Castnia lecerfi Dalla Torre, 1913

Ríos, Sergio D. & González, Jorge M., 2011, A synopsis of the Castniidae (Lepidoptera) of Paraguay, Zootaxa 3055, pp. 43-61 : 56

Castnia lecerfi Dalla Torre, 1913

( Fig. 17 )

Taxonomic history. This species was originally described as Castnia wagneri by Le Cerf (1911) but since that name was unavailable by reason of being a junior homonym, it was replaced by the name lecerfi ( Dalla Torre 1913, Houlbert 1918, Lamas 1995).

Castnia minerva Krüger , appears to be an intermediate form between Castnia invaria penelope Schaufuss and Castnia lecerfi Dalla Torre , which might eventually mean that the later species would become a synonym of penelope . Only a detailed study of a large series of specimens will help us clarify the status of these taxa.

Distribution. The material studied by Le Cerf was collected by E.G. Wagner in Villa Lutecia, near San Ignacio, Misiones ( Argentina), near the Paraná River. This is less than 5–10 km away from Itapúa Department ( Paraguay), and for this reason we believe that Castnia lecerfi may fly in the remaining patches of Atlantic Forest or in natural grasslands, from Itapúa and other nearby regions in Paraguay.

Biology and behavior. Nothing is known on the possible hosts of this species.

Material examined. Only pictures (provided by G. Lamas and F. Penco) of the male holotype deposited at the MHNP, and two specimens from Argentina [13, Mogotes, La Rioja, Argentina; 1Ƥ, Santiago del Estero, with the “Allotipus” label ( Breyer 1931, 1943)] in the Alberto Breyer Collection at MLP, are known to the authors.

Figures

FIGURES 17 – 19. Adults of Castniidae. 17. Castnia lecerfi Dalla-Torre, 3, Argentina (MHNP); 18. Geyeria uruguayana (Burmeister), 3, Argentina (MGCL); 19. Ceretes thais (Drury), 3, Brazil (FMNH).