Cite this article as: Hernández-Baz, F et al. Neotrop Entomol (2013) 42: 246. doi:10.1007/s13744-013-0119-3 The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1007/s13744-013-0119-3 Scena propylea (Druce) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) an Endemic Species of Mexico 1 2 3 4 F H ERNÁNDEZ -BAZ , R C OATES , JA T ESTON , JM G ONZÁLEZ Abstract A revision of the bibliography, as well as an analysis on the data from the specimen labels of Scena propylea (Druce) (Erebidae: Arctiinae: Euchromiina) deposited in different scientific collections, was carried out and included information from 1894 to 2010. Its geographical distribution is restricted to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt which determines this species as endemic. Data are provided on the biogeography, ecology and biology for this species. Its food plant is Thenardia floribunda (Apocynaceae) which is also endemic to Mexico. From this analysis, we propose the inclusion of both species in the document known as the Norma Oficial Mexicana 059 which encompasses the environmental protection of wild flora and fauna species native to Mexico and their risk categories, as well as the specifications for their inclusion, exclusion or change and a list of all species at risk. Keywords: Biological conservation, Lepidoptera, Mexico, Scena, Thenardia Introduction but not Zahiri et al 2010 ). These moths fly mainly during the night, although within the Ctenuchina there are day-flying Although Mexico is considered to be a mega diverse country species within the genera Cacostatia, Coreura, Ctenucha, (Espinosa et al 2008 ) with various “hotspots” (Myers et al Cyanopepla, Dinia and Trichura (Ctenuchina) (Hernández- Baz 2000 ), its total richness of Lepidoptera is still unknown, with the & Bailey 2006 ). Their distribution is basically neotropical, exception of some groups of Papilionoidea as currently reaching a high diversity in the Amazon forests and the oriental accepted (Heikkilä et al 2012 ) [i.e., Papilionidae & Pieridae slopes of the South American Andes, although some taxa are (Llorente et al 1996 ), Hesperidae (Warren 2000 )] and some distributed in the Neartic region (Hernández-Baz & Grados other families of day-flying and nocturnal moths which are 2004 ). There are 2,532 species documented in the Americas, of known from published species lists: Amatidae (Beutelspacher which 2,475 are distributed in the Neotropics (Heppner 1991 ) 1988 ), Tineoidea and Gracillarioidea (Davis 2000 ), and only 36 in the Neartic region (Ferguson et al 2000 , Lafontaine Sphingoidea (León-Cortez 2000 ), Saturniidae (Balcázar & & Schmidt 2010 ). Beutelspacher 2000a ), Arctiidae (Hernández-Baz 1992 , The wasp moth groups in Mexico contain 240 species, of Balcázar & Beutelspacher 2000b ) and Castniidae (Miller which 128 species (38 genera) are Ctenuchina, while 112 species 2000 , González 2008 ), leaving about 50 or more families that (31 genera) are Euchromiina (Hernández-Baz 1992 , 2008 , 2009 , must be inventoried in Mexico. 2010 , 2011a , b). The genus Scena belongs to the latter and it The wasp moths have been poorly studied in Mexico, and was described by Walker in 1854 and has only two known this group includes two subtribes Ctenuchina and Euchromiina species, Scena potentia (Druce) and Scena propylea (Druce). (Erebidae: Arctiinae) (for practical purposes, we follow In the area of biological conservation, Mexico is one of the Lafontaine & Fibiger 2006 and Lafontaine & Schmidt 2010 , participating countries of the Convention on Biological Diver- 1 Fac de Biología-Xalapa, Univ Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico 2Instituto de Biología, Estación de Biología Tropical Los Tuxtlas, Univ Nacional Autónoma de México, San Andrés Tuxtla, Veracruz, Mexico 3Programa de Ciências Naturais/Museu de Zoologia, Univ Federal do Oeste do Pará, Santarém, PA, Brasil 4California State Univ Fresno, Dept Plant Sciences, Fresno, CA, (Res Assoc McGuire Center for Lepid & Biodiversity) USA 1 sity (Conabio 1998 ). Among the most relevant commitments Baz ( 1992 ), Hernández-Baz ( 2009 ) and Hernández-Baz of the convention members, the development of strategies to (2011a , b); (b) revision of Mexican records in the “Polilla” preserve the biodiversity of genes–species ecosystems is database of the SEMARNAT/CITES/CP-0026-Ver/05 particularly highlighted. Such biodiversity is highly dominated collection, which contains records of wasp moths for the by invertebrate communities, in terms of richness, abundance Americas from 1758 to 2011; (c) Several insect collections and biomass (Wilson 1987 ). such as the Natural History Museum of Mexico City The Red List of endangered species published by the (MHNCM), the Lepidoptera collection of the University of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Colima (UCOL), National Collection of Insects of the has documented 388 endangered species of Lepidoptera in Institute of Biology of the Universidad National Autónoma the world, but none from Mexico (IUCN 2011 ). The of Mexico (CNI-IBUNAM) and a private Lepidoptera Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species collection (SEMARNAT/CITES/CP-0026-Ver/05; Private