Lyces latistriga (Hering) Miller, James S, 2009

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 : 768-769

Lyces latistriga (Hering) , new combination Plate 29

Josia latistriga Hering, 1925: 526 , fig. 70i.

TYPE LOCALITY: Peru, Marcapata.

TYPE: Holotype ♀ ( ZMH).

DISCUSSION: The only specimen of L. latistriga known to me is the female holotype (pl. 29), which I did not dissect. This species is extremely similar in size and wing pattern to L. ariaca (pl. 29), from Central America. The type of L. latistriga has a FW length of 13.0 mm, and females of L. ariaca exhibit FW lengths ranging between 11.5 and 15.0 mm. Lyces latistriga also resembles L. constricta (pl. 29), a slightly larger moth from eastern Brazil. Based on its size and wing pattern, I have assigned L. latistriga to the Angulosa Group, thus associating it with L. ariaca and L. constricta . However, it is not included in the key to Angulosa Group species for lack of morphological characters.

The type locality for L. latistriga, Marcapata Peru, is located less than 100 air km due east of Cuzco (see fig. 6) at an elevation of approximately 1900 meters.

DISTRIBUTION: Peru (ZMH).

DISSECTED: None.

3. PATULA GROUP

The Patula Group, the largest subgroup of Lyces (appendix 2), presents a diverse collection of wing patterns, held together as a clade by synapomorphies of the genitalia. Of the 15 included species, all but one of them, L. fornax , is here newly combined with Lyces . Ten species are taken from Josia , two from Scea , and one— L. minuta —is transferred to Lyces with the newly proposed synonymy of the genus Leptacea Prout.

Subclades within the Patula Group are also apparent. Five species are united by, among other traits, the presence of an orange lateral band on the propleuron. More obviously, the species of this clade, which includes L. annulata , L. aurimutua , L. cruciata , L. minuta , and L. tamara , exhibit an orange-yellow band on the A1 dorsum (pl. 31), though the band is represented by only a faint dusting of orange scales in L. aurimuta .

Six taxa form a tight clade in which the FW bears a yellow longitudinal FW stripe, and the HW central area is broadly yellow with a blackish brown marginal band (pl. 30, 31). Similarities in genitalia again support monophyly. Here, the included taxa, such as L. gopala (pl. 30) and L. striata (pl. 31), are so closely related that separating them often requires dissection and careful comparison.

The remaining four species— L. fornax , L. fluonia , L. solaris , and L. vulturata —are correctly assigned to the Patula Group, but together probably do not form a clade. They encompass a strange assortment of wing patterns (pl. 30). For example, the wings of Lyces fornax are nearly indistinguishable from those of L. angulosa (pl. 29) in the Angulosa Group, but stand alone in the Patula Group. Lyces solaris and L. vulturata , formerly placed in Scea because of their wing patterns (see pls. 33–35), are instead referred here. The position of L. fluonia , with its oblique FW stripe and dark HW, is uncertain. A phylogenetic analysis of the Patula Group will provide fruitful ground for the study of wing-pattern evolution.

Patula Group genitalia (figs. 323, 324) show a basic ground plan characterized by the following: valva with BO large; valval costa often bearing a curved, flangelike process at base; vesica long, curving dorsally, frequently with an enlarged distal cornutus; manica of male genitalia with a dense, roughly triangular patch of spicules below anal tube; base of female CB sclerotized, constricted, bearing numerous internal spines or spinules; DS forming a pigtail where it arises from CB. Other morphological traits vary across species.