Immature stages and natural host plant of the Neotropical skipper Pheraeus pulcher Grishin, 2023 (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Moncina) in the Peruvian Amazon
Abstract: Skippers (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) are an extremely diverse group of butterflies in the Neotropics. However, basic biological information is still lacking for the vast majority of species, hindering studies of the group’s evolutionary relationships, diversification, and species interactions. Here, we describe the immature stages, natural host plant, and larval shelter construction of Pheraeus pulcher, a recently described species in the particularly diverse subtribe Moncina from southeastern Peru. The life cycle, based on an individual reared from the egg, lasted 61 days and included six larval instars. The host plant is Guadua weberbaueri, a widespread bamboo species that forms dense stands throughout the study region. Our findings represent a significant improvement in our knowledge of this highly diverse yet poorly studied group of skippers in one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots.
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Additional information
Received: 29 June 2026 · Accepted: 28 August 2026
Editor: Stanislav Abadjiev
Conflicts of interest:
No potential conflict of interest has been reported by the authors, reviewers, or subject editor.
Authors’ contributions (using CrediT ↗):
Yeison Vega: conceptualisation, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, resources, software, validation, visualisation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing; Zunilda Escalante-Arteaga: conceptualisation, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, resources, software, validation, visualisation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing; Karla Fiallos-Yanez: data curation, investigation, methodology, validation, writing—review and editing; Geoffrey Gallice: funding acquisition, project administration, writing—review and editing.
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Vega Y., Escalante-Arteaga Z., Fiallos-Yanez K., Gallice G. 2026 Immature stages and natural host plant of the Neotropical skipper Pheraeus pulcher Grishin, 2023 (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Moncina) in the Peruvian Amazon. Historia naturalis bulgarica 48: 285–295.