Description and life history of a new genus and species of Limacodidae (Lepidoptera, Zygaenoidea) from Taiwan, the first with a monkey-slug-like caterpillar from outside the New World

The genus Yufengus gen. nov. is established for a new species of Limacodidae, Y. atrophaneuroides sp. nov. Yufengus is from Taiwan, yet its larva is similar to monkey-slug caterpillars in the New World (Phobetron Hübner, 1825: Limacodidae) in being covered with hairy, detachable tubercles. Monkey-slug caterpillars are currently known to form a monophyletic group which include as many as eight genera in the Americas referred to as the Phobetron complex by Epstein (1996).

Although the larva of Yufengus appears, in particular, most similar to the genus Phobetron, a closer look at morphology reveals fundamental differences that are shared with Asian Phrixolepia Butler, 1877. Caterpillars of the new genus are structurally similar to Phrixolepia, but Phrixolepia is more translucent, less hairy, and differs in other characters including those of adults, separated by wing pattern and genitalia.

In addition to describing the new genus Yufengus, we explore whether it is indeed in the same clade as the Phobetron complex of genera from the New World. The life history and morphology of adults and immature stages are described in this study.