Catasticta Butler, 1870

Braby, Michael F. & Nishida, Kenji, 2010, The immature stages, larval food plants and biology of Neotropical mistletoe butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). II. The Catasticta group (Pierini: Aporiina), Journal of Natural History 44 (29 - 30), pp. 1831-1928 : 1865-1867

Catasticta Butler, 1870

Catasticta is most closely related to Archonias + Charonias (Braby et al. 2006, 2007) and is a very large and complex genus, with more than 90 species currently recognized (Lamas 2004). Eitschberger and Racheli (1998) attempted to divide the genus into three “generic groups”, but this classification has not found general acceptance ( Lamas and Bollino 2004; Bollino and Rodríguez 2004; Bollino and Costa 2007). A detailed phylogenetic study of the genus has not been undertaken to establish if Catasticta sensu lato is monophyletic, but limited phylogenetic evidence suggests that it may be polyphyletic (Braby et al. 2007). Catasticta extends from Mexico to Brazil, with highest species diversity in the montane cloud forests of the eastern Andes of South America ( Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) ( D’Abrera 1981; Lamas and Bollino 2004; Bollino and Rodríguez 2004). The genus ranges between 700 m and 3900 m a.s.l., but most species occur between 1200 m and 2500 m a.s.l. ( Röber 1908; DeVries 1987; Eitschberger and Racheli 1998; Bollino and Rodríguez 2004). Only eight species occur in Central America ( DeVries 1987), of which three extend to southern and/ or central Mexico ( de la Maza 1987). Freshly emerged males are commonly observed puddling from the edges of streams and seepages, whereas females are more frequently encountered visiting flowers ( DeVries 1987; Bollino et al. 2002) or searching clumps of the larval food plant on which to oviposit (M.F. Braby and K. Nishida, unpublished data). Several species of Catasticta show strong mimetic resemblances to other butterflies, particularly Actinote (Nymphalidae) , but also several pierids such as Leptophobia and Pereute ( Rey and Pyrcz 1996) . The nature of these mimetic relationships is unknown, although Rey and Pyrcz (1996) hypothesized that in the known examples adults of Catasticta may be Batesian mimics.

Schultze-Rhonhof (1935) made early reference to mistletoes in the Santalales comprising the larval food plants based on observations in Ecuador, but he did not provide further details. Since those pioneering observations, surprisingly few details on the larval food plants have been documented, with specific details recorded for only four species. Known larval food plants include Tripodanthus ( Biezanko 1958; Silva et al. 1968; Remillet 1988) and Struthanthus ( DeVries 1986, 1987) in the Loranthaceae , Antidaphne in the Santalaceae ( DeVries 1986, 1987), and Phoradendron ( Beutelspacher 1980) and Dendrophthora ( DeVries 1983b, 1986, 1987) in the Viscaceae . Several non-mistletoe food plants in the Brassicaceae reported in the literature are considered to be erroneous ( Beccaloni et al. 2008) and most likely refer to the host tree or adjacent plants on which the larvae frequently pupate. Only fragmentary information is available for the morphology and behaviour of the immature stages. Schultze-Rhonhof (1935) described and crudely illustrated the pupa of C. flisa ( Figure 3 ) from Ecuador, and more recently Bollino and Rodríguez (2004) provided a colour illustration of the pupa of this species from Colombia. DeVries (1987) remarked that the larvae of Catasticta are highly gregarious, and that the pupae have been found in gregarious masses on tree trunks, on the underside of leaves or nestled in moss or lichen at the base of trees rather than on the actual food plant itself. In addition, DeVries (1986, 1987) provided brief descriptions and habits of the immature stages of C. nimbice bryson Godman and Salvin, 1889 , C. theresa Butler and H. Druce, 1874 and C. teutila flavomaculata Lathy and Rosenberg, 1912 from Costa Rica, but neither illustrated the egg, larva nor pupa. For C. nimbice bryson , the final-instar larva was described as “dull red-brown with black granulations and short hairs; black head capsule” and the pupa as “dull cream and black with a prominent ridge along the thorax and abdomen; overall, the pupa resembles a bird dropping” ( DeVries 1987 p. 92).

In addition to our reared material of the immature stages for the seven species documented below, we examined pupae of Catasticta sp. , C. seitzi Lathy and Rosenberg, 1912 and C. chrysolopha (Kollar, 1850) preserved in the USNM and BMNH. In the USNM, there is a single pupa in the wet collection from Mexico that was misidentified as Melete . The specimen is labelled as follows: “ Melete sp. DMW ‘85”, “Daptoneura sp. DMW ‘74, Tillandsia sp. 6-XII-1973, Veracruz, Mexico, 74-1694 Brownsville 3880”. Of the three species of Catasticta recorded from southern Mexico ( de la Maza 1987), the pupal specimen closely resembles C. flisa rather than C. nimbice or C. teutila . In the BMNH, there are single preserved pupal exuviae for each of C. seitzi and C. chrysolopha , both collected from Colombia around the turn of the twentieth century. The pupal specimen of C. seitzi is labelled as follows: “ BMNH DES No. Rh. 2869 Catasticta seitzi Roths. coll.”, “S. Antonio, West Cordillera Colombia, 2200 m. (A.H. Fassl)/Puppe in Catasticta spec. 26X08 ansg9ktrOthen. Puppe géfunden in Veto de las cruces 2200 m ander Untesserte des Blattes ines getalton poken unvvaldbaumes. Ine Púppe ist lebend hellgrüm. [Pupa of Catasticta species 26.10.08 emerged. Pupa found in mountains of the Andes 2200 m on the underside of a leaf of a felled rainforest tree. The pupa when alive is green.]” (Our translation) “Rothschild Bequest B.M. 1939-1”. The specimen is attached to a silken web spun over the leaf, by means of the cremaster and central girdle, and closely resembles the pupa of C. flisa and allied species. The pupal specimen of C. chrysolopha is labelled as follows: “Chrysalida der Eulérpe Chrysolopha ”, “7215”, “32.21. Ex. Coll. Dognin. 1921”, “248”. The specimen is attached to a small piece of wood, possibly cut from the trunk or branch of the host tree, by means of the cremaster and central girdle, and resembles the pupa of C. cerberus , except abdominal segment 3 has only one dorsolateral projection and abdominal segment 4 has a rounded dorsolateral projection.

Figures

Figures 2–3. Reproductions of historical illustrations of pupae of the Catasticta group. (2) Pereute charops (Klots 1933); (3) Catasticta flisa (Schultze-Rhonhof 1935). Note: In C. flisa the anterior projection of the head is missing the forked apex (described by Schultze-Rhonhof (1935)), suggesting the pupa was damaged prior to being illustrated.