Serpentine moths and plants
Description
Survey of Arctiinae moths from two serpentine localities in Western Cuba. we investigated moth assemblages in two serpentine areas in Western Cuba, and in one of the two, over three consecutive years covering the wet and dry seasons. We surveyed Arctiinae moths by means of light traps and non-invasive identification of morphospecies. We recorded 1369 individuals across 33 species from 37 trapping nights in total, representing 32.7 % of total Arctiinae species in Cuba, among which 27.3% were endemic to Cuba. Species abundance distribution was well described by the log series distribution in both localities and across years, typical of tropical moth assemblages sampled at small spatial scale or in spatially heterogeneous habitat. Moth assemblages differed between the two localities, with a non-significant trend for higher species richness, diversity, and endemism, in the larger and older locality hosting a richer plant community. The low overlap in species composition between both localities could be in part due to the contribution of the species pool from neighboring non-serpentine areas. Arctiinae moth assemblage were stable in richness, composition and diversity across years.
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Data are from 37 trapping nights in total (during the wet season of 2018: 10 in Sierra de Cajálbana (SC) and nine in Lomas de Galindo (LG) localities; 10 during the dry season of 2017 in LG; seven during the wet season of 2016 in LG). We surveyed Arctiinae moths by means of light traps and non-invasive identification of morphospecies. The abundance of each arctiine moth species was recorded as the maximum number of individuals that were observed at the same time in the sheet, the soil, and the surrounding vegetation, in a diameter of approximately 3 m around the light source. A single sampling session was done per night and per sampling site within each locality (one excel tab/sheet per locality) The survey of plants was performed at the same sampling points as moths (one excel tab/sheet per locality).