Scientific Note: New county records for a tropical fruit-piercing moth, <i>Eudocima apta</i> (Walker, 1858), in Florida: A potential agricultural pest (Lepidoptera, Calpinae)

Abstract

Eudocima apta (Walker, [1858]) is a primarily tropical fruit-piercing moth that occurs naturally in Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean. Singleton strays are occasionally collected in North America, as far north as Canada, but established populations are not known from Florida or anywhere else in the USA. Here, we present observations of multiple adult E. apta congregated and feeding in a native fig tree at the southernmost point of mainland Florida, and a single individual collected in Miami-Dade County, Florida, representing the first records of this species in Miami-Dade County, and the first published records for Monroe County, Florida.