Diversidad de Polillas (Lepidoptera: Ditrysia: Erebidae, Geometridae, Megalopygidae, Noctuidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae) del Parque Natural Chicaque, San Antonio del Tequendama, Cundinamarca

Abstract

The neotropical region of the Andes, is constituted as a hotspot of biodiversity of fauna and flora. The moths (Lepidóptera: Ditrysia) constitute between 98 and 99% of the lepidopteran species, which, because of their close relationship with the plants, can be used as indicators of the state of a forest and, additionally, allow for inventories of biodiversity, ecological and biogeographical studies. In this sense, we studied the diversity of species of the most representative groups of moth families: Erebidae, Geometridae, Megalopygidae, Noctuidae, Saturniidae and Sphingidae, in order to generate new inventories of biodiversity and describe the role of biotic and abiotic factors in patterns of distribution, in three zones with different altitudinal gradients in the Parque Natural Chicaque characterized by presenting vegetation typical of high-Andean forest, by means of a light trap collection technique consisting of an LED system and a cotton blanket. The collected individuals were preserved using an expanded polystyrene extender assembly technique and were determined from dichotomous keys and specialized texts under the guidance of expert taxonomists in the study groups. To measure the diversity of these insects in the zones studied, diversity analyzes were carried out, as well as, multivariate analyzes such as ACP, ACM and ACC in order to establish the possible associations of the moths with the study areas and environmental variables such as temperature, relative humidity, wind intensity, rain and cloudiness. Likewise, activity patterns are established based on the times of arrival of the individuals to the trap, the above corroborated by means of a circular graph analysis. In general, it was found that the diversity of moths in the Chicaque Natural Park is high given that a total of 2,769 individuals were collected distributed in 464 genera and 474 species and morphospecies, of which Euryglottis davidianus belonging to the Sphingidae family is constituted as a new report for Colombia. The geometridae family is the most diverse while the sphingidae family presented the lowest values of richness and abundance. These species and morphospecies are generally distributed equally in each of the zones, based on the results obtained in the equity, equity and dominance indices. On the other hand, it is established that the three zones have an incidence of similar environmental variables, which influences that the activity patterns of the moths for the three zones are similar, being important to mention that the greatest activity for each of the families It occurs during the first hours of the night. This research contributes to the knowledge of moths in Colombia and in a very special way their relationships with this type of ecosystem, which can be used as a measure in the development of conservation strategies of these important ecosystems that are currently highly threatened and reduced given the high incidence and intervention by man.