Aggregated occurrence records of the federally endangered Poweshiek skipperling ().

Background: Primary biodiversity data records that are open access and available in a standardised format are essential for conservation planning and research on policy-relevant time-scales. We created a dataset to document all known occurrence data for the Federally Endangered Poweshiek skipperling butterfly [ (Parker, 1870; Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae)]. The Poweshiek skipperling was a historically common species in prairie systems across the upper Midwest, United States and Manitoba, Canada.

An improved method for utilizing high-throughput amplicon sequencing to determine the diets of insectivorous animals.

DNA analysis of predator faeces using high-throughput amplicon sequencing (HTS) enhances our understanding of predator-prey interactions. However, conclusions drawn from this technique are constrained by biases that occur in multiple steps of the HTS workflow. To better characterize insectivorous animal diets, we used DNA from a diverse set of arthropods to assess PCR biases of commonly used and novel primer pairs for the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome oxidase C subunit 1 (COI).

Barcoding blood meals: New vertebrate-specific primer sets for assigning taxonomic identities to host DNA from mosquito blood meals.

The transmission dynamics of mosquito-vectored pathogens are, in part, mediated by mosquito host-feeding patterns. These patterns are elucidated using blood meal analysis, a collection of serological and molecular techniques that determine the taxonomic identities of the host animals from which blood meals are derived. Modern blood meal analyses rely on polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA sequencing, and bioinformatic comparisons of blood meal DNA sequences to reference databases.

Hawaiian (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae, Ornixolinae) leaf mining moths on (Primulaceae): two new species and biological data.

This paper provides new taxonomic and biological data on a complex of gracillariid moths in the endemic genus Walsingham, 1907 that are associated with (Primulaceae) in the Hawaiian Islands, United States. Two new species, Kobayashi, Johns & Kawahara, (host: , , and ) and Kobayashi, Johns & Kawahara, (host: ) are described. Biological data are provided for two previously described species that also feed on : Walsingham, 1907 and Walsingham, 1907.

Managed and Wild Bee Flower Visitors and Their Potential Contribution to Pollination Services of Low-Chill Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.; Ericales: Ericaceae).

Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.; Ericales: Ericaceae) is an important crop grown throughout the eastern United States and Canada. Cross-pollination by insects greatly enhances pollination and fruit set in highbush blueberry.

The evolution of anti-bat sensory illusions in moths.

Prey transmit sensory illusions to redirect predatory strikes, creating a discrepancy between what a predator perceives and reality. We use the acoustic arms race between bats and moths to investigate the evolution and function of a sensory illusion. The spinning hindwing tails of silk moths (Saturniidae) divert bat attack by reflecting sonar to create a misleading echoic target.

Contrasting patterns of Andean diversification among three diverse clades of Neotropical clearwing butterflies.

The Neotropical region is the most biodiverse on Earth, in a large part due to the highly diverse tropical Andean biota. The Andes are a potentially important driver of diversification within the mountains and for neighboring regions. We compared the role of the Andes in diversification among three subtribes of Ithomiini butterflies endemic to the Neotropics, Dircennina, Oleriina, and Godyridina.

Prophaecasia species in Malawi (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Olethreutinae: Olethreutini).

Prophaecasia malawiana, n. sp., is described from Malawi, and Anthozela usambarae Razowski Wojtusiak, 2014, from Malawi, is transferred to Prophaecasia resulting in the new combination Prophaecasia usambarae (Razowski Wojtusiak, 2014).

A new species of Cyllopsis R. Felder, 1869 from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae).

A new species of Cyllopsis R. Felder, 1869, is described and illustrated from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Cyllopsis tomemmeli A.

Frequency dependence shapes the adaptive landscape of imperfect Batesian mimicry.

Despite more than a century of biological research on the evolution and maintenance of mimetic signals, the relative frequencies of models and mimics necessary to establish and maintain Batesian mimicry in natural populations remain understudied. Here we investigate the frequency-dependent dynamics of imperfect Batesian mimicry, using predation experiments involving artificial butterfly models. We use two geographically distinct populations of butterflies that vary in their relative frequencies of a putatively defended model () and Batesian mimic ().

Behavioral Evidence for Host Transitions in Plant, Plant Parasite, and Insect Interactions.

Specialized herbivorous insects have the ability to transition between host plant taxa, and considering the co-evolutionary history between plants and the organisms utilizing them is important to understanding plant insect interactions. We investigated the role of a pine tree parasite, dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium spp.) M.

Differences in winter cold hardiness reflect the geographic range disjunction of Neophasia menapia and Neophasia terlooii (Lepidoptera: Pieridae).

Predicting how rapid climate change will affect terrestrial biota depends on a thorough understanding of an organism's biology and evolutionary history. Organisms at their range boundaries are particularly sensitive to climate change. As predominantly terrestrial poikilotherms, insects are often geographically limited by extremes in ambient temperatures.

Fruit Set and Single Visit Stigma Pollen Deposition by Managed Bumble Bees and Wild Bees in Citrullus lanatus (Cucurbitales: Cucurbitaceae).

Pollinators provide essential services for watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.; Cucurbitales: Cucurbitaceae). Managed bumble bees, Bombus impatiens (Cresson; Hymenoptera: Apidae), have been shown to be a useful watermelon pollinator in some areas.

