four groups of T. laeviceps s.l. had significantly different body trait measurements for the TL (total length), HW (head width), HL (head length), CEL (compound eye length), CEW (compound eye width), FWLT (forewing length, including tegula), FWW (forewing width), FWL (forewing length), ML (mesoscutum length), MW (mesoscutum width), SW (mesoscutellum width), SL (mesoscutellum length), HTL = (hind tibia length), HTW (hind tibia width), HBL (hind basitarsus length) and HBW (hind basitarsus width) (p < 0.001). Body color included HC (head color), CC (clypeus color), ASC (antennae scape color), CFPP (Clypeus and frons plumose pubescence), HTC (hind tibia color), BSC (basitarsus color), SP (leg setae pubescence), SP (Thorax mesoscutellum pubescence), SPL (thorax mesoscutellum pubescence length) and TC (thorax color) (p < 0.05). The most distinctive features of the morphological and morphometric characteristics measured by PCA and LDA biplot that distinguish Group 1 (TL6-1, TL6-2 and TL6-3) from the other groups were the yellowish-brown ASC and the dark brown TC. Group 2 (haplotypes TL2-1, TL2-2 and TL2-3 and TL4-1, TL4-2 and TL4-3) had a dark brown ASC and a black TC, while Group 3 (haplotypes TL11-1, TL11-2 and TL11-3) had a blackish-brown ASC, a black TC and the largest TL, FWW and FWL. As for phylogenetic relationships, 12 out of 36 haplotypes showed clear separation with good bootstrap values (97-100%). The rest of the haplotypes did not show clear differentiation between subclades that belonged together, regardless of their morphology and morphometric characteristics. This suggests that the combination of DNA barcoding for species identification and phylogenetic analysis, as well as traditional methods based on morphological grouping by body size and body color, can be reliably used to determine intraspecific variations within T. laeviceps s.l.

Microbial diversity in stingless bee gut is linked to host wing size and influenced by the environment

Stingless bees are important social corbiculate bees, fulfilling critical pollination roles in many ecosystems. However, their gut microbiota, particularly the fungal communities associated with them, remains inadequately characterised. This knowledge gap hinders our understanding of bee gut microbiomes and their impacts on the host fitness. We collected 121 samples from two species, Tetragonula carbonaria and Austroplebeia australis across 1200 km of eastern Australia. We characterised their gut microbiomes and investigated potential correlations between bee gut microbiomes and various geographical and morphological factors. We found their core microbiomes consisted of the abundant bacterial taxa Snodgrassella, Lactobacillus and Acetobacteraceae, and the fungal taxa Didymellaceae, Monocilium mucidum and Aureobasidium pullulans, but variances of their abundances among samples were large. Furthermore, gut bacterial richness of T. carbonaria was positively correlated to host forewing length, an established correlate to body size and fitness indicator in insects relating to flight capacity. This result indicates that larger body size/longer foraging distance of bees could associate with greater microbial diversity in gut. Additionally, both host species identity and management approach significantly influenced gut microbial diversity and composition, and similarity between colonies for both species decreased as the geographic distance between them increased. We also quantified the total bacterial and fungal abundance of the samples using qPCR analyses and found that bacterial abundance was higher in T. carbonaria compared to A. australis, and fungi were either lowly abundant or below the threshold of detection for both species. Overall, our study provides novel understanding of stingless bee gut microbiomes over a large geographic span and reveals that gut fungal communities likely not play an important role in host functions due to their low abundances.

Environmental Factors Drive Chalcid Body Size Increases with Altitudinal Gradients for Two Hyper-Diverse Taxa.

Body size is the most essential feature that significantly correlates with insects' longevity, fecundity, metabolic rate, and sex ratio. Numerous biogeographical rules have been proposed to illustrate the correlation between the body sizes of different taxa and corresponding geographical or environmental factors. Whether the minute and multifarious chalcids exhibit a similar geographical pattern is still little known. In this research, we analyzed morphological data from 2953 specimens worldwide, including the two most abundant and diverse taxa (Pteromalidae and Eulophidae), which are both composed of field-collected and BOLD system specimens. We examined forewing length as a surrogate of body size and analyzed the average size separately for males and females using two methods (species and assemblage-based method). To verify Bergmann's rule, we included temperature, precipitation, wind speed and solar radiation as explanatory variables in a generalized linear model to analyze the causes of the size variation. We found that there was an increasing trend in the body size of Pteromalidae and Eulophidae with altitude. The optimal Akaike information criterion (AIC) models showed that larger sizes are significantly negatively correlated with temperature and positively correlated with precipitation, and the possible reasons for this variation are discussed and analyzed.

