Taxonomic changes in the Neotropical wasp moths, Euchromiina and Ctenuchina (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini) relating to the fauna of Trinidad & Tobago, with descriptions of new species
Author
Cock, Matthew J. W.
CABI, Bakeham Lane, Egham, Surrey TW 20 9 TY, UK
Author
Laguerre, Michel
31, rue de la Haute-Lande, 33850 Léognan, France
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-12-19
5222
2
101
132
journal article
53782
10.11646/zootaxa.5222.2.1
bdc0b250-9c50-4be8-9895-d2c7f0201acd
1175-5326
7456573
777EDF2F-6F0F-4D27-AA42-19B9FFE6F603
Myrmecopsis
Newman, 1850
Newman (1850)
introduced this genus for a new species of wasp mimic,
Myrmecopsis eumenides
Newman, 1850
from
Brazil
(Upper Amazon, Ega) which he described in the same short paper.
Myrmecopsis eumenides
is a junior subjective synonym of
Pseudosphex polistes
Ḩbner, 1818 (in Ḩbner &
Geyer [1808]
–1837) (
Walker 1854
,
Kirby 1892
,
Watson
et al
. 1980
).
Cerda (2008)
treats
M. polistes
from
French Guiana
and illustrates the male genitalia.
Ḩbner introduced the genus
Pseudosphex
Ḩbner, 1818 (in Ḩbner &
Geyer [1808]
–1837) for his new species
P. polistes
and
Pseudosphex zethus
(Ḩbner,
1818 in
Ḩbner &
Geyer [1808]
–1837).
Walker (1856)
designated
P. zethus
as the
type
species of
Pseudosphex
, and confirmed that
Myrmecopsis
was a separate genus containing
M. polistes
(=
M. eumenides
) and two other species.
Kirby (1892)
and
Druce (1881
–1900) followed Walker in treating
P. zethus
as the
type
species of
Pseudosphex
. However,
Hampson (1898)
overlooked these actions, and incorrectly treated
P. polistes
as the
type
species of
Pseudosphex
, and thereby made
Pseudosphex
a senior synonym of
Myrmecopsis
.
This situation remained unchallenged until
Watson
et al
. (1980)
corrected the
type
species of
Pseudosphex
to match Walker’s original designation, and thereby re-established
Myrmecopsis
as an available genus name, with
P. polistes
as the
type
species. At this point, the species left in
Pseudosphex
included members of both
Pseudosphex
and
Myrmecopsis
apart from
M. polistes
.
Donahue (1993)
transferred
Amycles strigosa
Druce, 1884
(in
Druce 1881
–1900) from
Pseudosphex
to
Myrmecopsis
. Although they did not treat
P. kenedyae
,
Simmons & Weller (2006)
transferred more than 20 species to
Myrmecopis
, nearly all from
Pseudosphex
, including
P. laticincta
Hampson, 1898
,
P. melanogen
Dyar, 1910
and
P. deceptans
Zerny, 1912
.
Forbes (1939)
established Euchromiinae and
Ctenuchinae
as subfamilies of
Ctenuchidae
; they now form two of the subtribes of Arctiini (Dowdey
et al
. 2020). Forbes placed
Pseudosphex
in Euchromiinae, and this was followed by
Fleming (1957)
,
Weller
et al
. (2000)
,
Schmidt & Opler (2008)
, and
Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010)
.
Hernández-Baz & Grados (2004)
and
Cerda (2017)
placed
Pseudosphex
in Ctenuchina, without any discussion of this new placement. Implicitly,
Myrmecopsis
remained in Euchrominae where
Pseudosphex
was formerly placed:
Hernández-Baz & Grados (2004)
,
Simmons & Weller (2006)
&
Schmidt and Opler (2008)
list
Myrmecopsis
in Euchromiini.