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
Pilocrocis ramentalis
Lederer, 1863
Figs 46, 47
,
121
,
167
Pilocrocis ramentalis
Lederer, 1863: 430
. ‒
Schaus, 1923
: 28
. ‒
Linsley & Usinger, 1966
: 162
. ‒
Peck
et al.
, 1998
: 227
. ‒
Causton
et al.
, 2006
: 141
. ‒
Roque-Albelo & Landry, 2015
.
Material examined:
22 ♂
,
27 ♀
, 20 of undetermined sex from the
Galápagos Islands
: –
Fernandina
: SW side, GPS:
815 m
elev[ation].,
S 00° 21.270’
,
W 91°35.341’
; SW side, GPS:
352 m
elev.,
S 00° 20.503’
,
W 091° 36.969’
. –
Floreana
: Punta Cormoran. –
Genovesa
:
Bahía
Darwin.
–
Isabela
: Albermarle [no precise locality]; Tagus Cove; Punta Albermarle, SW old
US
radar site;
1 km
W Puerto Villamil;
2 km
W Puerto Villamil; Sierra Negra, pampa zone,
1000 m
; V[olcan]. Darwin,
300 m
elev.; ±
15 km
N P[uer]to Villamil; V. Darwin,
1000 m
elev. –
Marchena
: [no precise locality]. –
Pinta
: Plaja Ibbeston [sic];
200 m
elev.;
372 m
elev.,
N 00° 34.476’
,
W 90° 45.102’
;
400 m
elev. –
Rábida
: Tourist
trail. –
San Cristóbal
: P[uer]to Baquarizo [sic]; near La Loberia, sea level, GPS: 00° 55.277’,
W 089° 36.909’
;
1 km
S
El Progreso
; base of Cerro Pelado; El Junco, east side, GPS:
654 m
elev.,
S 00° 53.734’
,
W 89° 28.727’
; vic[inity]. El Junco, ca.
700 m
.
–
Santa Cruz
: Academy Bay; Charles Darwin Research Station;
4 km
N Puerto Ayora; Horneman Farm,
220 m
; agriculture zone, near (NNW) Bella Vista, GPS:
223 m
elev.,
S 00° 41.297’
,
W 90° 19.670’
; Finca Vilema,
2 km
W Bella Vista; transition zone, recently cut road, GPS:
S 00°42.528’
,
W 90°18.849’
; Finca S[teve]. Devine;
Tortuga
Res[erve]. W S[an]ta Rosa; Los Gemelos; Media Luna, pampa zone. –
Santiago
:
Bahía
Espumilla
; Cerro Inn;
200 m
elev.; Aguacate [camp],
520 m
elev.;
Central
[camp],
700 m
elev.; Jaboncillo [camp], ±
850 m
elev. Deposited in
AMNH
,
CAS
,
CDRS
,
CNC
,
MCZ
,
MHNG
.
Diagnosis:
In the
Galápagos
this
21 to 29 mm
wingspan species (
Figs 46, 47
) is similar to
Cryptobotys zoilusalis
(Walker)
(
Figs 10, 11
) and some specimens of
Hymenia perspectalis
(Hübner)
(
Figs 22, 23
) by virtue of their paler linear markings on the fore- and hindwing over a dark brown ground colour.
Cryptobotys zoilusalis
is a smaller species (wingspan around
20 mm
) with a less sinuous forewing postmedian line that becomes wider when reaching the costa whereas that of
P. ramentalis
essentially disappears before the costa. Also, in
P. ramentalis
the forewing discal spot, a small dash or lunule, is bordered with black anteriorly whereas the discal spot of
C
.
zoilusalis
is bigger, rounded, and with black dashes on both sides, although more conspicuously so posteriorly. Males of
P. ramentalis
also harbour distinctive secondary sexual characters in the modified, broadly bent antenna basally and the ‘flap’ of modified scales from the base of the forewing costa covering part of the wing’s base. In the most poorly marked specimens of
H. perspectalis
there is a distinctive, submedian white band in the hindwing with a short bilobed projection medially, and the fringes have white and dark brown patches.
Figs 128-130. Male genitalia of Galápagos Spilomelinae, a and b from same slides, but not to scale, (a) showing the genitalia without phallus and (b), the phallus. (128)
Sisyracera inabsconsalis
: slide MHNG-ENTO-9030, Genovesa. (129)
S. jacquelinae
paratype: slide BMNH Pyr 21188, BMNH ©, the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London. (130)
Spoladea recurvalis
: slide MHNG-ENTO-8983, Española.
Biology:
The larva has been recorded to feed on
Odontonema
(Acanthaceae)
and
Boehmeria
(Urticaceae)
(
Heppner, 2003
;
Robinson
et al
., 2014
). Moths have been collected in the
Galápagos
from the littoral zone up to
1000 m
above sea level on
Isabela
, from anthropized to pristine habitats, and from January until May.
Distribution:
Native to the
Western
Hemisphere and described from ‘Vaterland?’, an unknown locality, this widespread species is found from
Eastern
Canada
(south of
Ontario
) across the
Eastern
USA
south through the Antilles,
Central
and South America to
Argentina
. It is widespread in the
Galápagos
, as shown from the 10 islands listed above.
Remark:
Galápagos
specimen was compared with identified material in the BMNH to secure the determination.