Tricrista canta
Creators: name: Sherer, Alexander
name: Raghuraman, Savitri
name: Nakahara, Shinichi
name: Gallice, Geoffrey
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Hesperiidae
Tricrista
Tricrista canta

description: Tricrista canta (Evans, 1955)
(voucher 2022-FLP-IMM-0262) (Table 1, Fig. 3)
Larval instar n-3: Head capsule entirely dark brown except for translucent light brown labrum. Epicranial suture extends halfway down capsule. Capsule covered in white setae and wax coating, with short spikes at borders laterally and dorsally, otherwise with coarse, shallow sculpture. Six stemmata present, with stemma 5 larger than the others and closer to stemma 6 than stemma 4. Body with integument shiny, translucent yellow-green, covered in short, sparse setae. Testes noticeable as two creamy-white spots via semi-translucent dorsally on A6. Prothoracic shield visible as transverse black band. Body internally green due to contents of feeding. White spiracles particularly distinct on A8–9, with tracheal system passing through. Anal shield translucent gray with longer, denser setae. Prothoracic legs dark brown. Mesothoracic and metathoracic legs pale translucent orange. Prolegs translucent white.
Larval instar n-2: Head capsule dark brown, with a lighter brown vertical stripe on each side of epicranial suture. Body similar to previous instar but setae slightly longer and tracheal system visible as white longitudinal line along white spiracles, dorsal to a white subspiracular stripe. Integument duller than previously, shiny at intervals where integument folds inwards. Prothoracic legs black.
Larval instar n-1: Head capsule mostly white, with dark brown along epicranial suture, dorsal and lateral borders of capsule, and frons. Light brown setae. Coated in irregular patches of white wax. Body similar to previous instar with prothoracic shield reduced and thinner. T1–A6 dark green, A7 yellow-green, and A8–9 light yellow. Translucent white kidney-shaped testes visible dorsally in A5–6.
Larval instar n: Head capsule similar to previous instar with more extensive wax coating after molt. Body with integument more wrinkled than previous instar, forming bunched pale yellow bands that are particularly obvious on the thorax. Prothoracic shield divided dorsomedially. Spiracles light pink in center, otherwise white. Testes light translucent orange. Wax glands visible ventrally on A6–A8.
Pupa: Head, thorax, and anterior region of abdomen dark reddish-brown, fading to dark orange on posterior abdomen. Abdominal intersegments light orange. Constricted slightly between prothorax and wing cases. Covered in a thin coating of white wax, with irregular dense patches. Orange cremaster attached to molt by wax.
description: Published as part of Sherer, Alexander, Raghuraman, Savitri, Nakahara, Shinichi & Gallice, Geoffrey, 2025, Immature stages and host plant records for the skipper butterflies Xeniades orchamus (Cramer, 1777), Dubia dubia (Bell, 1932), and Tricrista canta (Evans, 1955) in the Peruvian Amazon (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae: Hesperiini), pp. 390-404 in Zootaxa 5609 (3) on pages 396-398, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5609.3.5, http://zenodo.org/record/15215282