Psychocampa aello St Laurent, 2019

St Laurent, Ryan A., Carvalho, Ana Paula S. & Kawahara, Akito Y., 2019, Two New Species of Psychocampa and a Possible Case of Visual Mimicry in the Sack-Bearer Moths (Lepidoptera: Mimallonoidea), Insect Systematics and Diversity 3 (2019), No. 3, pp. 1-9 : 4-5

Psychocampa aello St Laurent , sp. n.

( Figs. 2 , 5 , 7 , and 9)

(Zoobank LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3E53560B-0FBB-4D17-BBE9-0DBD19BF7B74 )

Diagnosis

This and the following species are unmistakable among Mimallonidae . The black ground color, dorsal abdominal white scale patch, and white scales clothing the ventral thoracic surface, legs, and basal wing area are unique to P. aello and P. celaeno sp. n. Psychocampa aello differs from P. celaeno sp. n. by its larger size and lack of significantly contrasting light khaki scaling on the submarginal wing areas. The male genitalia of P. aello have thicker gnathos arms which are not as finely tipped as in P. celaeno sp. n. and a thinner phallus. The eighth sternite projections of P. aello are inwardly curved at their tips, whereas these same projections are parallel in P. celaeno . The similarly shaped and darkly colored P. funebris completely lacks any white scales. The phallus of P. funebris is broader and the eighth sternite projections vestigial when compared to both P. aello and P. celaeno sp. n. What we putatively believe to be the female of this species is known only from a single photograph ( Fig. 5 ) and the specimen displays a typical degree of sexual dimorphism as is expected in Psychocampa given our knowledge of the male/female pairs from nearly all described Psychocampa species (R.A.S., personal observation). This female is recognizable by the same external features given for the male, namely the dark brown coloration and white scale patch on the dorsum of the anterior portion of the abdomen, although we are unsure of the ventral characters as they are not visible to us in the photograph.

Male

Head: Coloration off-white, frons becoming slightly gray. Antennae bipectinate to tip, distal quarter of pectinations dramatically shorter than basal three quarters of pectinations, coloration dark brown, covered in lighter gray scales. Labial palpus extends to edge of frons, apparently three segmented, ventrally off-white as for head, dorsally with dark brown scales. Proboscis apparently absent. Eyes very large, consisting of significantly more than two-thirds area of head. Thorax: Dorsally dark black-brown, ventrally off-white, densely clothed in long hair-like scales. Legs: Femur and tibia same off-white coloration as ventral surface of thorax, tarsal segments contrasting dark brown. Tibial spurs very short, hardly extending out from vestiture of tibia. Forewing dorsum: Forewing length: 26 mm, wingspan: 53 mm, n = 1. Acutely triangular, deeply falcate. Ground color dark brownish black. Antemedial line as faint, black, wavy line. Postmedial line nearly absent, reduced to a darker region near costa, remainder of postmedial line as faint straight line. Antemedial and medial areas mostly concolorous though wing darkens somewhat basally, with coloration more light brown submarginally. Discal spot nearly absent. Fringe dark brown, not contrasting against ground color. Forewing ventrum: Similar to dorsum but darker overall, except basally where off-white scales present. Postmedial line more well-defined, complete, consisting of dentate line angled toward costa after Rs4. Discal spot somewhat more visible than on forewing dorsum. Hindwing dorsum: Somewhat squared, margin nearly straight, coloration as for forewing dorsum but more uniformly dark brownish black. Hindwing ventrum: Follows same pattern as forewing ventrum, postmedial line convex, discal spot well-defined, basal white area more expansive. Abdomen: Extending well beyond anal angle of hindwing, coloration black except for rectangular patch of contrasting white scales on anterior segments, ventrally uniformly black. Terminally with tuft of scales from valvae. Sternite of VIII with pair of inwardly curved fingerlike projections. Genitalia: ( Fig. 7 ) n = 1. Vinculum narrow, ovoid; tegumen shorter than uncus, uncus very narrow, fingerlike. Gnathos extends downward from heavily sclerotized ventral margins of tegumen, distally gnathos as robust triangular arms which reach beyond saccular edge of valvae, dorsal margin of gnathos arms wavy, basally arms deeply wrinkled latitudinally. Valvae rectangular basally, distally extended and truncated. Valvae with baseo-mesal outwardly projected setae-covered lobe. Juxta fused to phallus with paired knob-like lateral components, phallus flattened, otherwise simple. Vesica thick, bag-like, spiculate.

Female

Not available for examination and description, but see Fig. 5 and remarks below.

Type Material

HOLOTYPE: 1 Ơ, Victoria 2400’, Caldas, Colombia, 9.II.69, S.S. Nicolay / USNM-Mimal:2838/ St Laurent dissection: 7-20-18:1 / HOLOTYPE Ơ Psychocampa aello St Laurent 2019 / ( USNM). No paratypes .

Figures

Figs. 1–4. Psychocampa and Aellopos adult male specimens. a = dorsal, b = ventral. (1) P. funebris, Brazil, Paraná, Curitiba, Cascatinha, photo courtesy of C. Mielke (DZUP). (2) P. aello holotype, Colombia, Caldas,Victoria, 2400’ (USNM). (3) P. celaeno holotype, Panama, Chiriquí, Santa Clara, Finca Hartmann, Ojo de Agua, ca. 1,500 m (MEM). (4) A. titan, Costa Rica, Guanacaste,Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Quebrada Otilio, 550 m, 06-SRNP-45345, H. Ramirez leg., via Janzen & Hallwachs (MGCL). Scale bar = 1 cm.

Fig. 5. Putative Psychocampa aello female, Colombia, Magdalena, Santa Marta, Minca, ~630 m, 14-IX-2017 (photo courtesy of Carol McDougall, first posted on iNaturalist, used here with permission).

Figs. 6–8. Psychocampa male genitalia. a = ventral, b = lateral, c = eighth sternite projections, d = phallus. (6) P. funebris, Brazil, Paraná, Castro, St Laurent dissection: 5-7-18:4 (USNM). (7) P. aello holotype, Colombia, Caldas, Victoria, 2400’, St Laurent dissection: 7-20-18:1 (USNM). (8) P. celaeno holotype, Panama, Chiriquí, Santa Clara, Finca Hartmann, Ojo de Agua, ca. 1,500 m, St Laurent dissection: 7-20-18:2. Scale bar = 1 mm.