Comparative Morphometric Studies of European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.) at Different Altitudes of Kashmir Region, India

European honey bee (Apis mellifera L.,) was introduced in Kashmir during late 19th century and since, then its domestication is continued in diverse conditions of Kashmir region. It appears well adapted to unique climatic conditions of the valley. In order to analyse diversification in its characters during ecological adaptations to different altitudes and climatic conditions, morphological characterization of Apis mellifera was employed at different altitudes of Kashmir region. Samples of honey bees were obtained from nine locations representing three different altitudes viz., high, medium and low of Kashmir. Total of 17 characters were measured at three different altitudes. Highly significant difference (p≤0.01) in 15 characters were observed was observed among three altitudes. The three main characters viz., proboscis length, fore wing length and cubital index were compared with earlier data as reported by Ruttner (1988). The proboscis length (6.35±0.06 mm) at high altitude, forewing length (9.21±0.01 mm) at mid altitude, cubital index at low altitude (2.55±0.08 mm) were found same or close to A. mellifera ligustica. However, other parameters did not support presence of this sub-species, therefore, it can be conclude that A. mellifera might have undergone degradations in its certain characters after its introduction in Kashmir region due to diverse climate conditions.

Genus Diaparsis Förster (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Tersilochinae) from Madagascar: a review of the species with interstitial vein 2m-cu

Five species of the genus Diaparsis Förster characterized by the fore wing with interstitial vein 2m-cu are found to occur in Madagascar. One species, D. apophis sp. nov., is described as new to science; three species, D. interstitialis Khalaim, 2013, D. inusitata Khalaim, 2013 and D. voluptuosa Khalaim, 2013, are recorded from Madagascar for the first time. Diagnoses, references and general distribution to the five reviewed Madagascar species are given. Partial identification key to the species of Diaparsis occurring in Madagascar is provided.Diaparsis apophis sp. nov. is widely distributed through Madagascar from extreme north to south of the island; it was collected from Diana, Antananarivo, Androy, Analamanga, Vakinankaratra and Vatomandry provinces. The new species is easily distinguished from its Afrotropical congeners by the combination of interstitial vein 2m-cu in the fore wing; first metasomal tergite evenly arcuate in lateral view, round in cross-section centrally and entirely smooth; and black antennal flagellum with 33–37 flagellomeres in female and 30–40 flagellomeres in male. It is a rather large species with body length about 6.8 mm and fore wing length 4.2 mm. The species name derives from Apophis, an Ancient Egyptian god of chaos.

Phylogeography ofKisauraRoss (Trichoptera: Philopotamidae) of the Japanese Archipelago and the character displacement evolution observed in a secondary contact area between genetically differentiated intra-specific lineages

AbstractIn this study we present evidence of an ongoing speciation event in the Japanese Archipelago. The Kisaura nozakii species complex (Philopotamidae) is a group of a small trichopteran insects, and it has been reported that this species has large differences between populations in the copulatory organs (genitalia) of males. Therefore, we conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses based on the mtDNA COI region (658 bp) and genome-wide nDNA single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (16 254 loci) using the K. nozakii species complex and a sister-species, K. borealis. We also conducted principal component analyses (PCA) based on the forewing length and seven morphological characteristics of the male genitalia. It was revealed that the K. nozakii species complex is composed of multiple allopatrically differentiated genetic lineages. However, two genetic lineages were distributed sympatrically/parapatrically in the western area of the Japanese Archipelago, and the occurrence of ‘character displacement’ in the male genitalia was detected in this area. We consider that the evolutionary event in this species complex has high potential to become a model case for elucidating the processes of speciation and species diversification.

