GENERAL NOTES

Jou mal uf the Lepidopterists' Soci ety ,'54 (4 ). 2000,14.5-146

LARVAL DESCRIPTION AND HOSTPLANT RECORD FOR TTHOMIA DIASIA HEWITSON (: ITHOMIINAE) IN PANAMA

Additional key words: pupa. hippocrenis, Witheringi", .

Despite the fact that in the Hulmer participate in well documented rings (e.g. , Beccaloni 1997) and are therefore important players in community level interactions that charactf'ri7.e the :\leotropics, information on their larval biology is scarce. All known [thomia immatu res fe ed on Solanaceae (Table 1, Brown and Freitas 1994, C. Beccaloni pers. COllllll.). We found no published host plants records for the remaining Central American species of Ithom.ia, and hrief descriptions of immatures arc available only for I. patilla and I. heraldic" (see DeVries 1987). On 18 Fehruary 199.5 (dry season) we collected a fourth instar latva of Ithomia diasia hippocrenis Bates on Witheringia aster­ otrichl7 (Standi) (Solanaceae) on the Atlantic slope just below the Continental Divide near El Cope, Panama (800 m elevation). The range of I. diasia hippocrenis includes Panama and Costa Rica, and in Costa Rica it is distrihuted from sea-level to J,400 m on the At­ lantic slope, reaching greatcr abundance in the dry season (DeVries 19S7). On 2 March 1995, an adult male emerged from the pupa, and was subsequently compared to speci me ns in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London (BMJ\ll ) The e merged male was similar to two specimens from highland Panama except for the black (rather than brown) triangular marking from th e foreWing costal margin to the distal end of the discal cell in the ventral surf~ce of thf' Forewing (see photograph of 1. riillsia in DeVries 1987). Of the 20- :30 specimens of 1. diasia hippocrenis at the B.'vlNTI . only one from Costa Rica also had the same black triangular marking, and we expect that this ""presents a rare variant of the phenotype. The host plant. Witheringi" (lsl emtricila, occurs in moist upland forest. and the plants have a pUlVlish appearance caused by purplish dendroid hairs on stems and leaves (visible in Fig. 2) ancl a bluish cast to the epidermis (lYArey 1973). D'Arcy (1973) considered Witheringia asterotricha to be a variety, or W solanaceae. H yhrids of tllese two species are reported to occur in disturbed areas (D'Arcy 1973) In tbe laboratory the larva was reared in a plastiC' container at ca. 23°C, andfc,d ad lihitllm on leaves that were kept in a plastiC bag in the refi·igcrator. Note that deve lopmental time in the laboratOJY is

TABLE 1. Host plant records of Tthomia from Central America. F[c. 1. Fifth ins tar larva of Ithomia diasi" fi-om Panama. Flc. 2. Iln.,t plant Pupa of lthomia diasia froIll Panama. I. patill" \Vitherertgia sulanacea Drummond & Brown 1987 probably di stinct from that in nature due to differences in tempera­ Witherengia sp. Drummoncl & Brown 1987 ture regime. Lycianthes multiflora DruIllIllond & Brow11 1987 Larva. Fourth instar (4 clays, n ~ 1). Head light gray with a black l. xenos W Cllneata Drummond & Brown 1987 transverse stripe that starts above /i'ont and fmds below stemmata, Acnistlls arhorescens Drummond & Brown 1987 stemTllata black, mandibles brown; body translucent gray with Cuatresia ril'flria Drummond & Brown 1987 broad, opaque, light gray markings ac ross segments resulting in 1. iphianassa C. ripmia Drummond & Brown 1.987 banded pattern; broken, longitudinal yellow spiracular line COTll­ C. morii Drummond & Brown 1987 posed of color patches of uneven size; spiracles black; ventrally A. arborescens Drulllluond & Brown J.987 transparent (tracheal system visible); thoracic legs and prolegs I. alemia C. ril'"f'i() Drummond & Brown 1987 translucent gray. Pifth instal' (Fig 1, 3 days, n ~ 1). Head samc as I. cliasia 1" heterociita DeVries 1985 fourth instar although more translucent in color; body hlack with vV sola nacea Drummond & Brown 1987 faint banded pattern on the posterior portioll of each segment, three W asterol ric/w SrygJey & Peuz 2000 wrinkles across segments T2-A8; broken, longitudinal yellow spirac- 146 JOURNAL OF THE LEPIDOPTERISTS' SOCIETY

