Hindawi Publishing Corporation Psyche Volume 2014, Article ID 328030, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/328030 Research Article Immature Stages and Life Cycle of the Wasp Moth, Cosmosoma auge (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) under Laboratory Conditions Gunnary León-Finalé and Alejandro Barro Department of Animal and Human Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Havana, Calle 25 No. 455 Entre I y J, Vedado, Municipio Plaza, 10400 Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba Correspondence should be addressed to Alejandro Barro; [email protected] Received 24 February 2014; Revised 20 May 2014; Accepted 29 May 2014; Published 9 July 2014 Academic Editor: Kent S. Shelby Copyright © 2014 G. Leon-Final´ e´ and A. Barro. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cosmosoma auge (Linnaeus 1767) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) is a Neotropical arctiid moth common in Cuban mountainous areas; however, its life cycle remains unknown. In this work, C. auge life cycle is described for the first time; also, immature stages are describedusingaCubanpopulation.LarvaewereobtainedfromgravidwildfemalescaughtinVinales˜ National Park and were fed with fresh leaves of its host plant, the climbing hempweed Mikania micrantha Kunth (Asterales: Asteraceae), which is a new host plant record. Eggs are hemispherical and hatching occurred five days after laying. Larval period had six instars and lasted between 20 and 22 days. First and last larval stages are easily distinguishable from others. First stage has body covered by chalazae and last stage has body covered by verrucae as other stages but has a tuft on each side of A1 and A7. Eggs and larvae features agree with Arctiinae pattern. Pupal stage lasted eight days, and, in general, females emerge before males as a result of pupal stage duration differences between sexes. 1. Introduction peltata (Cecropiaceae), Ipomoea sp. (Convolvulaceae), Lage- naria siceraria (Cucurbitaceae), Mikania pachyphylla, M. Cosmosoma is a large Neotropical moth genus with approx- parviflora, and M. scandens (Asterales: Asteraceae) [4]. imately 155 species [1], and some of them are broadly distributed. Wasp moth Cosmosoma auge L. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) occurs in Central America, South America, and 2. Materials and Methods the Caribbean islands. In Cuba, it occurs throughout the main island with big populations in the main mountainous 2.1. Collecting and Rearing. Larvae were obtained from seven areas. As in other moth taxa, knowledge about immature wild Cosmosoma auge females collected at Vinales˜ National stages of this genus is lacking and there are no descriptions Park in September 2011. As Peterson [5] suggested, females of their life cycle. Dyar [2] described C. myrodora immature were kept confined together in a plastic jar until they laid eggs. stages from a Florida population and Castillo [3] described Newly hatched larvae were placed in plastic Petri dishes (100 × C. myrodora larval and pupal stages duration which were fed 10 mm) and they were provided with fresh host plant leaves with three Mikania species,butnoinstardurationorlarval daily. Larvae that hatched the same day were placed together morphology were taken into account. Wild larval ecological in groups of 30 individuals. When growth desynchronization traits are also unknown for Cosmosoma species. In this paper occurred,larvaeweresortedinotherPetridishesinorder wedescribelifecycleandlarvalstagesforCosmosoma auge to keep the same age groups to detect individual variations from a Cuban population. We also report a new host plant for in stages length. Larvae were reared in captivity at Cojimar, this species and some immature ecological traits. Other host Eastern Havana, under natural photoperiod, humidity, and plants reported for C. auge in HOSTS databases are Cecropia temperature between September 29th and October 21st 2011. 2 Psyche ∘ Daily temperature fluctuated between 24 and 28 Cwith Table 1: Larval stages duration of Cosmosoma auge raised at ∘ average of 26 C, and the relative humidity varied from 54 Coj´ımar, Havana, under laboratory conditions (September-October to 93% with average of 79%. Both abiotic variables were 2011). provided by Casablanca Meteorological Station, Havana. Instar Duration (days) Mean ± SD Host plant identification and ecological traits descriptions 1st ( =40) 3( =15) 4( = 25) 3.6 ± 0.49 were made with botanical samples and animals from Sierra ± del Rosario Biosphere Reserve. Some individuals (=3)were 2nd ( =40) 2( =21) 3( =19) 2.5 0.50 ± fed with Cecropia peltata to prove its suitability as host plant. 