Population Biology of Three Satyrine Species (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) in a Suburban Habitat

Abstract

Decades after the publication of the rst population studies on Neotropical butter ies, knowledge of their population biology remains scarce in the literature. Inconspicuous groups like the nymphalid subfamily Satyrinae are often overlooked, and studies that examine the demographics of these neglected groups are paramount for a more comprehensive understanding of insect population dynamics. The present paper addresses this dearth of information by describing the population biology of three common species of Euptychiina (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) butter ies, Hermeuptychia atalanta, Cissia eous and Malaveria a nis, in a suburban area. A 13-month mark-release-recapture study was carried out in the grass lawns of the University of Campinas, São Paulo State Southeastern Brazil. The results showed that population parameters differ among the three studied species. For example, the population of H. atalanta is about ve times that of of C. eous, which is four times larger than that of M. a nis. Sex ratios were male-biased in H. atalanta and C. eous, but not in M. a nis (whose sex ratio was 1:1). Hermeuptychia atalanta and C. eous had mean adult lifespans of approximately one week, with no variation between sexes. Malaveria a nis, however, had a lifespan of approximately 11 days for males and just 5 days for females. Age structures were similar in all three species, with no recruitment peaks detected throughout the year. Sexual dimorphism, based on wing size, was not observed in H. atalanta, but a clear pattern of dimorphism with larger females was observed for the other two species. The present study is the rst to describe population parameters for Euptychiina in detail, and one of the few focusing on population biology of butter ies in suburban areas. Indeed, the present results could help to de ne strategies of lawn management for the campus, aiming to increase local biodiversity and consequently improve ecosystem services. Main textThe rst population biology studies for Neotropical butter ies are ve decades old (Turner 1971;Ehrlich & Gilbert 1973). Although some progress in the eld has been made, our knowledge on population dynamics for most Neotropical butter y species remains low and many groups of butter ies are understudied or completely ignored (but see Torres et al. 2009;Seixas et al. 2017; Uehara-Prado and Freitas 2019). One such group is the subtribe Euptychiina (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae); with more than 440 described species, the group is distributed from Canada to Argentina, reaching its maximum diversity in the forests and savannas of South America (DeVries 1987;Marín et al. 2011;Espeland et al. 2019). The group has remained overlooked for decades and thorough studies in taxonomy and systematics in this subtribe are very recent. Apart for taxonomy and systematics, the euptychiines are mostly unknown in terms of host-plants and immature stages, natural history, behavior and ecology (Marín et al. 2011).Moreover, only a few, short-term, studies of population biology of any species of Euptychiina have been published ...