Anti-bat ultrasound production in moths is globally and phylogenetically widespread.

Warning signals are well known in the visual system, but rare in other modalities. Some moths produce ultrasonic sounds to warn bats of noxious taste or to mimic unpalatable models. Here, we report results from a long-term study across the globe, assaying moth response to playback of bat echolocation. We tested 252 genera, spanning most families of large-bodied moths, and document anti-bat ultrasound production in 52 genera, with eight subfamily origins described. Based on acoustic analysis of ultrasonic emissions and palatability experiments with bats, it seems that acoustic warning and mimicry are the raison d'être for sound production in most moths. However, some moths use high-duty-cycle ultrasound capable of jamming bat sonar. In fact, we find preliminary evidence of independent origins of sonar jamming in at least six subfamilies. Palatability data indicate that jamming and warning are not mutually exclusive strategies. To explore the possible organization of anti-bat warning sounds into acoustic mimicry rings, we intensively studied a community of moths in Ecuador and, using machine-learning approaches, found five distinct acoustic clusters. While these data represent an early understanding of acoustic aposematism and mimicry across this megadiverse insect order, it is likely that ultrasonically signaling moths comprise one of the largest mimicry complexes on earth.

Resolving two centuries of mistaken identity: Reinterpretation of Papilio marcus Fabricius, 1787 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Hesperiidae).

Here, we untangle an oversight surrounding the application of the name Papilio marcus Fabricius, 1787 (Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae), currently in Troyus Warren & Turland, 2012, which has eluded taxonomists for nearly two centuries. First, we note that P. marcus is a junior primary homonym of Papilio marcus Schaller, 1785, a species currently in Morpho Fabricius, 1807 (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae). Second, we designate a lectotype for P. marcus Fabricius, 1787, and recognize it as conspecific with Papilio phyllus Cramer, 1777, a species currently in Vettius Godman, 1901. Therefore, P. marcus is also a junior subjective synonym of V. phyllus (new synonym). Third, aided by genomic sequencing of the lectotype of Vettius phyllides Röber, 1925, we find that this species is not conspecific with V. phyllus and represents instead a valid species of Troyus Warren & Turland, 2012, so that the relative epithet, currently considered as a junior subjective synonym of P. marcus, has to be reappreciated as Troyus phyllides (reinstated status, new combination). Moreover, T. phyllides is apparently the species that has been misidentified as P. marcus since 1832. As a result of this study, the name P. marcus Fabricius nec Cramer falls in synonymy with P. phyllus (currently in Vettius), and the species currently known as T. marcus becomes Troyus phyllides.

A Contribution Towards Resolving the Systematics of the High-Altitude Tropical Andean Satyrine Genus Altopedaliodes Forster, 1964 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalinae: Satyrinae).

The first phylogenetic hypotheses for the high Andean satyrine butterfly genus Altopedaliodes is proposed based on sequence data from mitochondrial (COI and COII) and nuclear (EF-1α) genes. Four species previously included in the genus were found not to be closely related to the clade containing the type species for Altopedaliodes, and these species are therefore removed and placed in the appropriate genus: Pedaliodes cocytia (C. Felder and R. Felder, 1867) n. comb., Pedaliodes nebris Thieme 1905rev. comb., Neopedaliodes tamaensis (Pyrcz and Viloria 2007) n. comb., and Altopedaliodes similis Henao, Páez and Rodríguez-M., 2017; the last name is here synonymized with Pedaliodes nebris (Thieme 1905) n. syn. A taxonomic revision of the twelve species in Altopedaliodes as newly circumscribed is presented and all the currently recognized taxa are revised. We describe two new species, A. llanganati Padrón, Pyrcz and Willmott n. sp. (Ecuador, Napo) and A. pilimbala Pyrcz and Boyer n. sp. (Colombia, Cauca), and three new subspecies, A. reissi papallacta Padrón, Pyrcz and Willmott n. ssp. (Ecuador, Napo), A. reissi dominica Pyrcz and Padrón n. ssp. (Colombia, Valle del Cauca) and A. halli cagnoni Boyer, Pyrcz and Padrón n. ssp. (Ecuador, Morona-Santiago). A new status is proposed for A. nucea Pyrcz and Viloria 1999, n. stat., we combine Altopedaliodes scydmaena (Hayward, 1968) n. comb. and Altopedaliodes belmira (Pyrcz and Rodríguez, 2004), n. comb., n. stat. into the genus and treat the latter taxon as a species, and we newly treat Altopedaliodes scydmaena kruegeri Pyrcz 1999n. stat. as a subspecies.

One Hundred Years of Solitude: rediscovery of Catasticta lycurgus (Godman amp; Salvin, 1880), a yellow butterfly from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia (Lepidoptera: Pieridae).

Catasticta lycurgus is a striking endemic butterfly, restricted to high elevation habitats in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, an isolated mountain range separate from the Andes in the north of Colombia. The type, which for almost a hundred years was the only known specimen, was collected in 1878 by Frederick Simons in the vicinity of Atánquez and was sent to the UK to be described by renowned naturalists Godman and Salvin in 1880. In 1972, explorers Adams and Bernard collected a second specimen of C. lycurgus in the locality of San Pedro at 2,900m of elevation in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. These two specimens were the only known ones for many decades until recently, when Colombian entomologists found the species again in San Pedro de la Sierra and later, when a female was discovered in 2013. Here, we report the rediscovery of this rare and charismatic species, with new specimens collected near the type locality, which have not been reported previously. The female of C. lycurgus is described and illustrated for the first time as well the male genitalia of this species. We combine all information available to provide some insights on the systematic relationships of this species within the genus Catasticta Butler, discuss its distribution and provide a preliminary conservation assessment. Despite the newly collected specimens, the species remains very rare in the field and in collections.

Discovery of a rare and striking new pierid butterfly from Panama (Lepidoptera: Pieridae).

We here describe and name a distinctive new pierid species in the subfamily Pierinae, Catasticta sibyllae Nakahara, Padrón MacDonald, n. sp. from western Panama. Catasticta. sibyllae n. sp. is known from only two male specimens collected at two sites which are approximately 130 km apart in western Panama. This new species is the only species in the genus without markings in the median area of both surfaces of forewing and hindwing, and our molecular data suggest that the Peruvian species C. lisa Baumann Reissinger, 1969 is its sister species.