Scea discinota (Warren) Warren, 1900

Miller, James S, 2009, Generic Revision Of The Dioptinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae) Part 2: Josiini, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2009 (321), pp. 675-1022 : 847

Scea discinota (Warren) , new combination Figure 346G ; plates 33, 39Q

Thirmida discinota Warren, 1900: 129 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Venezuela, Mérida, Pedregosa , 3000 m.

TYPE: Holotype ♀, leg. Bricenno, Oct 1897 ( BMNH).

DISCUSSION: This striking taxon, formerly in Thirmida , is similar in appearance to S. dimidiata Walker ; Prout (1918), Hering (1925) and Bryk (1930) regarded discinota to be a subspecies of dimidiata . A subtle wing-pattern difference separates the two (pl. 33): in S. discinota , the orange basal area of the FW does not extend as far out as it does in S. dimidiata . Slight differences in male and female genital morphology can also be used to distinguish them. Thirmida discinota has been collected exclusively in the Venezuelan Andes, at locations near the city of Mérida. The caterpillars (pl. 39Q) feed on Passiflora bauhinifolia ( Miller and Otero, 1994; table 6).

Members of Scea are broadly involved in mimetic associations. Scea discinota and Thirmidarctia thermidoides (Talbot) are remarkable mimics. The latter, a member of the Arctiidae whose type locality is also Mérida, exhibits a body size and wing pattern making it nearly indistinguishable from S. discinota (see Watson and Goodger, 1986; pl. 4, fig. 72).

DISTRIBUTION: Venezuela (AMNH, BMNH, USNM, ZMH).

DISSECTED: ³, Venezuela, Mérida, La Caña, Carr. El Valle-La Culata , 2420 m, 31 Oct 1992, leg. L.D. Otero, AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-650 ) ; ³, Venezuela, Mérida, ZMH (genitalia slide no. JSM-631 ) ; ³, Venezuela, USNM (genitalia slide no. JSM-630 ) ; ♀, Venezuela, Mérida, La Caña, Carr. El Valle – La Culata, 2420 m, 31 Oct 1992, leg. L.D. Otero, AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-651 ) ; ♀, Venezuela, Mérida, ZMH (genitalia slide no. JSM-632 ) .

Figures

Fig. 346. Morphology of Scea (³³). A, head of S. dimidiata, lateral view; B, head of S. dimidiata, frontal view; C, head of S. dimidiata, posterior view; D, head of S. auriflamma, lateral view; E, head of S. auriflamma, frontal view; F, head of S. auriflamma, posterior view; G, head of S. discinota, lateral view; H, S. auriflamma wings (illustration by J.S. Miller).