Monocreaga pheloides Felder
Larvae of M. pheloides are gregarious, feeding together in large groups.
The genus Monocreaga contains three species - orthyades, pheloides, and unimacula - distributed from Colombia south to Bolivia. Monocreaga pheloides has been recorded from the eastern Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Miller (2009) hypothesized that Monocreaga is the sister to Momonipta, a genus containing two species from the western Andes. Together these genera belong at the base of a large clade of monocot-feeding Dioptinae, which includes Xenomigia, Stenoplastis, Isostyla, and Tithraustes.
This species occurs at mid-elevations in the eastern Andes from Colombia south to Peru. Species identifications for the three taxa currently in Monocreaga are extremely difficult and require genitalia dissection [see Miller (2009), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, No. 321]. The specimen shown bears the following label data: ECUADOR: Sucumbíos, San Rafael Falls, 48 km W Chaco on Baeza-Lago Agrio Rd., 1500 m, 4 Oct 2004, MV light, leg. J.S. Miller & E. Tapia.
Caterpillars of Monocreaga pheloides were discovered on two different occasions at the Narupa site feeding on an unidentified Hylaeanthe sp (Maranthaceae).