Details of egg, larval, and pupal morphology are described and illustrated for Calycopis caulonia (Hewitson). In particular, larval chaetotaxy is documented for the first time in Calycopis. Lab methods for inducing wild-caught Calycopis females to lay eggs and for rearing larvae on artificial diet are reported. These methods may be useful in several ways in resolving the basic taxonomy of Calycopis. Evidence concerning detritivory and myrmecophily in C. caulonia is discussed.
Male secondary sexual characters in Lepidoptera may be present or absent in species that otherwise appear to be closely related, an observation that has led to differences of opinion over the taxonomic usefulness of these structures above the species level. An evolutionary issue raised by this debate is whether male secondary sexual characters (1) can be regained after being lost evolutionarily, (2) are not lost after being evolved, or (3) are 'switched on and off' by genes that regulate development. A second evolutionary issue is the conditions under which male secondary sexual characters might be lost or gained evolutionarily. Because these structures are thought to promote species recognition, theory predicts evolutionary losses to be most likely in allopatry; evolutionary gains to be most likely during the process of secondarily establishing sympatry or during sympatric speciation. We updated the species-level taxonomy of the brilliant emerald-winged Neotropical lycaenid butterfly genus Arcas and performed an analysis of phylogenetic relations among species to assess these evolutionary issues. We morphologically detail a scent pouch on the ventral hindwing of Arcas and report that six species possess the pouch with androconia, one possesses the pouch without androconia, and the remaining two species have neither pouch nor androconia. In addition, eight Arcas species have a morphologically species-specific male forewing scent pad, and one lacks a scent pad. This variation appears to be the result of three evolutionary losses and no gains of male secondary sexual organs. The four Arcas species lacking a scent pouch or a scent pad are allopatric with their closest phylogenetic relatives while four of five with both of these structures are sympatric. Although Arcas is a small genus, these results are significantly more extreme than predicted by chance. For taxonomy, this study provides a rationale for the evolutionary loss of male secondary sexual structures and suggests that their absence, but itself, does not indicate a lack of relationship above the species level.
ABSTRACT. Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea) of the "Baixada Santista" region, coastal São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. A list with 538 species of butterflies recorded in the Baixada Santista, São Paulo (SE Brazil) is presented. Standard sampling protocols (i.e. with entomological nets) were followed. Baited traps were installed for fruit feeding species. Data from the literature and entomological collections were also considered in the total estimated species richness. The species richness recorded in the Baixada Santista region represents about 16% of the Brazilian butterfly fauna, and 34% of the known butterfly fauna for the state of São Paulo. The present list contains an appreciably higher number of species in comparison to other lists from similar biomes farther south, such as Blumenau in Santa Catarina, and Maquiné in Rio Grande do Sul.
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