Identifying Memphis: A comprehensive and comparative description of the immature stages and natural history of Memphis acidalia victoria (H. Druce, 1877; Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

Abstract

Memphis Hübner (1819) is the most species‐rich genus among the Neotropical Charaxinae, occurring from southern United States to Argentina. Memphis acidalia (Hübner, 1819; Anaeini), a common and widespread species distributed in all of South America east of the Andes, is part of a complex of superficially similar, and supposedly related, species with high intraspecific variability. Immature stages are fundamental sources of information for Anaeini taxonomy; however, knowledge on immature stages of Memphis is incomplete. Thus, we describe the immature external morphology, biology and behaviour, plus the chaetotaxy of the first instar of M. acidalia victoria (H. Druce, 1877) and provide distinguishing characteristics of its life stages from those of similar sympatric species, namely. Memphis moruus (Fabricius, 1775), Memphis editha (Comstock, 1961), Memphis philumena (Doubleday, 1849) and Memphis oenomais (Boisduval, 1870). In general, the immature stages are similar to other “moruus‐type'' species of Memphis, differing from other species mostly on the co lour patterns of the fifth instar and pupa.