Biogeography and Natural History of Tiger Moths and Spongillaflies of Intermountain North America with Experimental Studies of H
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Brigham Young University Masthead Logo BYU ScholarsArchive All Theses and Dissertations 2018-12-01 Biogeography and Natural History of Tiger Moths and Spongillaflies of nI termountain North America with Experimental Studies of Host Preference in the Lichen-Feeder Cisthene angelus (Insecta: Lepdioptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae and Neuroptera: Sisyridae) Makani Layne Fisher Brigham Young University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Fisher, Makani Layne, "Biogeography and Natural History of Tiger Moths and Spongillaflies of Intermountain North America with Experimental Studies of Host Preference in the Lichen-Feeder Cisthene angelus (Insecta: Lepdioptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae and Neuroptera: Sisyridae)" (2018). All Theses and Dissertations. 7177. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/7177 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Biogeography and Natural History of Tiger Moths and Spongillaflies of Intermountain North America with Experimental Studies of Host Preference in the Lichen-Feeder Cisthene angelus (Insecta: Lepdioptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae and Neuroptera: Sisyridae) Makani Layne Fisher A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science C. Riley Nelson, Chair Steve Leavitt Seth Bybee Department of Biology Brigham Young University Copyright © 2018 Makani Layne Fisher All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Biogeography and Natural History of Tiger Moths and Spongillaflies of Intermountain North America with Experimental Studies of Host Preference in the Lichen-Feeder Cisthene angelus (Insecta: Lepdioptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae and Neuroptera: Sisyridae) Makani Layne Fisher Department of Biology, BYU Master of Science The Intermountain West is comprised of impressive land formations, numerous ecoregions, and a unique biota. The area has many flora and fauna that have been investigated, but the region is generally considered undersampled when it comes to insects. However, I propose the matter to be a lack of shared experience in identifying key insect species and the underutilization of professional and personal collections. These impediments are highlighted by two insect groups in the Intermountain West: spongillaflies and tiger moths. Spongillaflies can be difficult to recognize for the general entomologist and have rarely been recorded in the Intermountain West. My colleagues and I recently discovered a large population of spongillaflies in Utah that we present as a substantial additional record. I also followed the population throughout the 2016 field season to make natural history observations. I identified the spongillaflies to be Climacia californica and their associated host to be Ephydatia fluviatilis. During the season, a total of 1,731 specimens were collected, light traps were the most effective sampling technique and the population had one mass emergence event. I hope my work and figures will help investigators as they continue to search the area for spongillaflies. Tiger moths on the other hand have largely been collected in the Intermountain West and are easily recognized, generally being brightly colored. Because of these bright colors, they attract collectors and have been sampled heavily throughout the Intermountain West. However, until now, these records have not been utilized and tucked away in collections. We took the vast amount of records and used them to create predicted models of biogeography for each tiger moth species in the area. We successfully created species level ecological niche models (ENM) analyzing environmental variables such as temperature, precipitation, elevation, and vegetation. Overall, I found tiger moths can be collected almost everywhere and during each month of the year with 93 different species scattered across the region. I anticipate our ENM models to help researchers locate tiger moths of interest to investigate within the Intermountain West. During my studies, I investigated in detail the lichen feeding tiger moths (Lithosiini). Many tiger moths eat toxic plants, but only a few in the area consume lichen, an unusual host because of their secondary defensive chemicals. I investigated how these chemicals impacted Cisthene angelus caterpillars host selection by simultaneously offering them various lichens with differing chemistries. I expected these caterpillars to avoid usnic acid as it deterred other lichen feeding tiger moths. However, these caterpillars surprised me by consistently consuming the acid and being largely polyphagous. Our future work will be directed at how caterpillars balance nutritional needs and the chemicals they sequester. Keywords: spongillafly, freshwater sponge, tiger moth, lichen feeding, polyphogous ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to thank all my committee members for their guidance and instruction in doing this thesis work. I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. C. Riley Nelson, for fostering a continued sense of wonder and fascination of the natural world. I would also like to thank him for providing me the opportunity to study tiger moths by providing me transport to amazing sites within the Intermountain West, purchasing sampling and experimental gear, and lending his expertise. I want to thank Dr. Steve Leavitt for answering all my questions about lichen, being patient with me as I learned about the fascinating organisms, and spending time with me to work out experimental ideas. I want to thank Dr. Seth Bybee for pushing me to do things that in the moment may have seemed to be too difficult, but in the end have benefited my life and career. I especially want to thank my wife who spent countless hours working on this project alongside me. I am eternally grateful for her long hours spent with me looking at specimens, running software, photographing specimens, and managing our move to start my PhD while still finishing my master’s at BYU. TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................................................. i ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER 1: Spongillaflies (Neuroptera: Sisyridae) in Utah with taxonomic and natural history observations.....................................................................................................................................1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................1 Materials and Methods.........................................................................................................3 Results..................................................................................................................................6 Discussion ...........................................................................................................................7 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................9 Literature Cited..................................................................................................................10 Chapter 2. Biogeography of the Tiger Moths (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) of the Intermountain West........................................................................................................................20 Introduction .......................................................................................................................20 Materials and Methods.......................................................................................................24 Results/Discussion.............................................................................................................30 Species Accounts...............................................................................................................35 Literature Cited................................................................................................................177 iv Chapter 3. Pick your poison: the decision of what’s for dinner for the lichen feeding caterpillars of Cisthene angelus (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae).............................................................183 Introduction .....................................................................................................................183 Materials and Methods.....................................................................................................186 Results..............................................................................................................................190