Phenological patterns can arise as a response to seasonal variation and are closely related to rain regimes and temperature. Organisms living in the water/atmosphere interface receive stimuli from both environments and require adaptations to survive. Paracles klagesi (Rothschild, 1910) is a semiaquatic caterpillar with a terrestrial adult form found in streams in a Brazilian savannah. We hypothesized that the semiaquatic larvae of this species respond to atmospheric environmental changes in rainfall and temperature by synchronizing their development throughout the year, with the highest abundance during the dry season and the lowest in the rainy season. We followed a caterpillar population for 1 year, counted and measured individuals every 15 days and obtained monthly average temperature and rainfall data. Currently, there is no description of P. klagesi instars; therefore, we categorized them into six size classes and a pupal stage. Since phenological and physiological responses are complex and may not be perceived at the time of the stimulus, we used a Pearson's correlation test with a time lag of up to 3 months to investigate the influence of rainfall and temperature. The caterpillars showed synchronized development over time, supporting our first hypothesis. The time-lag analysis identified an immediate inverse relationship between caterpillar abundance and monthly rainfall, while the temperature had a delayed positive relationship with pupae of 3 months. Our results showed that P. klagesi synchronized its development with time and, as a semiaquatic insect, used atmospheric cues for pupae to complete its development. This is the first study providing information about phenology and the role of temperature and rainfall in the development of a semiaquatic lepidopteran. We believe that unusual strategies by insects may provide data for understanding how evolutionary forces influence adaptations as insects colonize new environments.

中文翻译：

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半水生毛虫Paracles klagesi的物候及其对环境变化的响应

物候模式可以作为对季节变化的响应而出现，并且与雨势和温度密切相关。生活在水/大气界面中的生物会从两种环境中接受刺激，并需要适应才能生存。Paracles klagesi (罗斯柴尔德,1910) 是一种半水生毛毛虫，在巴西大草原的溪流中发现了一种陆生成虫。我们假设该物种的半水生幼虫通过全年同步发育来响应降雨和温度的大气环境变化，旱季丰度最高，雨季最低。我们跟踪了一个毛毛虫种群 1 年，每 15 天对个体进行计数和测量，并获得月平均温度和降雨数据。目前，没有对P. klagesi的描述龄; 因此，我们将它们分为六个大小等级和一个蛹阶段。由于物候和生理反应很复杂，在刺激时可能不会被感知，我们使用了长达 3 个月的时间滞后的 Pearson 相关检验来研究降雨和温度的影响。随着时间的推移，毛毛虫表现出同步发展，支持了我们的第一个假设。时滞分析确定了毛虫丰度与月降雨量之间的直接反比关系，而温度与 3 个月的蛹具有延迟的正相关关系。我们的结果表明，P. klagesi它的发育与时间同步，并且作为一种半水生昆虫，它利用蛹的大气线索来完成它的发育。这是第一项提供有关物候学信息以及温度和降雨在半水生鳞翅目昆虫发育中的作用的研究。我们相信昆虫不寻常的策略可能会为理解进化力量如何影响昆虫在新环境中的适应提供数据。