Reproducción de la polilla Cosmosoma auge (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) en condiciones de cautiverio.

Cosmosoma auge is a moth species widely distributed in the Neotropics and within Cuba; but very little is known about its life cycle or any other aspect of its natural history. That's why the goal of this article is the description of some precopulatory and copulatory events of C. auge under laboratory conditions. To accomplish that 397 individuals (both sexes) from three cohorts raised in captivity were observed every night from emersion to death. Day and time of emersion, calling position and mating were registered. These data were compared among individuals of different sex and/or age. In Cosmosoma auge there is evidence of protogyni because females emerged before males as it happens on other ctenuchid species. Also the beginning of calling position and their duration were very variable. The duration of calling position could be modulated by female's nutritional condition, while duration of mating is modulated by a male's mate guarding. In general there were a low number of mating events, which is common for ctenuchids under laboratory conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]