Aquatic moths of the Area de Conservación Guanacaste and the genus Aulacodes in Costa Rica (Crambidae: Acentropinae)

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

2:48 PM – 3:00 PM MST

Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 132 A, PCC

Presenting Author(s)

JB

Jacob Bethin (he/him/his)

Graduate Research Assistant
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida

Co-Author(s)

Maria Alma Solis (she/her/hers)

Research Entomologist
USDA-ARS
Washington, District of Columbia
EP

Eugenie Phillips-Rodriguez

Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund
Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
WH

Winnie Hallwachs

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DJ

Daniel Janzen

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The subfamily Acentropinae is the largest group of aquatic moths in the Lepidoptera. These moths can be found all over the world yet are rarely studied. We summarize the diversity of acentropine species in the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Costa Rica. Specifically, the genus Aulacodes is a large neotropical taxon with 35 species. We discuss our recent findings about the genus Aulacodes in context of a recent acentropine molecular phylogeny that raises questions about its monophyly, its composition, and biology of the immatures and their adaption to an aquatic habitat.