Observations on the common brown butterfly (Heteronympha merope) in the early 1900s in Australia using digitized specimens

• Forewing length was highly correlated with total wing surface area. • Female forewing length was higher between October and December. • No relationship between environmental temperatures and forewing length. The Common Brown butterfly, Heteronympha merope (Fabricius 1775), is a ubiquitous species from the family Nymphalidae, distributed across south-eastern Australia. Using online photographs of 33 digitized museum specimens provided by the Atlas of Living Australia, forewing length was found to be highly correlated with the total wing surface area (r = 0.962), indicating that this metric can be used as an accurate estimate of body size. No significant relationship was found between body size and environmental temperatures, latitude, or the year of collection (1902–1948). The size of females was higher between October and December compared to the rest of the year, while the size of males did not change. Collection of contemporary data on the body size of H. merope would allow the assessment of whether the body size of this species has changed over the past 70 years.

Characteristics of some chitin body parts in worker bees (Apis mellifera L.) from hygienic and non-hygienic bee colonies

Abstract. In the conducted study the level of manifestation of hygienic behavior of 25 bee colonies was tested from the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) in Bulgaria. During the testing the method used for killing the brood was with an entomological pin. Based on the results two types of colonies were determined – hygienic (where 48 h after killing the brood the percentage of cleaned cells with dead brood was over 95%) and non-hygienic (where 48 h after killing the brood the percentage of cleaned cells with dead brood was lower than 95%). From each bee colony young non-flying worker bees were taken and the morphometric measurements of their chitin body parts were made. In the study 18 morphological traits were tested and 2 indexes were calculated. High degree of reliability (p≤0.001) between hygienic and non-hygienic bee colonies was determined for 2 morphological traits - Total length of fore wing and Length of proboscis. For the traits Length of tibia and Width of Іst tarsus of fore leg and Width and Surface of the left wax mirror of IIIrd sternit medium degree of reliability (p≤0.01) was determined. In 3 other traits - Length of femur of fore leg, Length of IIIrd sternit and Length of IInd part of the cubital cell of the fore wing low reliability (p≤0.05) was established. The results obtained from the present study indicate the existence of statistically significant differences between the morphometric characteristics of worker bees from hygienic and non-hygienic bee colonies. These traits are related to the productivity of worker bees.

Effects of population density on adult morphology and life-history traits of female Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Intraspecific competition and food shortage due to high population density during early life can have a profound effect on adult fitness. Organisms often mitigate negative effects of high population density by adjusting resource allocation to adult morphological and life-history traits. In Lepidoptera with short-lived adults that do not feed, it is predicted that females developed from dense larval aggregations invest more in reproduction and traits linked to offspring survival. Here, we investigated the effects of larval population density on adult morphology and life-history traits in the female Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella by raising larvae at a range of population densities. Adults from high population density (16 larvae per g of food) had smaller head, thorax, and forewing compared to other densities. The allometric slope of forewing length with body mass did not differ among population densities, indicating no changes in adult wing morphology at high population density. However, we found that females emerged from larvae at high population density had bigger abdomens relative to body mass, indicating resource investment in reproduction, probably to mitigate the negative effects of crowding on egg production. Ovipositor length did not differ among population densities, indicating conservation of resources to structures with egg-laying function that affect offspring survival. Taken together, these results suggest that female E. kuehniella responding to high larval population density invest relatively more in reproduction, a life-history strategy that could alleviate negative effects of population density on fitness. This study also highlights the importance of a species' reproductive strategy in its adaptive response to environmental conditions, which is relevant to many capital breeders dependent on larval resources for reproduction.

Africanized honeybee population (Apis mellifera L.) in Nicaragua: Forewing length and mitotype lineages.

