Lophomyra Schaus, 1911

Goldstein, Paul Z., Janzen, Daniel H., Proshek, Benjamin, Dapkey, Tanya & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2018, Review of Lophomyra Schaus, 1911 (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae): a new combination and re-descriptions of species newly associated with ferns (Polypodiaceae), ZooKeys 788, pp. 135-165 : 136-137

Lophomyra Schaus, 1911

Synonym.

Iheringia Jones, [1915] 1914.

Type species.

Iheringia santista Jones, 1908 by monotypy.

Diagnosis.

Species of Lophomyra are most unmistakably diagnosed by the male genitalia, specifically a conspicuous uncus that in situ appears swollen with a silvery or dark-gray sheen of scale-like clusters of setae, each cluster sharing a setal socket and shingled (hence scale-like). Forewing variously shaded with moss-green scales; paler scaling, to the extent present, concentrated primarily towards the inner margin; sexual dimorphism discernible with females more darkly colored, their hind wings more uniformly dark gray throughout and forewing pattern elements generally more distinct than in males; males bear a pronounced dorsal tuft on the second abdominal segment.

Description.

Head. Labial palpi, frons, and vertex scaled with a mixture of whitish, gray brown, and green. Labial palpi upturned, with second segment longer than the other two segments combined. Proboscis with paired lateral rows of small protuberances towards terminus. Eyes smooth. Antennae filiform, finely scaled dorsally with white or a mixture of white and green.

Thorax. Vestiture predominantly made up of spatulate scales and simple hairs; a mix of gray-brown, purplish, lime-green scaling and black peppering; paired latero-dorsal tufts of elongate hairs arising at base of metathorax towards abdomen. Wings. Forewing a mix of gray-brown, black, lime- and moss-green, white and cream-colored scales, the green most prominent in the medial and terminal areas and basally along the inner margin; lines generally incomplete, the black postmedial line most visible but broken, bordered with white on both sides; medial veins edged in black towards the outer margin. Basal, antemedial and medial costal striae black and white; postmedial striae white only. Pattern element boundaries blurred in part by variably shaded scaling and most particularly by medial streaking in L. tacita and L. santista . Legs. Scaled with a mixture of green and white; a single pair of mid-tibial spurs; two pair on hind-tibiae; 2+ rows of tibial spines on foreleg, three rows on mid- and hind-legs.

Abdomen. Scales predominantly grayish tan. Dorsal tuft of brown scales on second abdominal segment of males. Green scales intermixed with grayish tan, darkening towards in terminal segments. Note the complex of dorsal and ventral tufts enclosing and subtending the uncus and valvae, respectively.

Male genitalia. Uncus shingled with dark gray or silvery scale-like setal clusters, each representing ~7-9 spine-like setae. Saccus blunt. Juxta roughly shield-shaped, the dorsal edge concave, slightly jagged. Each divided valva comprises (1) a weakly sclerotized elongate sacculus; (2) a strongly sclerotized clasper, either a rudimentary beaklike structure or an elongate gently curved and concave spike, fused to the cucullus (3), which is elongate, weakly sclerotized, and may be swollen apically, spatulate or club-like with a heavy covering of setae and slightly recurved, such that the pair of these structures flank the uncus; and (4) a minor, ampulla-like process embedded within the sacculus, with which it may form a crotch that cradles the clasper. Directly beneath this structure on the inner face of the valve is what appears a well-developed editum comprising a raised patch of spine-like setae or, in the larger species, at least 10 fully developed spines directed anteromedially. Vesica unadorned, without cornuti, but a bilobate sub-basal diverticulum, highly bulbous in the larger species.

Female genitalia. Papillae anales blunt-tipped, subquadrate; ductus bursae and corpus bursae flask or wineskin shaped, colliculum absent; ductus bursae narrow relative to caudal region of bursa, constricted at (dorsal) juncture of the two, opposite dorsal opening to ductus seminalis; ductus may have small ventral posterior appendicular lobe; corpus bursae without signa.

Immature stages. Larvae, known exclusively from images, have predominantly orange or reddish-orange heads with 10 black spots, and paired setose dorsal spines.

Key to known species of Lophomyra