ular line composed of color patches of uneven size; anal cap gray; BROWN, K. S. JR. & A. V. L. FREITAS. 1994. Juvenile stages of ventrally translucent gray; thoracic legs and prolegs translucent gray. Ithomiinae; overview and systematics (: Nymphali­ Pupa (Fig. 2, 5 days, 11 ~ 1). Short, slightly compressed laterally, dae). Trop. Lepid. 5 (1 );9-20. translucent green with patches of iridescent gold. Head with two small D'ARCY, W. C. 1973. Solanaceae. In Flora of Panama. Ann. Mis­ souri Bot. Card. 60:57:3-780. gold bumps just above eye; sutures of mouthparts and antennae dark DEVRIES , P. J. 1985. Hostplant records and natural history notes on brown; antennae with dark brown spots on each segment; T2 with gold Costa Rican butterflies (Papilionidae, Pi eridae & Nymphali­ dorsal keel and a pair of brown, dorso-Iateral spots; gold patches later­ dae). J. Res. Lepid. 24 (4);290-333. ally on Tl-3; brown spots at the base and in the center of wing pad; - --. 1987. Butterflies of Costa Rica and Their Natural History. four brown spots near distal margin of wing pad; T3-A8 with a pair of Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey. brown dorso-lateral spots; abdomen with gold dorsal midline band; DRUMMOND, B. A. & K. S. BROWN, JR. 1987. Ithomiinae (Lepi­ large lateral gold patches on A1-:3; spiracles brown; cremaster brown. doptera: Nymphalidae): summrrry of known larval food plants. The broad black frontal stripe present in 1. diasia fifth instar also Ann. Missouri Bot. Card. 74;341-3.58. occurs in other species of lthomia; the broken snblateral band in the M ERBEL, V. 1982. Host plant finding and oviposition behavior of lthomia heraldica Bates (Lepidoptera; Ithomiidae) at Mon­ fifth instar and partially bent pupa are charactelistic of the Ithomiinae teverde. Brenesia 19/20::369-372. tribes , Napeogenini and Olcriini (A. Freitas pers. comm.). We thank C. Beccaloni for helping with identification of the adull, and C. Beccaloni and A. Freitas for commenting on the man­ ROBERT B. SRYGLEY, Department of Zoology, South Parks Road, uscript. Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (ANAM) graciously University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS United Kingdom and granted permission to collect butterflies in the Repu blic of Panama. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apdo. 2072, Balboa, Tbe adult voucher has been depOSited in the Museo Fairchild of the Republic of Panama , AND CARLA M. PENZ, Department of Universidad de Panama. This research was supported by the Na­ Invertebrate Zoology, Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 West Wells tional Ceographic Society (to RBS ), a Smithsonian Tropical Re­ Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53233, USA and Curso de Pus­ search Institute (a pre-doctoral fellowship to CMP), and the Na­ Cradtw(:iio em Biociencias, Pontifcia Universidade Catulica do Rio tional Science Foundation (NSF DEB-9806779 to CMP). Crande do Sui, Av. Ipiranga 6681, Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900, Brazil. LITERATURE CITED BE:CCA LONI , C. W. 1997. Vertical stratification of ithomiine butter­ Received for publication 28 October 1999; revised and accepted 15 fly (Nymphalidae:Ithomiinae) mimicry complexes; the relation­ March 2001. ship between adult flight height and larval host-plant height. BioI. J. Linn. Soc. 62;:31:3-:341.