Pan-neotropical genus Venada (Hesperiidae: Pyrginae) is not monotypic: Four new species occur on one volcano in the Area De Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica

摘要

Between 1995 and 2004, as part of an ongoing macrolepidopteran inventory of the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG), Costa Rica, 327 adults of the hesperiid genus Venada were reared from 636 wild-caught caterpillars and pupae. Although Venada was thought to be monotypic over its wide range (Mexico to Bolivia), there are four new species on Volcan Cacao in the ACG: Venada nevada, V. daneva, V. cacao, and V. naranja - all described by Burns, using characters of adult facies, male and female genitalia, caterpillar color pattern, and ecologic distribution. These skippers inhabit both rain and cloud forest, but not dry forest. The caterpillars feed on mature leaves of saplings in five genera of Lauraceae: Beilschmiedia, Licaria, Nectandra, Ocotea, and Persea. Caterpillars of Ridens also eat plants in the family Lauraceae, and Ridens and Venada may be closely related.