Interactions between the invasive Burmese python, Python bivittatus Kuhl, and the local mosquito community in Florida, USA.

The Burmese python, Python bivittatus Kuhl, is a well-established invasive species in the greater Everglades ecosystem of southern Florida, USA. Most research on its ecological impacts focuses on its role as a predator and its trophic interactions with native vertebrate species, particularly mammals. Beyond predation, there is little known about the ecological interactions between P.

A new species of Zeller from the southwestern United States (Lepidoptera, Pterophoridae).

, is described from New Mexico, Arizona, and Southwest Texas, and compared with the only other occurring in the Nearctic Region, Zeller. A redescription is provided for . Adults and male and female genitalia are illustrated for both species.

A review of the occurrence and diversity of the sphragis in butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea).

Males of many butterfly species secrete long-lasting mating plugs to prevent their mates from copulating with other males, thus ensuring their sperm will fertilize all future eggs laid. Certain species have further developed a greatly enlarged, often spectacular, externalized plug, termed a sphragis. This distinctive structure results from complex adaptations in both male and female genitalia and is qualitatively distinct from the amorphous, internal mating plugs of other species.

Giving eyespots a shiner: Pharmacologic manipulation of the Io moth wing pattern.

Our knowledge of wing pattern formation in Lepidoptera has advanced significantly in recent years due to the careful examination of several groups of butterflies. The eyespot is a prominent feature of Lepidoptera wing pattern, especially in the family Saturniidae. The present study examined how sulfated polysaccharides affected the wing pattern formation of the Io moth, (Saturniidae).

Trap Nesting Wasps and Bees in Agriculture: A Comparison of Sown Wildflower and Fallow Plots in Florida.

Wildflower strip plantings in intensive agricultural systems have become a widespread tool for promoting pollination services and biological conservation because of their use by wasps and bees. Many of the trap-nesting wasps are important predators of common crop pests, and cavity-nesting bees that utilize trap-nests are important pollinators for native plants and many crops. The impact of wildflower strips on the nesting frequency of trap-nesting wasps or bees within localized areas has not been thoroughly investigated.

New Insights into the Evolution of the W Chromosome in Lepidoptera.

Moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) represent the most diverse group of animals with heterogametic females. Although the vast majority of species has a WZ/ZZ (female/male) sex chromosome system, it is generally accepted that the ancestral system was Z/ZZ and the W chromosome has evolved in a common ancestor of Tischeriidae and Ditrysia. However, the lack of data on sex chromosomes in lower Lepidoptera has prevented a formal test of this hypothesis.

Uncovered Diversity of a Predominantly Andean Butterfly Clade in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: a Revision of the Genus Praepedaliodes Forster (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Satyrinae, Satyrini).

The genus Praepedaliodes Forster, 1964, the only representative of the mega-diverse mostly Andean Pedaliodes complex lineage in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, is revised. Prior to this study, four species were known, P. phanias (Hewitson, 1862), P.

A new species of from Israel, with notes on taxonomy, cytogenetics, phylogeography and interspecific hybridization in the complex (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae).

Specimens with intermediate morphology are often considered to be the result of ongoing interspecific hybridization; however, this conclusion is difficult to prove without analysis of chromosomal and/or molecular markers. In the butterfly genus , such an intermediacy can be detected in male genitalia, and is more or less regularly observed in localities where two closely related, presumably parental species are found in sympatry. Here I analyze a high altitude population from Mt.

Revision of the genus Schaus, 1928 (Lepidoptera, Mimallonoidea, Mimallonidae) with the descriptions of four new species from South America.

The mimallonid genus Schaus, 1928 is revised. The three previously described species, (Schaus, 1905), Schaus, 1928, and Herbin & C. Mielke, 2014 are redescribed and the females of each are described and figured for the first time.

A new species of from Mexico (Hesperiidae, Pyrginae, Pyrrhopygini).

is described from the Sierra Madre Oriental of east-central Mexico. Visually similar to Mesoamerican Staudinger, 1888 in having five orange bands on the abdomen above, it is diagnosed by orange forecoxae and palpi beneath, narrower forewing hyaline bands and a prominent 6% difference in the COI DNA barcode sequence. It is the northernmost representative of the species group that also includes Grishin & Burns, 2013, characterized by a single-banded abdomen and currently known only from the Area de Conservación Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica.

Hostplant change and paleoclimatic events explain diversification shifts in skipper butterflies (Family: Hesperiidae).

Background: Skippers (Family: Hesperiidae) are a large group of butterflies with ca. 4000 species under 567 genera. The lack of a time-calibrated higher-level phylogeny of the group has precluded understanding of its evolutionary past.

Jamaica's Critically Endangered Butterfly: A Review of the Biology and Conservation Status of the Homerus Swallowtail (Papilio (Pterourus) homerus Fabricius).

The Homerus swallowtail, () Fabricius, is listed as an endangered species and is endemic to the Caribbean island of Jamaica. The largest butterfly in the Western Hemisphere, once inhabited seven of Jamaica's 14 parishes and consisted of at least three populations; however, now only two stronghold populations remain, a western population in the rugged Cockpit Country and an eastern population in the Blue and John Crow Mountains. Despite numerous studies of its life history, much about the population biology, including estimates of total numbers of individuals in each population, remains unknown.