A new Andean genus, Lafontaineana, with descriptions of four new species and two new Neotropical species of Panthea (Noctuidae, Pantheinae).

Lafontaineana Martinez, gen. nov. is proposed as a new Neotropical genus of Pantheinae, forming a sister group to Gaujonia Dognin, 1891 based on a phylogenetic analysis. In addition, one new combination and four new species are proposed: Lafontaineana marmorifera (Walker, 1865), comb. nov. (Colombia), Lafontaineana alexandrae Martinez, sp. nov. (Ecuador), Lafontaineana imama Martinez, sp. nov. (Colombia), Lafontaineana puma Martinez, sp. nov. (Ecuador), and Lafontaineana thuta Martinez, sp. nov. (Ecuador). Two new Neotropical species of Panthea are described, Panthea hondurensis Martinez, sp. nov. and Panthea taina Martinez, sp. nov.

A new genus of Castniinae (Lepidoptera Castniidae) with comments on comparative morphology and bionomics of its assigned species.

There are 14 species of Castniinae known from Mexico of which about ten appear to be endemic. Among the latter, we find Synpalamides chelone (Hopffer, 1856), Synpalamides escalantei (J.Y. Miller, 1976) and Castnia estherae J.Y. Miller, 1976. As far as we can tell, no additional specimens of this latter species have been observed until recently, and most of these are reported herein. A description of the male of S. estherae is provided along with a discussion of the comparative morphology of the closely related S. chelone and S. escalantei, and insight into their life histories and bionomics. Additional review of these species along with the other Synpalamides restricted to South America warranted the description of a new genus, Escalantiana J.Y. Miller gen. nov., to which the above species are assigned.

Four hundred shades of brown: Higher level phylogeny of the problematic Euptychiina (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) based on hybrid enrichment data.

Relationships within satyrine butterflies have been notoriously difficult to resolve using both morphology and Sanger sequencing methods, and this is particularly true for the mainly Neotropical subtribe Euptychiina, which contains about 400 described species. Known larvae of Euptychiina feed on grasses and sedges, with the exception of the genus Euptychia, which feed on mosses and lycopsids, and the butterflies occur widely in rainforest, cloudforest and grassland habitats, where they are often abundant. Several previous molecular and morphological studies have made significant progress in tackling the systematics of the group, but many relationships remain unresolved, with long-branch-attraction artifacts being a major problem. Additionally, the monophyly of the clade remains uncertain, with Euptychia possibly not being closely related to the remainder of the clade. Here we present a backbone phylogeny of the subtribe based on 106 taxa, 368 nuclear loci, and over 180,000 bps obtained through hybrid enrichment. Using both concatenation and species tree approaches (IQ-TREE, EXABAYES, ASTRAL), we can for the first time strongly confirm the monophyly of Euptychiina with Euptychia being the sister group to the remainder of the clade. The Euptychiina is divided into nine well supported clades, but the placement of a few genera such as Hermeuptychia, Pindis and the Chloreuptychia catharina group still remain uncertain. As partially indicated in previous studies, the genera Cissia, Chloreuptychia, Magneuptychia, Megisto, Splendeuptychia and Euptychoides, among others, were found to be highly polyphyletic and revisions are in preparation. The phylogeny will provide a strong backbone for the analysis of datasets in development that are much more taxonomically comprehensive but have orders of magnitude fewer loci. This study therefore represents a critical step towards resolving the higher classification and studying the evolution of this highly diverse lineage.

Two new species of Megalota from the Bahamas (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Olethruetinae).

Two new species of Megalota Diakonoff, 1966 are described and illustrated from the Bahamas: M. bahamana Brown Matthews, new species, and M. insularis Brown and Matthews, new species. The two are among the 65 or so species of Tortricidae recorded from the Bahamas during an inventory of the Lepidoptera of the archipelago initiated in 2010.

Two new species of Eucosmini from the Bahamas (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae).

Recent surveys to document the poorly known moth fauna of the Bahamas have resulted in the collection of more than 60 morphospecies of Tortricidae. Among these are several Eucosmini, including undescribed representatives of Eucosma and Pelochrista that are similar to several species present in the southeastern United States. Eucosma bahamae, sp.n., a member of the E. refusana group, and Pelochrista wrighti, sp.n., a member of the P. canana group, are described and illustrated.