Various subspecies of Apis mellifera L. were introduced to Central America since colonization 500 years ago. Hybridization increased with the entrance of the Africanized bee in Nicaragua in 1984. Rustic beekeeping activities and numerous feral swarms define the genetic pattern, reflected in phenotypic heterogeneity and remarkable differences in the behaviour of the bee colonies, especially the nest defence. Due to these facts, the question emerge about the degree of Africanization of honeybee colonies in Nicaragua. In this study, we identified Africanized honeybee colonies based on the single character "mean forewing length" and we corroborated our results by determining mitotypes using mtDNA analysis. Morphometric and genetic approaches were realized in three different geographical zones of Nicaragua and related to beehive characteristics and management. Worker bee samples were taken from the inside of 146 hives from 26 apiaries. Abdominal colour as phenotypic character was the first examination, followed by measurement of 1460 right forewings to determine corresponding probability of Africanization. More than 60% of the beehives showed phenotypic heterogeneity and mean forewing length of 8.74 mm (SD 0.16 mm) indicated a high degree of Africanization. Those results provided a selection of 96 worker bees to perform PCR of two worker bees per hive. For mitochondrial DNA analysis 14 samples from sentinel apiaries were added. Three from 61 beehives presented bees with different mtDNA. Throughout, three mitotypes of the African (A) lineage were detected; one mitotype is still unidentified. Mitotype A1 A. mellifera iberiensis was represented by 88 bees and mitotype A4 A. mellifera scutellata by 21 bees. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the PCR findings. No associations were found between mitotypes, forewing length, beehive characteristics and management. A high degree of Africanization in A. mellifera colonies represented by two predominating mitotypes from the A lineage, prevail in Neotropical Nicaragua, with mitotype A4 predominating at higher altitudes.

Applying computer vision to digitised natural history collections for climate change research: Temperature‐size responses in British butterflies

Abstract Natural history collections are invaluable resources for understanding biotic response to global change. Museums around the world are currently imaging specimens, capturing specimen data and making them freely available online. In parallel to the digitisation effort, there have been great advancements in computer vision: the computer trained automated recognition/detection, and measurement of features in digital images. Applying computer vision to digitised natural history collections has the potential to greatly accelerate the use of these collections for biotic response to global change research. In this paper, we apply computer vision to a very large, digitised collection to test hypotheses in an established area of biotic response to climate change research: temperature‐size responses. We develop a computer vision pipeline (Mothra) and apply it to the NHM collection of British butterflies (&gt;180,000 imaged specimens). Mothra automatically detects the specimen and other objects in the image, sets the scale, measures wing features (e.g. forewing length), determines the orientation of the specimen (pinned ventrally or dorsally) and identifies the sex. We pair these measurements and specimen collection data with temperature records for 17,726 specimens across a subset of 24 species to test how adult size varies with temperature during the immature stages of species. We also assess patterns of sexual size dimorphism across species and families for 32 species trained for automated sex ID. Mothra accurately measures the forewing lengths of butterfly specimens compared to manual measurements and accurately determines the sex of specimens, with females as the larger sex in most species. An increase in adult body size with warmer monthly temperatures during the late larval stages is the most common temperature‐size response. These results confirm suspected patterns and support hypotheses based on recent studies using a smaller dataset of manually measured specimens. We show that computer vision can be a powerful tool to efficiently and accurately extract phenotypic data from a very large collection of digital natural history collections. In the future, computer vision will become widely applied to digital collections to advance ecological and evolutionary research and to accelerate their use to investigate biotic response to global change.

Biomorphometry of Automeris liberia Cramer (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) in oil palm in the Amazon

Automeris liberia Cramer are found in South America, with documented sightings in Ecuador, Peru, some regions of Mexico and, more recently, the Brazilian Amazon. These moths cause damage to several plant species. We designed an experiment to study the biology and morphometry of A. liberia in the laboratory and provide information for the management of the pest in oil palm cultivation in the Brazilian Amazon. Caterpillars for rearing were collected from commercial areas of oil palm cultivation, where they cause defoliation of the plant. They were fed a natural diet of oil palm leaves of the Tenera variety and observed from second generation onwards. Sex, behavior, posture, mass, body length, wingspan, body diameter, sex ratio, average growth ratio, and antenna were quantified. The embryonic stage lasted 14 days, followed by seven larval instar stages over 36 days. The pupal stage lasted 21 days. Adults had a longevity of 4.5 and 6 days and a total biological cycle of 78.5 and 80 days, for males and females, respectively. The growth ratio was 1.49. The antennae showed sexual dimorphism, with bipectinate morphology in males and filiform in females. In the adult stage, morphological variables were evaluated (body length, thoracic diameter, wingspan, forewing length, forewing height, hindwing length, hindwing height, antenna length, number of antennomeres, and body mass), and they showed significant differences between males and females (Newman-Keuls test, P &lt; 0.05).

