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Feltia submontana (Noctuidae, Noctuinae): Redescription, Taxonomy, Life Cycle, and Spatial Distribution of a Neglected South American Potential Pest Species

  • Systematics, Morphology and Physiology
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Abstract

Feltia submontana (Köhler, 1961) is redescribed based on specimens from Northwestern Argentina and Central and Southeastern Brazil. Taxonomic comments, photographs of the adults, characters of taxonomic importance, and illustrations of structures of the labial palpus, legs, and male and female genitalia are provided. The species is compared with similar-looking and supposedly closely related species, such as F. hispidula (Guenée, 1852) and F. lilacina (Zerny, 1916). The species, originally described for Argentina, is reported for Brazil for the first time. Most Brazilian specimens come from the “Cerrado” but also from Southeastern Atlantic Forests. The life cycle of F. submontana specimens collected in Planaltina, Distrito Federal, Brazil, is described; the species probably has only a single generation per year and imagines are on the wing in the late autumn and early winter months; the last instar prepupa and pupa pass through aestival diapause. The abundance of F. submontana relative to other species of Agrotis Ochsenheimer, 1816, and Feltia Walker, 1856, in the above-cited locality is accessed through 4 years of standardized collecting with light trap; the species is the second most abundant species of these genera in the area, with about one fifth of the captures, second only to A. ipsilon (Hufnagel, 1766), with about two thirds of the captures, and about two times more abundant than F. subterranea (Fabricius, 1794); the latter two are regarded as important pest species in South America.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Amabílio José Aires de Camargo (EMBRAPA), Dr. Marcelo Duarte (MZUSP), Dr. Victor Becker (VOB), Dr. Sinval Silveira Neto (ESALQ/USP), Emilia Constanza Perez (IFML), and Dr. Hubert Thöny (HT) for providing access to the collections under their care and fruitful discussions; we further thank Dr. Hubert Thöny for make available his literature reprints, databases and type specimen photographs for our studies and the helpful aid of Renato de Oliveira e Silva (MZUSP). We are grateful to Tiago Taira, Brenda Melo Moreira and Américo Iorio Ciociola Junior, for the collection of specimens in Chapadão do Sul and Uberaba. We thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) for the fellowship granted to the authors (MMC: 308247/2013-2, CNPq; OHHM: 304639/2014-1, CNPq; AS: 306601/2016-8, CNPq; FMSD: Edital 15/2014, Capes/Embrapa); the financial support of CNPq (482627/2010-7 and 403376/2013-0) and Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa) (SEG MP2 02.13.14.006.00.00); and the Instituto Chico Mendes (ICMBio) for the authorization of scientific activities (SISBIO 38547/(1-6)).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lab de Estudos de Lepidoptera Neotropical, Depto de Zoologia, Univ Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, 81.531-980, Brasil

    F M S Dias, M M Casagrande & O H H Mielke

  2. Lab de Entomologia, Embrapa Cerrados, Planaltina, Distrito Federal, Brasil

    A Specht

  3. Univ de Brasília Campus Planaltina, Planaltina, Distrito Federal, Brasil

    V F Roque-Specht

  4. CONICET – Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Univ Nacional de La Pampa, Santa Rosa, Argentina

    G San Blas

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  1. F M S Dias
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  4. G San Blas
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  5. M M Casagrande
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Correspondence to F M S Dias.

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Edited by Raphael C Castilho – FCAV/UNESP

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Dias, F.M.S., Specht, A., Roque-Specht, V.F. et al. Feltia submontana (Noctuidae, Noctuinae): Redescription, Taxonomy, Life Cycle, and Spatial Distribution of a Neglected South American Potential Pest Species. Neotrop Entomol 48, 98–110 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-018-0611-x

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