Integrative revision of the Iberian species of Coscinia Hübner, [1819] sensu lato and Spiris Hübner, [1819], (Lepidoptera: Erebidae, Arctiinae)
Author
Macià, Ramon
Author
Mally, Richard
Author
Ylla, Josep
Author
Gastón, Javier
Author
Huertas, Manuel
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-06-14
4615
3
401
449
journal article
26487
10.11646/zootaxa.4615.3.1
72c56097-337c-42fa-90ee-2da90529b2d2
1175-5326
3246048
4D816AA2-2AEA-470F-A79D-45452CFAE9F2
Coscinia cribraria benderi
Marten, 1957
stat. rev.
Original combination:
Coscinia benderi
Marten, 1957
.
Entomologische Zeitschrift
,
67
(8), 89.
LT. Huelva (
Spain
)
Material studied.
3♀♀
El Abalario
(
Huelva
),
60 m
, 29SQB00,
11.X.1999
,
R. Macià
&
J. Ylla
leg.
;
3♂♂
El
Ab- alario (
Huelva
),
60 m
, 29SQB00,
2.X.2001
,
R. Macià
&
J. Ylla
leg.
;
1♂
El Abalario
(
Huelva
),
60 m
, 29SQB00,
3.X.2002
,
R. Macià
&
J. Ylla
leg.
;
2 larvae
Isla
Saltés
(
Huelva
),
10 m
, 29SPB81,
1.V.2017
,
M. Huertas
leg.
;
1♂
Isla
Saltés
(
Huelva
),
10 m
, 29SPB81,
22.IX.1986
,
M. Huertas
leg.
Diagnosis.
This subspecies is characterized by the melanic, dark grey-brown forewings with a narrow costal band and a long dirty white stripe, parallel to the veins.
Description. Imago (
Figs 3–4
).
Average wingspan
31.93 mm
(n=15;
26–38 mm
).
Genitalia (
Fig. 30
).
There are no structural differences in either sex from those of the nominate subspecies,
C. c. cribraria
.
Immature stages (
Fig. 46
).
The last instar larva measures
20–21 mm
. Head capsule brownish, with the edge of the epicranial suture wide and whitish. Dorsal area dark brown, mixed with dark grey lines and spots, with a narrow white central line, bordered by a black zone; lateral sides brownish and ventral surface light grey with small dark spots; verruca D1, D2, SD1 dark grey; L1, L2, L3 light grey; thoracic legs dark brown; longer nails on abdominal prolegs. The pupae of both male and female straight, brown (not shiny); tips of the antennae touching each other in males, but not in females; the pterotheca tips are curved and touch each other along a shorter distance than in the nominate species.
Molecular data.
The three genetically investigated specimens differ by 0–0.22% in the COI Barcode from each other. The p-distances to other
C. cribraria
specimens range from 1.30% to 7.56%; the lowest p-distance (1.30%) is with three
C. cribraria
specimens from
Granada
in S.
Spain
(ZMBN Lep478–480), the highest p-distance with a specimen of
C. c. ibicenca
from Formentera, the smaller of the two major Pityusic Islands (ZMBN Lep585).
FIGURE 30.
C. cribraria benderi
, male and female genitalia, gen. prep. 5729JG m. El Abalario, Huelva, (Spain), 5712JG f. El Abalario, Huelva, (Spain)
In the wingless gene, the three specimens are identical, and they differ by 0–0.30% from other specimens of
C. cribraria
.
Coscinia
c. benderi
is well supported as monophyletic (1.00 PP, 99% BS). It is well-supported sister (1.00 PP, 94% BS) to a subclade of
C. cribraria
comprising specimens from
Spain
,
Italy
,
France
and
Austria
(see
Fig. 62
).
Biology.
Univoltine, flying from September to mid-November. Both sexes are attracted by artificial light. In its univoltinism, it differs from
C. chrysocephala
, which is bivoltine and sympatric.
The larvae feed on a great variety of plants including
Cistus, Halimium
,
Rosmarinus
,
Rumex, Rhamnus, Linaria, Salsola, Limoniastrum
, and
Polygonum
(
Ylla
et al.
2010
)
.
Distribution (
Fig. 52
).
Iberian endemic, known from a few coastal localities in the Province of Huelva, from Punta
Umbría
to the Doñana National Park.
Remarks.
The specific validity of
C. benderi
has been discussed by several authors for years. The results of the present molecular study and the genitalia do not allow us to consider it as a
bona species
, different from
C. cribraria
. Nevertheless, its univoltinism, the allopatry with other forms of this species, the climatic conditions of the biotope and the particular geological terrain where it lives (sandy alluvial deposits associated with marshy areas), as well as the peculiarities of the biology and differences in the immature stages lead us to place it as a subspecies of
C. cribraria
.