Notes on the Life Cycle and Natural History of Dismorphia Virgo (Lepidoptera Pieridae: Dismorphiinae) in Costa Rica

This paper summarizes the life cycle and some aspects of naturalhistory of the tropical pierid, Dismorphia virgo (Dismorphiinae) inCosta Rica. The precise taxonomic status of the butterfly in CentralAmerica has not been established, and it may represent a variablenorthern isolate of the common South American D. critomedia.Therefore, independent of whether the Central American form discussedin this paper has achieved full species status as the more northernvirgo or is a subspecies or variety of critomedia evolving towardsspecies status, this paper provides new information on the biologyof the butterfly in Costa Rica. The establishment of precisetaxonomic position awaits further study, and for the present purpose,I refer to the butterfly as D. virgo