Improving the larvae acceptance rate and morphometric characteristics of queen Apis cerana javana by grafting larvae at different ages

Abstract. Ustadi, Ikhsan N, Junus M, Suyadi. 2021. Improving the larvae acceptance rate and morphometric characteristics of queen Apis cerana javana by grafting larvae at different ages. Biodiversitas 23: 166-170. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of different ages of grafted larvae on the acceptance rate and morphometric characteristics of queen Apis cerana javana Fabr. The total of 72 larvae were 1, 2, and 3 days old and was reared in 7 colonies with 3 treatments (larvae age) and 6 replications. The morphometrics studied consisted of body length, emergence weight, head length, head width, thorax length, thorax width, fore wing length, fore wing width, abdomen length, and abdomen width. The results showed that the different ages of grafted larvae had a highly significant on body length, emergence weight (P&lt;0.01), significant on abdomen length (P&lt;0.05), but not on head length, head width, thorax length, thorax width, fore wing length, fore wing width, abdomen width, acceptance rate. However, the higher acceptance rate was 73.33% to be found in 1 day old of larvae than in 2 and 3 days old. The age of grafted larvae of 1 day old has a higher body length, emergence weight, and abdomen length (P&lt;0.05) than in 2 and 3 days old of larvae. Thus, it can be concluded that the age of grafted larvae of 1 day old was the best age to queen rearing of Apis cerana javana.

Seasonal changes in the pupal weight, the pupal duration and the forewing length of adult in the painted lady butterfly(Vanessa cardui Linnaeus: Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)

Seasonal changes in the pupal weight, the pupal duration and the forewing length of adult in the painted lady butterfly(<i>Vanessa cardui</i> Linnaeus: Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)

Morphometric analysis of Bee Trigona sp. in the area of Kawasan Rumah Pangan Lestari (KRPL) Central Lombok

This study aims to determine the morphometric characteristics of the bee Trigona sp. in the Sustainable Food House Area (KRPL) Central Lombok. The research sample consisted of 28 samples of worker bees Trigona sp. taken from 14 colonies in KRPL. The study was conducted in October-November 2020. The morphological characters of each worker bee were observed and 33 morphometric characters were measured. The results of species identification based on morphological and morphometric characters showed that there were two species of Trigona sp. Those in KRPL are Trigona fuscobalteata and Trigona clypearis. The morphological differences that are quite clear between the two species are the structure of the hairbands on the meso scutum, the color of the abdomen, and the color of the wing venation. The color of the abdomen of Trigona fusco balteata is brownish yellow while the color of the abdomen of Trigona clypealis is blackish brown. Wing venation color the structure of the hairbands is more pronounced in Trigona fuscobalteata. Variations in the measured morphometric characteristics can be seen from the standard deviation values. The highest standard deviation values inspecies Trigona fuscobalteatawerehindwing found in length (SD±0.26), body length (SD±0.23), forewing length of tegula (SD±0.19), and forewing length (SD). ±0.18). Meanwhile, in the species, Trigona clypealis the highest standard deviation values were found in body length (SD±0.20), forewing length of tegula (SD±0.15), and forewing length (SD±0.27).

Functional and taxonomic responses of tropical moth communities to deforestation

Abstract 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.

Integrative taxonomy clarifies species limits in the hitherto monotypic passion‐vine butterfly genera Agraulis and Dryas (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Heliconiinae)

