First record of Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) in Brazilian Amazon: implications for conservation

Abstract

The crimson speckled moth, Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758), is recorded in Brazilian Amazon for the first time. A moth (male) was collected with light trap in a multiple cropping area, in Mojuí dos Campos municipality, Pará State, Brazil. This record expands the area of occurrence and distribution of this rare species in the Neotropical Region. In addition, the occurrence of U. pulchella in the Amazon was unexpected, since this species is generally associated with open ecosystems and drier climates.

Key words
Geographic distribution; Noctuoidea; Arctiini; Callimorphina; Tiger-moths; Neotropics

INTRODUCTION

The genus Utetheisa was described by Hübner in [1819] and its distribution is worldwide. Currently there are sixty-one described species (Savela 2015), and among these, six have known distribution in Neotropical region: Utetheisa ornatrix (Linnaeus, 1758), U. galapagensis (Wallengren, 1860), U. perryi Hayes, 1975, U. devriesi Hayes, 1975, U. connerorum Roque-Albelo & Landry, 2009 and U. henrii Roque-Albelo & Landry, 2009 (Vincent and Laguerre 2014).

Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758) is considered a cosmopolitan and migrant species. It has a wide geographical distribution in tropical regions of the Old World (Aistleitner and Černý 2013), being present in the Palearctic, Afrotropical, Malgaxe, Oriental, Australian and Neotropical (Antilles) regions (Vieira 2012). In Brazil, Carvalho and Carvalho (1939) record U. pulchella in Pernambuco State; Travassos (1946) adds records of specimens from the municipalities of Campina Grande, Paraíba State; Natal, Rio Grande do Norte State and Senhor do Bonfim, Bahia State. Becker and Miller (2002) report in Planaltina City, Federal District and Ferro and Diniz (2010) also record this species in Jaíba, Minas Gerais State (Table I).

TABLE I
Geographical coordinates of known distribution of Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758) in Brazil.

State	Locality	Latitude †	Longitude †
Rio Grande do Norte	Natal	5°49’42.97” S	35°11’18.72” W
Paraíba	Campina Grande	7°15’10.82” S	35°54’54.20” W
Pernambuco		8°52’8.09” S	36°56’53.03” W
Bahia	Senhor do Bonfim	10°30’39.61” S	40°9’53.43” W
Bahia	Correntina	13°28’43” S	46°09’19” W
Minas Gerais	Jaíba	15°20’36.59” S	43°40’35.20” W
Distrito Federal	Planaltina	15°36’58.18” S	47°39’8.62” W

• † Geographical coordinates approximated by Google Earth.

The caterpillars of U. pulchella are polyphagous and defoliators, feeding on several native and cultivated host plants belonging to the botanical families: Boraginaceae, Solanaceae, Fabaceae, Plantaginaceae and Liliaceae (Vieira 2012). In Brazil Carvalho and Carvalho (1939) reports caterpillars in “mata-pasto” Senna uniflora (Mill.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (Fabaceae). Authors (e.g. Vieira 2012) describes that U. pulchella caterpillars as polyphagous at individual level (sensu Bernarys and Singer 2002), eating foremost preferential hosts and after eating them completely, migrate to the other less palatable plants where they end their development.

The literature points out that U. pulchella usually is associated with open and dried habitats (e.g. Vieira 2012, Pino Pérez and Pino Pérez 2017). In this sense, all previous Brazilian records of this species were made in semiarid or savanna’s areas (Carvalho and Carvalho 1939, Travassos 1946, Becker and Miller 2002, Ferro and Diniz 2010).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We recorded one moth (male) of U. pulchella (Figure 1), on December 24, 2016, using Pensilvania light traps, in a multiple cropping area, at municipality of Mojuí dos Campos, State of Pará, Brazil (02°41′44.15″ S, 054°34′14.34″ W) (Figure 2). In this area, corn was first cultivated and followed by soybean, the specimen was captured during soybean cultivation.

Figure 1
Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758), dorsal view, male. Scale bar = 1cm.

Figure 2
Known geographic distribution of Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758) in Brazil: 1) Natal (RN), 2) Campina Grande (PB), 3) (PE), 4) Senhor do Bonfim (BA), 5) Correntina (BA), 6) Jaíba (MG), 7) Planaltina (DF), and 8) Mojuí dos Campos (PA), new record.

The voucher specimen was deposited in the lepidopterological collection of Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidópteros Neotropicais (LELN) of Programa de Ciências Naturais (PCNAT, UFOPA). Catches were made with permission from SISBIO - ICMBio, under “Licença Permanente para Coleta de Material Zoológico 18132-3” to JAT and “Autorização para atividades com finalidade científica 48218-2” to AS.

