Résumé
Background: Several families of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) are known to be of public health concern. Within family Saturniidae, caterpillars of the Neotropical genus Lonomia are responsible for fatal envenomation of humans in South America. This is caused by the procoagulant action of their venom after skin contact with the caterpillars' spines. Until now, only two species have been reported as causing incidents of medical importance: Lonomia achelous and Lonomia obliqua. However, species identification has been largely unquestioned despite knowledge of venom diversity, and growing evidence that the current taxonomy misrepresents species diversity in the genus. Of the 46 currently recognized species, 31 have been described post-2011 and all need their taxonomic status, distribution, and larval toxinology clarified. Results: Our study addresses species diversity in genus Lonomia using an integrative approach combining DNA barcodes and morphology for 1200 specimens from both natural history collections and specimens newly collected in 2015-2016 in Colombia and Brazil. Following discovery of new species and cases of putative synonymy, the taxonomy is revised. Potential species distributions derived from spatial distribution models are presented. We also report interspecific variation of larval toxinology, which has revealed that not all species of Lonomia are of equal public health concern. Significance: Our results shed new light on the diversity of genus Lonomia and more specifically clarify the distributions of those species known to cause the most serious envenomation incidents. Despite recent advances in the assessment of species diversity in this genus, our study revealed at least three undescribed species, emphasizing the need for further research into these medically important moths.