of wild flora and fauna (CITES) protects approximately 30 collection of Fernando Hernández-Baz) in Xalapa, Veracruz species of Lepidoptera, all are butterflies (CITES 2011 ), (CPFHB) were examined for additional information on their and not even one species in Mexico is under protection. wasp moth holdings. To verify the distribution within the Countries such as Colombia have generated a Red Book of southernmost part of Mexico, three other entomological invertebrates (Amat-García et al 2007 ) in which 12 species collections belonging to the Colegio de Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), of Lepidoptera are listed, 8 of them are butterflies and 2 are in San Cristóbal de las Casas (ECO-SC-E), and Tapachula moths. Verdú & Galante ( 2006 ) included 19 species of (ECO-TAP-E), in the state of Chiapas, and Chetumal (ECO- Lepidoptera in the Red Book of invertebrates of Spain. Of these, CH-E), in the state of Quintana Roo, were also examined. 10 are butterflies and 9 are moths. Furthermore, Rodríguez & All of the records obtained from bibliographical searches and Rojas-Suárez ( 2008 ) included six species of threatened scientific collections were ordered in a table in Excel (Microsoft butterflies in the Red Book of Venezuelan fauna, but no 2002 ). In order to standardize the localities and assign moths, even though earlier versions included a few georeferences, we used information from the Instituto Castniidae at least in the “Insufficient Knowledge” category Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI) online (Rodríguez & Rojas-Suárez 1995 ). The national plan for the database and a topographical map of Mexico (scale 1:250,000; conservation of endangered Lepidoptera of Brazil indicates 55 INEGI 1991 ). To verify the GPS coordinates for the localities species of butterflies and includes only 2 moth species (Freitas & obtained we used data from Google Earth http// Marini-Filho 2011 ). Finally, the document Norma Oficial www.googleearth.com . The GPS coordinates were then Mexicana NOM-059-ECOL-2001 (Semarnat 2010 ) on converted into a data format for inclusion in a Geographic endangered and protected species in Mexico only includes three Information System Program Arc View 2.0 (ESRI 1998 ) in order species of insects, two of which are butterflies. The Monarch to create the distribution map for the species. butterfly Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus) is listed under the To determine the endemic status of S. propylea we reviewed “special protection” category and Papilio esperanza the geographical distribution records for Mexico against the Beutelspacher as a “threatened species”. It does not provide any continental distribution of the spe-cies of Euchromiina information about moths. included in the works of Walker ( 1854 ), Druce ( 1886 ), The main objective of this paper is to present and Hampson ( 1898 ), Draudt ( 1917 ) and Zerny ( 1912 ) and at the analyse geographical, biological and ecological information for same time revised the reported records for North America S. propylea, a species endemic to the mountains of central by Ferguson et al ( 2000 ) and Lafontaine & Schmidt ( 2010 ). Mexico. As a strategy for its conservation, we also propose its In the case of South America, we reviewed the publications inclusion in the NOM-059-ECOL-2001 to help protect the of Hernández-Baz & Bailey (2006 ) for Guatemala, species within the country. Hernández-Baz et al ( 2004 ) for Nicaragua and Piñas & Manzano ( 2003 ) for Ecuador. Material and Methods Results and Discussion In order to construct the geographic and ecological knowledge of S. propylea, three sources were reviewed: (a) an exhaustive Distributional information search of indexed references and references databases, as well as specific literature on wasp moths (Euchromiina) by Scena propylea (Fig 1) is a species with few references in the Druce ( 1894 ), Hampson ( 1898 ), Draudt (1917), Hernández- literature and was first described by Herbert Druce in 1894 from 2 Biology and behavior The biology of S. propylea was studied by Vázquez (1938 ) from specimens collected in Mexico City. The life cycle of this species lasts 80 days from egg to adult. The egg stage lasts 13 days, while the caterpillar stage lasts 37 days and the pupal stage takes 30 days to complete. The revision of 18 specimens allowed us to determine that the difference in adult size has very little variance with a wing expansion of 51–52 mm in males and 50–51 mm in females. Data obtained from scientific collections indicates a marked flight period that occurs continuously for 6 months Fig 1 Male specimen Scena propylea (Druce) deposited at Semarnat/ from July to December in the Mexico City area, the state of Cites/CP-0026-Ver/05 Collection, Mexico. Photo by F. Hernández-Baz Mexico and in the temperate zones of cloud forest near Xalapa and Orizaba, Veracruz. Therefore, the greatest abundance of a specimen deposited in the United States National Museum adults occurs in the wet season (July–December) and [USNM, now the National Museum of Natural History occasionally occurs in the dry season, as may be the case for (NMNH)] from an unknown locality in Mexico.