A review of the genus Haemonides Hübner, [1819] (Lepidoptera: Castniidae)
Author
Lamas, Gerardo
text
Zootaxa
2017
2017-09-15
4320
2
245
271
journal article
32091
10.11646/zootaxa.4320.2.3
df828994-5835-4fdc-94e0-dc91decae536
1175-5326
891780
E90C923F-7Fce-446F-868C-D347297B7354
emiliae
(
Fassl, 1921
)
Castnia emiliae
Fassl, 1921
:
Entomologische Rundschau
38
(1): 2, fig. 2. (figs. 2, 12–13).
Type
material.
Described from one pair of
syntypes
, taken by the entomologist and botanist Dr Adolpho Ducke (
1876–1959
). At the time of description
Fassl (1921)
stated that the male was in his collection and the female was in the "Pará-Museum", the male is now in
BMNH
. The female should be in
MPEG
but could not be found there (Overal, pers. comm.). The species name was dedicated by Fassl to Dr. Maria Emilie Snethlage (
1868–1929
), a naturalist, ornithologist and later Director of the
MPEG
from
1914 to 1922
.
Type
locality.
“nächster Nähe der Stadt Belém (
Pará
)”, so very close to the city of Belém, State of
Pará
,
Brazil
. Belém is in north-east
Brazil
about
100km
from the Atlantic coast and is situated at
1°27'S
,
48°30'W
.
FIGURES 53–69.
Comparison of
Haemonides
species from some locations in Peru, South America.
H. cronis cronis
(Cramer)
:
53
,
54
: ♂ and ♀,
55
: male genitalia, Huánuco, Peru;
56
,
57
: ♂ and ♀,
58
: male genitalia, Loreto, Peru;
H. cronis vinciguerrai
ssp. nov
.
:
59
,
60
: ♂ holotype ♀ paratype,
61
,
62
: ♂ paratype and ♀ paratype,
63
: male genitalia, Boquerón del Padre Abad, Ucayali, Peru, RW;
64
,
65
: ♂ paratype and ♀ paratype, Previsto, Ucayali, Peru, MB;
H. cronida pebana
(Houlbert)
:
66
,
67
: ♂ and ♀ syntype,
68
: male genitalia, Loreto, Peru;
69
: collecting locations of
Haemonides
species in Peru:
H. cronis vinciguerrai
ssp. nov
.
, upper black dot: Previsto, lower black dot: Boquerón del Padre Abad, Ucayali;
H. cronis cronis
, upper red dot: Loreto, lower red dot: Huánuco;
H. cronida pebana
, yellow dot: Loreto. For each genitalia: Upper figure: genital capsule, lower figure: penis: phallobase + aedeagus. Scales (adults):10 mm; (male genitalia): 1 mm.
Taxonomic status.
A valid species. Originally described by Fassl as a species and treated as such by
Miller (1995)
but subsequently revised to a subspecies of
H. cronis
by
Lamas (1995)
. At the
type
locality it flies with
H. cronis
and
H. cronida
and there seem to be no intermediates.
Male genitalia.
Uncus simple, pointed, blunt, sclerotised. Gnathos moderately sclerotised, excavate posteriad, slightly dentate. Ventral arm shorter than dorsal arm. Valvae lobate, setose. Saccus acute. Penis sclerotised, with aedeagus about six times longer than coecum. Aedeagus simple, slightly twisted and deeply curved. Subterminal portion of aedeagus enlarged. Contour of subterminal section of aedeagus irregular with small vesica everted, which could be a bias due to the difficulty of the vesica in everting (S. Moraes, pers. comm.). Saccus is proportionally smaller (fig. 50) than
H. cronis cronis
specimens studied from other locations North and West of Belém (figs 44–49). The genitalia of
H. emiliae
is similar to that of
H. cronis
from Belém,
Pará
(
see
cronis
above) but definitely smaller, about half the size (fig. 50).
Distribution.
This species appears to be confined to the area around Belém, north-east
Brazil
(fig. 42).
Discussion.
The main difference between
emiliae
and
cronis
is a reduction in the black markings in both sexes; on the male hindwings there is only a black line around the edge of the wing and the female only has small black lines coming in from this line a very short way up each vein. The black markings are also reduced on the forewings with the most obvious feature being a white patch in the middle of the black streak running along the costa (figs. 2, 12–13).
FIGURE 70.
Wing pattern terminology diagram for
Haemonides
species/subspecies.
There is a series of specimens of
Haemonides
in BMNH collected by the Rev. Arthur Miles-Moss (
1872– 1948
), which have the label data “
Pará
”. These specimens comprise four females of
cronida
, two males and six females of
cronis
and three males and seven females of
emiliae
; the separation seems clear cut and there are no intermediate phenotypes. Moss was based in Belém, which he called
Pará
, this is evident from his writings, so all of these specimens were clearly collected in the Belém area. In his paper on the
Castnia
of
Pará
,
Moss (1945)
stated “I take these three species together. All three occur in and around
Pará
, but none of them can be described as common”. He goes on to say that all three are arboreal
Bromelia
(Bromeliaceae)
feeders and he bred a sample of each species. He describes
emiliae
as being the smallest and perhaps the commonest of the three. Moss was a field worker of vast experience in the Amazon region and is unlikely to have misjudged the status of these taxa. He bred many species of
Lepidoptera
during his stay there, unfortunately there are no
Castniidae
depicted in his plates of excellent larval drawings preserved in BMNH.
Material examined.
5 males and 9 females were examined for this study.