The identification was made based on the morphological characters description and images presented in Travassos (1946), Becker and Miller (2002) and Vieira (2012). In general, appearance U. pulchella can be confused with the dotted form of U. ornatrix but can be easily separated by dots on the dorsum of the thorax: U. pulchella has only three dots whereas U. ornatrix has three pairs of dots (Becker and Miller 2002).

MATERIAL EXAMINED

Brazil, Pará: Mojuí dos Campos, 02°41′44.15″ S, 054°34′14.34″ W, 24-XII-2016, Coradini, M. (1 male). Specimen was deposited in the lepidopterological collection of Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidópteros Neotropicais (voucher number LELN 05.345) of Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará.

DISCUSSION

Although it has been reported for the neotropical region (Guana Island - British Virgin Islands) (Becker and Miller 2002) and even for Brazil (Travassos 1946), this species is not included in the most recent catalog on Neotropical Arctiinae (Vincent and Laguerre 2014). This new record increases the number of species of Arctiinae occurring in Pará State to 536 and, 821 for Brazilian Amazon (Teston 2017). Considering that the preferred habitats of this species are open and relatively dry spaces (Carvalho and Carvalho 1939, Travassos 1946, Becker and Miller 2002, Ferro and Diniz 2010, Vieira 2012), we attribute the presence of this species in the Amazon biome to the recent agricultural occupation. This occupation, besides providing open areas, reduces relative humidity and provides preferential host plants, both cultivated and weeds.

ACKNOWLEGMENTS

To the Maicon Coradini for help in light trap collections. The authors are grateful for financial support provided by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (processos Nº. 403376/2013-0, 306601/2016-8) and Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA) (SEG MP2 n° 02.13.14.006.00.00). To the Instituto Chico Mendes (ICMBio), Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA) to the Authorization for Scientific Activities SISBIO (nº 48218-2) and Permanent License for Collecting Zoological Material (n° 18132-3). This publication is part of the RedeLep “Rede Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Lepidópteros” SISBIOTA-Brasil/CNPq (563332/2010-7).

REFERENCES

• AISTLEITNER E and ČERNÝ K. 2013. Faunistic notes on Arctiid moths of the Cape Verde-Islands with description of a new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae, Arctiinae). Linzer Biol Beitr 45: 297-306.
• BECKER VO and MILLER SC. 2002. The large moths of Guana Island, British Virgin Islands: a survey of efficient colonizers (Sphingidae, Notodontodae, Noctuidae, Arctiidae, Geometridae, Hyblaidae,Cossidae). J Lepid Soc 56: 9-44.
• BERNARYS BA and SINGER M. 2002. Contrasted foraging tactics in two species of polyphagous caterpillars. Acta Zoo Acad Sci Hung 48: 683-690.
• CARVALHO MB DE and CARVALHO RF DE. 1939. Primeira contribuição para um catálogo dos insetos de Pernambuco. Arq Inst Pes Agron 2: 27-60.
• FERRO VG and DINIZ IR. 2010. Riqueza e composição das mariposas Arctiidae (Lepidoptera) no Cerrado. In: Diniz IR et al. (Eds), Cerrado: conhecimento quantitativo como subsídio para as ações de conservação. Brasília: Editora Thesaurus, p. 255-313.
• PINO PÉREZ JJ and PINO PÉREZ R. 2017. Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758) (Erebidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini, Callimorphima) em Pontevedra (Galicia, NO España). Burbug 31: 1-7.
• SAVELA M. 2015. Lepidoptera and some other life forms. Accessed at http://193.166.3.2/pub/ sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/noctuoidea/arctiidae/arctiinae/utetheisa/, November 20, 2017.
  » http://193.166.3.2/pub
• TESTON JA. 2017. First record of Toulgoetarctia nigripuncta (Joicey & Talbot, 1918) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) from Brazil. Check List 13: 289-291.
• TRAVASSOS L. 1946. Contribuição ao conhecimento dos “Arctiidae” XI. Gênero “Utetheisa” Hübner, 1819. Verificação de “U. pulchella” (L., 1758) Kirby, 1892, no Nordeste do Brasil. Rev Bras Biol 6: 343-354.
• VIEIRA V. 2012. Primeira citação de Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758) para a ilha de São Miguel, Açores (Portugal) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). SHILAP-Rev Lepidopt 40: 107-112.
• VINCENT B and LAGUERRE M. 2014. Catalogue of the Neotropical Arctiini Leach, [1815] (except Ctenuchina Kirby, 1837 and Euchromiina Butler, 1876) (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae). Zoosystema 36: 137-533.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  21 Mar 2019
• Date of issue
  2019

History

• Received
  15 Mar 2018
• Accepted
  11 June 2018