Amauta Houlbert, 1918

García-Díaz, José De Jesús, Espinoza-Sanabria, Bernardo A., Worthy, Robert, González, Jorge M., Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2024, Synopsis of the Castniidae (Lepidoptera) of Costa Rica, Zootaxa 5481 (2), pp. 151-202 : 153

I. Amauta Houlbert, 1918

This genus includes several large species distributed in Central and South America; they are mostly dark moths with crepuscular habits ( Worthy et al. 2022). Described by Houlbert (1918), it was considered a valid genus until Moraes & Duarte (2014) synonymized it with Telchin Hübner, [1825] . However, Worthy et al. (2022) reinstated the genus, recognizing four species ( A. angusta (H. Druce, 1907) ; A. cacica (Herrich-Schäffer, [1854]) ; A. papilionaris (Walker, [1865]) and A. procera (Boisduval, [1875])) , from which a few subspecies derive. They also erected the new genus Vadina Worthy, González & Zilli, 2022 for Castnia hodeei Oberthür, 1881 , originally included in Amauta before Moraes & Duarte (2014). The larvae of these species feed on heliconias ( Heliconia spp. , Heliconiaceae ), bananas and/or plantains ( Musa spp. , Musaceae ) and they might be associated with bromeliads ( Bromeliaceae ) ( Suárez-Capello et al. 2002; Miller & Sourakov 2009; Aya et al. 2022; Worthy et al. 2022).