Life History of Dysodia Sica (Lepidoptera: Thyrididae) in Panama

Abstract

Thyrididae is a widespread tropical and subtropical family of moths, generally thought to be related to the Pyralidae, from which they differ in a number of ways (see Whalley, 1971). Possibly the group is not monophyletic, but so little is known concerning the immature stages, that few conclusions can be reached regarding the relationships among the four subfamilies.Dysodia (Thyrididae: Pachythyrinae) is a pantropical genus found on all continents except Australia (Whalley, 1971). Aside from scattered foodplant records for several species, little is known about the immature stages of any of the approximately thirty species. The present paper describes the egg, larvae, pupa, and larval behavior of Dysodia sica Druce (Figure 1) reared on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, during May through August 1977 and 1980. Seven other species of Dysodia are listed for BCI by Forbes (1942).