The Rediscovery Of Joiceya Praeclarus Talbot 1928 (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae), More Than 80 Years after Its Description

• Published in: Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society Vol. 67; no. 1; pp. 56 - 57
• Main Authors: Greve, Roberto R, Callaghan, Curtis, Kaminski, Lucas A, Freitas, André V. L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Lepidopterists' Society 11.03.2013
• Subjects: Atlantic Forest; Brazil; cerrado; endangered species; GENERAL NOTES; Lama; Lepidoptera; Nymphidiini; Parque Nacional do Iguaçu; Riodinidae
• ISSN: 0024-0966
• DOI: 10.18473/lepi.v67i1.a7

The family Riodinidae is the third most speciose butterfly group in the Neotropics, with more than 1,300 described species in this region (Callaghan & Lamas 2004), and shows an extraordinary diversity of morphological, ecological and life history traits (reviewed in Brown 1993a; DeVries 1997). Although in the past 30 years there have been advances in riodinid taxonomy (see comments in Hall 2005: 3-5), there have been few studies on the ecology and natural history of most riodinid species. Our poor understanding of riodinid biology is partly a result of the apparent rarity of many species, which may be a consequence of them occurring in small, localized populations and/or that some inhabits the forest canopy, are rarely attracted to baits, making them difficult to sample (Callaghan 1978; Brown 1993a; DeVries et al. 1994; Hall & Willmott 2010). Some highly endemic species may therefore be vulnerable to habitat destruction, but the difficulty in observing or sampling them complicates assessing their natural population densities. Consequently, any biological observations of rare riodinid species are potentially important.