A new species of Cyllopsis R. Felder, 1869 from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae).

A new species of Cyllopsis R. Felder, 1869, is described and illustrated from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Cyllopsis tomemmeli A. Warren Nakahara, sp. nov., is currently known from 13 specimens (9 males and 4 females) collected on March 26-28, 1959, southeast of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. Despite extensive studies on the butterfly fauna of this region, this species has not since been encountered. We discuss possible relationships between this new species and other species of Cyllopsis.

Causes of endemic radiation in the Caribbean: evidence from the historical biogeography and diversification of the butterfly genus Calisto (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae: Satyrini).

BACKGROUND: Calisto is the largest butterfly genus in the West Indies but its systematics, historical biogeography and the causes of its diversification have not been previously rigorously evaluated. Several studies attempting to explain the wide-ranging diversity of Calisto gave different weights to vicariance, dispersal and adaptive radiation. We utilized molecular phylogenetic approaches and secondary calibrations points to estimate lineage ages. In addition, we used the dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model and Caribbean paleogeographical information to reconstruct ancestral geographical distributions. We also evaluated different models of diversification to estimate the dynamics of lineage radiation within Calisto. By understanding the evolution of Calisto butterflies, we attempt to identify the main processes acting on insular insect diversity and the causes of its origin and its maintenance. RESULTS: The crown age of Calisto was estimated to the early Oligocene (31 ± 5 Ma), and a single shift in diversification rate following a diversity-dependent speciation process was the best explanation for the present-day diversity found within the genus. A major increase in diversification rate was recovered at 14 Ma, following geological arrangements that favoured the availability of empty niches. Inferred ancestral distributional ranges suggested that the origin of extant Calisto is in agreement with a vicariant model and the origin of the Cuban lineage was likely the result of vicariance caused by the Cuba-Hispaniola split. A long-distance dispersal was the best explanation for the colonization of Jamaica and the Bahamas. CONCLUSIONS: The ancestral geographical distribution of Calisto is in line with the paleogeographical model of Caribbean colonization, which favours island-to-island vicariance. Because the sister lineage of Calisto remains ambiguous, its arrival to the West Indies remains to be explained, although, given its age and historical biogeography, the hypothesized GAARlandia land bridge might have been a plausible introduction route from continental America. Intra-island radiation caused by ecological innovation and the abiotic creation of niche spaces was found to be the main force shaping Calisto diversity and island endemism in Hispaniola and Cuba.

Integration of DNA barcoding into an ongoing inventory of complex tropical biodiversity.

Inventory of the caterpillars, their food plants and parasitoids began in 1978 for today's Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG), in northwestern Costa Rica. This complex mosaic of 120 000 ha of conserved and regenerating dry, cloud and rain forest over 0-2000 m elevation contains at least 10 000 species of non-leaf-mining caterpillars used by more than 5000 species of parasitoids. Several hundred thousand specimens of ACG-reared adult Lepidoptera and parasitoids have been intensively and extensively studied morphologically by many taxonomists, including most of the co-authors. DNA barcoding - the use of a standardized short mitochondrial DNA sequence to identify specimens and flush out undisclosed species - was added to the taxonomic identification process in 2003. Barcoding has been found to be extremely accurate during the identification of about 100 000 specimens of about 3500 morphologically defined species of adult moths, butterflies, tachinid flies, and parasitoid wasps. Less than 1% of the species have such similar barcodes that a molecularly based taxonomic identification is impossible. No specimen with a full barcode was misidentified when its barcode was compared with the barcode library. Also as expected from early trials, barcoding a series from all morphologically defined species, and correlating the morphological, ecological and barcode traits, has revealed many hundreds of overlooked presumptive species. Many but not all of these cryptic species can now be distinguished by subtle morphological and/or ecological traits previously ascribed to 'variation' or thought to be insignificant for species-level recognition. Adding DNA barcoding to the inventory has substantially improved the quality and depth of the inventory, and greatly multiplied the number of situations requiring further taxonomic work for resolution.