3rd ( =40) 2( =13) 3( = 27) 2.7 0.47 4th ( =39) 2( =8) 3( =31) 2.8± 0.44 5th ( =35) 3( =22) 4( = 13) 3.4 ± 0.59 2.2. Life Cycle and Description of Immature Stages. Egg laying ± patterns were described from wild clutches found on the host 6th ( =24) 6( =7) 7( = 17) 6.7 0.46 plant leaves. Duration of the egg stage was measured and proportion of infertile eggs was also recorded. Egg shape and dimension were described using eggs obtained from wild cohorts were successfully raised with it. Larvae fed with females caught in Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve. Two Cecropia peltata spentmostofthetimewalkingalloverthe base diameters and height were measured using an ocular Petri dish; they did not eat the leaves and died of starvation. micrometrer (0.05 mm precision) attached to a stereomi- Cosmosoma auge is a multivoltine species with multiple croscope Olympus. Egg volume (=36)wascalculated generations along the year; adults were caught almost every following Garc´ıa-Barros [6]. Surface relief and micropilar month. In the wild, eggs were laid singly (=9), in pairs (= details were observed with a SEM (250x magnification). 5),andintrios(=3) on the underside of mature leaves of its Petri dishes were checked daily for head capsule exuviae host plant. Only two clusters with five eggs and two clusters to establish larval instar duration. The head capsule width was with eight and ten eggs, respectively, were found. Eggs were measured (using the same ocular micrometer) directly on the always found in the basal portion of host plant leaves, near to larvae while resting and was defined as the distance between veins. outermost ocelli. Two body lengths per stage were measured. First and second instar larvae fed on the leaf epidermis One length was taken after molt (minimum length) and while other instar larvae fed on all the laminae but not on another in the premolt phase (maximum length), when larvae the1stand2ndorderveins.Secondinstarlarvaefedonshed have emptied their gut and became light yellow. First and skin as all the other larval instars did. In the wild, 4th and second instar larvae length were measured using the ocular 6th instar larvae were found feeding on leaves underside at micrometer mentioned above, and third to sixth instar larvae night.Alwaysonelarvaperleafwasfound.Inthewild,larvae length were measured using a Vernier caliper with 0.05 mm were apparently hidden during the day but in laboratory precision. conditions larvae of all instar fed at day also. When larvae Larvae that pupated the same day were placed together were disturbed they fell down holding themselves with a silk to measure the duration of the pupal stage. Pupae maximal thread. In the wild, we found empty cocoons on the upperface length and width were measured using the same Vernier and the underface of host plant leaves. caliper. At emergence, adults’ sex was recorded in order to detect differences in pupal stage duration among sex. Stehr [7]andScoble[8] were followed for morphological 3.2. Life Cycle. A total number of 134 eggs were obtained terminology. Photographs of larvae, pupae, and adults were and 47 of these (35%) did not hatch; but they were not infertile because in all cases a well-formed embryo could be taken using a macro mode of a 10.1 megapixels digital camera. =87 Eggs, at least three individuals of each larval stage, two pupae, seen through eggshell. Eggs ( )hatcheddaysafter and cocoons were preserved in 75% alcohol and housed in oviposition at any time of day five. Larval stage lasted 20 to 22 (21.5 ± 0.66) days and pupae ended their development 8 Felipe Poey Natural History Museum, University of Havana. 8.6 ± 0.56 Fourth to sixth larval instars were killed in very hot water to to 10 ( ) days later. Instar’s duration was between prevent gut content decomposition. two and four days for immature larvae and six or seven days for last instar larvae (Table 1). Only one larva had a four-day 4th instar period, and two larvae had two-day and five-day 2.3. Statistical Analysis. Mean and standard deviation of 5th instar, respectively. There were differences in larval stage larval stages duration were calculated. Stage duration and duration: 1st and 5th instar lasted longer than 2nd, 3rd, and pupal period length between sexes were compared using a 4th instar ( < 0.001), and the 6th instar lasted significantly randomization test from Monte Carlo algorithm, using the longer than all the previous instars ( ≤ 0.003). Most of PopTools complement of Microsoft Excel; 10000 iterations the40larvaethatcompletedtheirlifecyclereachedthe6th were made. instar; only three of them reached the 7th instar and were not included in this analysis. 3. Results At the end of the larval phase, the larvae have a quiescent prepupal phase, which lasted about two days, and afterward 3.1. Host Plant and Ecological Considerations. Wild cater- they entered in the pupal stage. Pupal mortality was 15% of pillars were found feeding on climbing hempweed Mika- the 43 pupae considered. Adult emersion (=35)occurred nia micrantha Kunth (Asterales: Asteraceae) and laboratory at any time of the day, although most of it occurred in Psyche 3 12 yellow, but stemmata are black and distal edge of mandibles is reddish brown. Heads have white and tiny setae. Larvae 10 had some two-tone dorsal setae (black base and white tip) interspersed with white regular setae.