AbstractThe Heliconiini genera Agraulis and Dryas are widely distributed throughout the Neotropics and into adjacent temperate regions, and although they are currently treated as monotypic, both show significant geographic phenotypic variation. In this work, we employ six genetic markers (4199 bp), two mitochondrial and four nuclear, to perform coalescent species delimitation analyses in Bayesian Phylogenetics and Phylogeography (BPP) and in integrated BPP (iBPP), the latter also includes linear measurements and wings landmarks. We also analyze cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) barcode sequences for each genus using genetic distances, haplotype networks and a character‐based approach. Based on the model testing results, complemented with data from previous studies, we performed morphometric analyses to compare fore and hindwing size, aspect ratio and shape among the new species. In addition, we compared the forewing spot pattern of hypothesizes species using the r package patternize and, for Dryas, compared the colour patterns of mature larvae. Model testing of the molecular species delimitation outputs favoured a seven species hypothesis for Agraulis and a four species hypothesis for Dryas. Average distances among COI barcode sequences of these groups were from 1.09 to 5.81% in Agraulis and from 1.09 to 3.44% in Dryas. Within‐group distances ranged from 0 to 1.11% and between 0 and 2.43%, respectively. NeighborNet haplotype networks showed that all but one of the species are monophyletic, and the character‐based approach found exclusive diagnostic positions for most species, while the rest can be recognized by unique combinations of the 44 informative nucleotide positions analysed. Morphometric analysis supported all species of Agraulis and Dryas based on wing shape, and also in several cases on wing sizes and aspect ratio (hindwing length–forewing length), including A. v. galapagensis, which was absent from the molecular study. The analysis of the forewing spot pattern also revealed differences among most species hypothesis. The colour pattern of the last instar larva is also diagnostic for each Dryas species hypothesis. Locality data for species in both genera show that most of them are allopatric albeit a few have contact zones being parapatric at some locations. Based on the observed genetic differences, which covary with morphology and geographical distribution, we recommend the recognition of eight species of Agraulis: A. incarnata, A. vanillae, A. forbesi new status, A. insularis reinstated status, A. maculosa new status, A. lucina reinstated status, A. galapagensis new status and one undescribed species, and four species of Dryas: D. iulia, D. dominicana revised status, D. lucia revised status and D. alcionea reinstated status. Further work is needed to investigate, which selective forces have led to the current configurations of venation and wing shape, the probable gene flow among species with a focus on Agraulis and gather more data on species ecology.LSIDurn: lsid: zoobank.org: pub: 9E8C9F6E‐91C3‐4FB2‐804D‐1A9C4BD2EABB.

Aposematic Coloration of Moths Decreases Strongly along an Elevational Gradient in the Andes.

Simple SummaryCertain moths defend themselves with toxic substances, and they show this to predators with bright and contrasting coloration. At high elevations, fewer birds, bats and other predators are present that feed on these insects. We therefore expected a decreasing proportion of colorful tiger and lichen moths with increasing elevation. Our study was carried out in forests between 1040 and 2670 m in the Ecuadorian Andes. We scored all 353 observed species according to their warning coloration, and whether they mimic bees and wasps or potentially poisonous beetles. We also measured forewing length of all species. From these data community-weighted means were calculated and related to the elevation of their collection sites. As predicted, the communitywide incidence of all three defensive traits decreased substantially from tall premontane forest to open upper montane forest. In parallel, moth size increased with elevation. Moreover, the systematic composition of tiger and lichen moth assemblages changed substantially. These findings support the idea that different selection regimes favor warning coloration at lower sites with higher predation pressure, while cryptic appearance is more advantageous at higher elevations.On tropical mountains, predation pressure decreases with elevation. Accordingly, one expects an elevational decay in the prevalence of costly defensive traits such as aposematic coloration. Using light-trap catches of Arctiinae moths (353 species, 4466 individuals), assembled along a forested gradient in the megadiverse tropical Andes of southern Ecuador, we show that the incidence of aposematic coloration decreases strongly between 1040 and 2670 m asl. While over 60% of Arctiinae moths were warningly colored at lowest sites, this fraction decreased to less than 20% in montane forest, yet increased slightly again at the highest sites in the very open Purdiaea nutans forest. In parallel, the incidence of hymenopteran mimics and of species that mimic chemically defended beetles decreased with elevation. Hymenopteran mimics accounted for less than 5% of Arctiinae moths at sites above 2100 m, and beetle mimics were essentially lacking at high elevations. These patterns coincide with a change in gross taxonomic composition of Arctiinae ensembles and with an increase in average body size towards higher elevations. Representatives of Euchromiina and Ctenuchina became scarce with altitude, whereas the prevalence of Lithosiinae increased. Our findings suggest that the variable selective pressures along the elevational gradient favor warning coloration primarily at lower sites, whereas cryptic appearance of adult moths dominates in the tropical upper montane forest.