Taxonomic revision of the Spilomelinae (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae s. l.) of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
Author
Bernard Landry
text
Revue suisse de Zoologie
2016
123
2
315
399
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.155309
b195c5ca-7f2b-4f1b-a9a9-c1095c95d012
0035-418
155309
9ED8B8D5-ADA1-4B53-A1D3-0F75F889A179
Diaphania nitidalis
(Stoll, 1781)
Figs 17
,
102
,
148
Phalaena
Pyralis nitidalis
Stoll in Cramer & Stoll, 1781: 160
.
Diaphania nitidalis
(Cramer)
:
Causton
et al.
, 2006
: 141
. ‒
Roque-Albelo & Landry, 2015
.
Material examined:
2 ♂
from the
Galápagos Islands
. –
Santa Cruz
: low agriculture zone, GPS:
S 00°42.132’
,
W 90° 19.156’
; Horneman Farm,
220 m
.
Deposited in
CAS
,
MHNG
.
Diagnosis:
This species (
Fig. 17
) is unlike any other in the
Galápagos
by virtue of its brown lustred purple forewing with a large pale yellow patch postmedially and the hindwing similarly coloured brown along the margin and pale yellow from base to beyond middle. The wingspan of the only spread
Galápagos
specimen is
29.5 mm
.
Biology:
Host records are various
Cucurbitaceae
, for example in genera
Citrullus
,
Cucurbita
,
Cucumis
,
Luffa
,
Momordica
,
Sechium
and
Sichana
, but there is also one record in the
Cactaceae (
Robinson
et al.
, 2014
)
. In the
Galápagos
the two specimens at hand were collected in the agriculture zone in February and March.
Distribution:
This species is found widely in the
Western
Hemisphere, from the
USA
across the Americas South to
Argentina
and including the West Indies (BMNH and MHNG specimens;
Heppner, 2003
;
Robinson
et al.
, 2014
). From the
Galápagos
I have seen only specimens from
Santa Cruz
, but
Causton
et al.
(2006)
also report it from
San Cristóbal
.
Remark:
I confirmed the identification of the
Galápagos
specimens with identified specimens in the BMNH.