The formerly monotypic genus Aesiocopa Zeller, 1877 is reviewed. Three species are included: A. vacivana Zeller, 1877 (type species) from Panama and Costa Rica; A. necrofolia Brown & Phillips, new species, from Mexico, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; and A. grandis Brown, new species, from Costa Rica. The genus is recorded sparingly from Mexico to Panama. Although A. vacivana and A. grandis are known from only a handful of specimens, A. necrofolia has been reared from larvae numerous times in Costa Rica and from 15 different plant families: Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Hernandiaceae, Icacinaceae, Lauraceae, Magnoliaceae, Myrsinaceae, Myrtaceae, Piperaceae, Rubiaceae, Salicaceae, Sapindaceae, Smilacaceae, and Urticaceae. The abundance of rearing records suggests that the species is polyphagous, and the paucity of field-collected adults suggests that it may not be avidly attracted to light. The same may be true for its congeners.

Heliconius passion-vine butterflies form communal roosts on a nightly basis as an anti-predatory defense. Although past studies have evaluated various components of this behavior, much remains unknown about many basic aspects of roost dynamics. To learn more about communal roosting I examined roost establishment, recruitment, roost-mate resource use, roosting participation in a population, and roost arrival, departure, and perch preferences in natural populations of Heliconius erato petiverana in Panama. My observations suggest that 1) younger butterflies are recruited more readily than older butterflies, 2) roosts are first established by a single butterfly roosting consecutively in the same location that later recruits butterflies, 3) males depart roosts earlier than females in the morning, 4) older butterflies tend to roost on the same perch in the same roost every night, 5) roost-mates share the same resource traplines, and 6) most butterflies in a population participate in roosts. These observations present an improved portrait of Heliconius roosting and raise several new questions about this behavior.

All the four species i.e., brahminus Blanchard, saraswati Kollar, padma Kollar and swaha Kollar referable to the Himalayan genus Aulocera Butler have been re-examined. The structures of the male and female genitalia have been interpreted along with previously known characters. In spite of minor variation in the valva of the male genitalia of saraswati Kollar, all the four species are broadly congeneric and form a natural group in the Himalayan region.

The taxonomic status of Clepsis penetralis has remained enigmatic since its description in 1979. Using specimens collected or borrowed from across the U.S.A., we examined genitalic and wing characters as well as mitochondrial DNA sequence in order to distinguish C. penetralis from the similar congener C. peritana. The genomic integrity of the two species was strongly supported, and the mtDNA sequence data further suggest a potential additional new species from California. Examinations of collections across the country indicate that C. penetralis is a widespread species that has been widely overlooked.

Larvae of Arhopala zylda (Lycaenidae) feed on food bodies (FBs) produced by two Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae) myrmecophytic species, M. beccariana and M. hypoleuca. We examined their feeding behavior in detail via field observations and rearing experiments in the field and laboratory. Larvae of A. zylda fed only on FBs and not leaves during the first through third instars; during the fourth (final) instar, they ate both FBs and leaves of the host plants. The larvae actively fed on FBs on young leaves, which were always attended by many plant symbiotic ants. These results suggested that A. zylda larvae depend entirely on FBs for food, except late in the final instar, and that the FB-feeding habit is associated with special traits that enable the larvae to evade ant aggression, which usually functions as an effective anti-herbivore defense for the host plants.

The types of Ctenuchina and Euchromiina that were described by E. Ménétriés, deposited at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, are catalogued. All but one of the types are of names described from Brazil and collected during the Langsdorff expedition; the only non-Brazilian type was collected in California, USA. Lectotypes are designated for the following names: Laemocharis fasciatella, Charidea fastuosa, L. fulviventris, L. metallescens, L. ornata, Glaucopis rubroscapus, G. vidua vidua and G. vidua spiracula. The following new combinations are proposed: Poecilosoma fasciatella, stat. rev., Aethria ornata, and Xanthyda metallescens. Comments on each name are provided, as well as information on their current taxonomic status, illustrations of type specimens, and information about their conservation status.

The caterpillars of Idalus lineosus Walker (Arctiinae) are external folivores that specialize in eating mature leaves of Roupala montana Aubl. (Proteaceae) in the cerrado (Brazilian savannah). The aim of this study was to present morphological and ecological characteristics of the immature stages of I. lineosus. We evaluated relative abundance, seasonal variation, and parasitized proportion of I. lineosus in various sites of the cerrado. The caterpillars are solitary, exhibit morphological variation between instars, and present varied color patterns in the last larval instar. The relative abundance of the caterpillar on the host plant varies seasonally and spatially in the cerrado sensu stricto reliefs of two soil types (oxysoil and rocky soil).The caterpillars were parasitized mainly by a gregarious Hymenoptera; multiparasitism was also registered, with interactions between Apanteles sp. and Protapanteles sp., and Cidaphus sp. with Protapanteles sp.

The Mormon metalmark (Apodemia mormo) is widely distributed throughout western North America. The species exists in two peripheral populations in Canada and is listed as threatened in Saskatchewan and endangered in British Columbia. In Saskatchewan, this butterfly relies on Eriogonum pauciflorum for larval food and as its primary nectar source; however, presence of its host plant is insufficient to define habitats actually utilized by the butterfly. We investigated microhabitat characteristics that might explain habitat use of A. mormo adults using 102 host plant quadrats in which the butterfly was occupied (present) or unoccupied (absent) in Grasslands National Park and the Val Marie Community Pasture, Saskatchewan. Linear discriminant analysis demonstrated significant differences between occupied and unoccupied quadrats. Apodemia mormo was found disproportionately in quadrats with a combination of the following variables: higher percent bare ground and soil pH, steeper slope, southerly to southwesterly aspect, lower elevation, and lower soil nitrogen. Our results show that habitat use by A. mormo butterflies is correlated with environmental factors that define, either directly or indirectly, the local probability of association with host populations.