More than 100 new records of moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) from Tobago, West Indies, with a new synonym in Crambidae

Abstract

Details of six new butterfly and 128 new moth records from Tobago are presented, including species of Batrachedridae (1), Castniidae (1), Crambidae (20), Erebidae (49), Euteliidae (1), Geometridae (15), Hesperiidae (2), Immidae (2), Lasiocampidae (1), Lycaenidae (2), Noctuidae (12), Notodontidae (11), Nymphalidae (1), Oecophoridae (3), Pyralidae (7), Riodinidae (1), Sesiidae (2), Sphingidae (1), Tineidae (1) and Uraniidae (1). Three of the new butterfly records are based on voucher specimens, but the other three and all the moths are based solely on photographs from life, and representative images are included as vouchers. A duplicate record of Hedylidae is pointed out, previously overlooked records of Gelechiidae and Saturniidae are added, the previously unrecognized female of Metria sp. nr. demera Schaus (Erebidae) is associated with the male, and Hemiceras egregia Dognin (Notodontidae) is newly identified. The total number of Lepidoptera species known from Tobago is now 653 moths and 165 butterflies. All newly reported species except four are also known from Trinidad (although some have not been previously published as from Trinidad). Species associated with economic crops include Batrachedra nuciferae Hodges (Batrachedridae), Haritalodes pharaxalis (Druce), Maruca vitrata (Fabricius) and Palpita persimilis Munroe (Crambidae), Cerconota anonella (Sepp) (Oecophoridae), Rupela albina Becker & Solis (Pyralidae), and Eichlinia pulchripes (Walker) (Sesiidae), while Achroia grisella (Fabricius) (Crambidae) and Galleria mellonella (Linnaeus) (Pyralidae) are pests of honeybee hives. Leucochroma analytica Dyar, 1914 is a new synonym of Leucochroma trinitensis Rothschild, 1912.