Castnia emiliae, (Fassl, 1921)

Lamas, Gerardo, 2017, A review of the genus Haemonides Hübner, [1819] (Lepidoptera: Castniidae), Zootaxa 4320 (2), pp. 245-271 : 260-263

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.

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).

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.