New larval food plant associations for some butterflies and diurnal moths (Lepidoptera) from the Northern Territory and eastern Kimberley, Australia

Abstract

This paper documents 122 insect-plant associations for 10 families of butterflies/diurnal moths (Castniidae, Sessidae, Immidae, Geometridae, Hesperiidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae and Noctuidae (Agaristinae)) from the Northern Territory and eastern Kimberley, of which 76 associations are newly recorded for Australia and 46 are newly recorded for the Northern Territory and/or Western Australia. Of particular note are the first recordings of the families Lecythidaceae for Anthene (Lycaenidae), Santalaceae for Theclinesthes (Lycaenidae), Vitaceae and Rubiaceae for Periopta (Agaristinae), and Vitaceae for Radinocera (Agaristinae). For Cephrenes augiades and Borbo impar (Hesperiidae), the native larval food plants and natural breeding habitats in the Northern Territory are documented for the first time. For Candalides delospila, C. erinus and C. geminus (Lycaenidae), errors in previously reported larval food plants are corrected, and for two of these species (C. delospila, C. erinus) facultative ant associations are recorded for larvae for the first time. New attendant ant associations are also recorded for several lycaenids, notably Ogyris zosine and Theclinesthes miskini, in which the larvae have obligate relationships with ants.