A synopsis of the Castniidae (Lepidoptera) of Paraguay

Abstract

A list with comments on status, natural history, biology, hosts and distribution are presented for all species of Castniidae known from Paraguay. All the presented information has been summarized based on literature, museum specimens, information gathered from researchers/collectors and personal observations. New synonyms are proposed: Imara satrapes catharina (Preiss) [= Imara satrapes (Kollar)] and Castnia juturna paraguayensis Strand (= Castnia invaria penelope Schaufuss), and synonymic lists are given in each case. Twelve species are recorded from Paraguay, four of them are relatively common and have been previously reported from the country [Synpalamides phalaris (Fabricius), Synpalamides rubrophalaris (Houlbert), Castnia invaria penelope Schaufuss, Gazera heliconioides micha (H. Druce)]. The other eight species are much less common in collections [Imara satrapes, Castnia juturna Hopffer, Telchin licus laura (H. Druce), Ceretes marcelserres (Godart), Riechia acraeoides (Guérin-Méneville), Prometheus cochrus (Fabricius), Frostetola gramivora (Schaus), Paysandisia archon (Burmeister)]. Telchin licus laura (H. Druce) and Frostetola gramivora (Schaus) are reported from this country for the first time. Four species not known from Paraguay, but suitable to be found within, are also mentioned [Yagra fonscolombe (Godart), Castnia lecerfi Dalla Torre, Geyeria uruguayana (Burmeister), Ceretes thais (Drury)].