A preliminary study of the genus Nymphicula Snellen from Australia, New Guinea and the south Pacific (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea: Crambidae: Acentropinae)
Author
Agassiz, David
text
Zootaxa
2014
3774
5
401
429
journal article
46265
10.11646/zootaxa.3774.5.1
95c81d13-feb2-408c-8052-5a9de926d3cf
1175-5326
230064
41806FD6-9D31-4CEF-8F26-3D1200BBA01E
Nymphicula australis
(
Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874
)
Margarosticha australis
Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874
. Pl. 136 fig. 10.
Type
locality:
Fiji
(
Vitu
).
Redescription of imago
(fig. 26). Wingspan
14–16mm
. Head ochreous; collar orange; antenna & scape ochreous; labial palpus terminal segment ochreous, twice length of second which is irrorate fuscous and densely scaled. Thorax orange mixed white and fuscous.
Forewing: extreme base whitish; basal area fuscous mixed orange; antemedian band broad, orange, not quite reaching costa, bordered inwardly whitish in outer part; a dark longitudinal streak above dorsum; first strigula broad, cream towards costa, edged brown; second strigula edged dark fuscous except towards costa; costa cream to apex; tornal spot a curved wedge; termen indented above tornus; terminal cilia fuscous, with a dark fuscous line.
Hindwing: base fuscous; subbasal fascia white; antemedian band narrow broad, orange in dorsal half; lunule white; median area narrow; two bold dark fuscous submarginal lines, the inner one bent around apex and back along costa; much dark fuscous scaling between lines and eye-spots; five eye-spots, just separate; steel blue metallic spots between them and in middle of first; metallic tornal spot adjacent to first eye-spot. Abdomen pale orange. Legs ochreous, second tarsus of male thickened with pale creamy hairs.
Abdomen: tympanal organs with venulae widely divergent; venula media absent or very short.
Male
with hair pencils just over twice length of seventh segment; coremata pads at base of eighth segment.
Tympanal organs
(fig. 52): Venulae secundae strong, extending from anterior edge of eighth segment; venula media absent or very short. Tympanum produced anteriorly into a long lobe.
Male
genitalia
(fig. 72): valva length 4.5 x width. Aedeagus with single cornutus.
Female genitalia
(fig. 94): ductus bursae shorter than corpus bursae; corpus ovate, signum a broad finely spinose patch half as long as corpus.
Material examined.
Holotype
and
9 specimens
from
Fiji
,
Viti
Levu, Suva including. ♂
BMNH
Pyralidae
slide No. 17740, ♀
BMNH
Pyralidae
slide No. 17739 (
BMNH
).
Diagnosis.
Very similar to
N. cyanolitha
but darker and richer in colour, both the yellow and black markings. In the
Male
genitalia
the valvae are broader and the cornutus in the aedeagus is long and strong.
Distribution.
Fiji
, Suva.(
Viti
Levu)
Nymphicula cyanolitha
(Meyrick)
comb.n.
Anydraula cyanolitha
Meyrick, 1886
. pp. 220–221.
Type
locality.
Fiji
.
Redescription of imago
(for consistency within this paper) (fig. 27). Wingspan
13–15mm
. Head ochreous mixed pale brown; labial palpus terminal segment longer than second, pale ochreous; second segment covered with brown scales. Thorax and abdomen ochreous.
Forewing base brown; subbasal fascia white; antemedian fascia yellow outwardly edged brown; medial zone evenly scattered with brown scales; terminal area orange; strigulae edged brown; first strigula white, ochreous on costa; second strigula leaden in dorsal half, tornal spot shining leaden, large; terminal cilia fuscous, whitish above tornus.
Hindwing base brown; subbasal fascia white; antemedian fascia yellow dorsally, a silver grey tornal spot; lunule yellow heavily edged brown; median zone evenly scattered except for a well defined transverse band of white edged brown on each side; more or less parallel with termen; four eye-spots, separated by orange, each containing a shining leaden spot; eye-spot 5 with two such spots.
Tympanal organs
(fig. 53): venulae secundae curved outwardly, extending and diverging from tympanal organs almost to the anterior edge of the seventh abdominal segment. Tympanum sharply curved at anterior end.
Male
genitalia
(fig. 73): abdomen with hair pencils 0.45 x length of abdomen, darker at posterior end; an additional pair of scent organs on the eighth abdominal segment half the length of the segment. Valva simple, length =
3 x
width; gnathos just less than half length of uncus. Aedeagus with a double cornutus.
Female genitalia
(fig. 95): antrum long; collar followed by bulb at beginning of ductus bursae; corpus bursae equal in length to ductus, "sock"-shaped, with a broad spinose patch along its length around the "heel".
Material examined.
17 specimens
in
BMNH
,
Fiji
. ♂
BMNH
Pyralidae
slides 17786, 17825 & 17858, ♀
BMNH
Pyralidae
slide No.17787
Diagnosis.
Differs from the similar
N. australis
in its generally paler coloration and the yellow subbasal fascia of the hindwing does not meet the dorsum.
Distribution.
Fiji
:
Viti
Levu, Vanua Levu.