Eadmuna Schaus, 1928

St. Laurent, Ryan A. & Dombroskie, Jason J., 2015, Revision of the genus Eadmuna Schaus, 1928 (Lepidoptera, Mimallonidae) with a description of a new species from French Guiana, ZooKeys 494, pp. 51-68 : 53-55

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Mimallonidae

Eadmuna Schaus, 1928

Type species.

Cicinnus esperans Schaus, 1905

Diagnosis.

Eadmuna can be recognized by broad wings and silvery-gray ground color accented by varying degrees of brown. The forewing bears a discal cell as a hyaline or sub-hyaline patch bisected by the M2 vein creating two separate windows. The hindwings lack any such hyaline markings. Although this marking is not unique within Mimallonidae , this character combined with the following two additional characters: the absence of any straight, continuous, vertical or diagonal postmedial lines and the presence of smooth wing margins; are diagnostic for the genus. Male genitalia are simple with a pointed, teardrop-shaped uncus, broad, ovoid tegumen with a pair of prominent, subtriangular, ridged lobes ventrally.

Description.

Male. Head: Very small, scales on frons swept forward, eyes large comprising roughly two-thirds of head area, bordered posteriorly by darkbrown scales, border of darker scales continues down head reaching beneath labial palpi, labial palpi very small, segments smaller distally, hardly extending beyond frons, basal two segments tufted ventrally, dorsally covered in darkbrown scales greatly contrasting with overall straw coloration of head. Antenna bipectinate, scape and pedicel tufted. Ocelli and putative chaetosemata present. Thorax: Densely covered in long, hair-like scales interspersed with widened, darker, petiolate scales giving a speckled appearance. Legs: Vestiture thick, scales long, especially on femur and tibia, coloration as for thorax, petiolate scales present. Tibial spurs about one fifth length of tibia, thick, triangular in cross section, ridged, ridges finely serrate along ventral length. Forewing dorsum: Forewing length: 16-20 mm, n=40. Triangular, convex outer margins becoming concave near apex in some species, apex accentuated. Silvery gray-brown ground color with extensive speckling due to dark, petiolate scales in similar manner to that of thorax. Discal spot prominent, hyaline or partially covered in translucent scales, with M2 vein covered in dark scales separating hyaline patch into two distinct regions. Postmedial line usually present, though often faint, bulged in costal half, brown, dentate. Overall, scales become smaller and finer distally from wing base. Forewing venter: As for dorsum but usually lighter, postmedial lines generally more pronounced. Hindwing dorsum: Rounded, somewhat accentuated anal angle, essentially bearing same coloration and scale pattern as forewings though postmedial line usually fainter, if present. No hyaline patches present. Spatulate scales denser on inner margin. Hindwing venter: As for dorsum but usually lighter, postmedial lines generally more pronounced, frenulum with single bristle. Wing venation: As for Cicinnus melsheimeri (Harris, 1841) but R4 + R5 much shorter stalked. Abdomen: Somewhat compressed laterally, short, depth equal to that of thorax, rather triangular due to sudden truncation to slightly upturned tip, coloration a continuation of thoracic color, matching essentially dorsal wing coloration. Genitalia: Simple, uncus abruptly narrowed at base, extended apically. Tegumen broad, ovoid, with prominent, subtriangular, ridged lobes. Anal tube barely discernable, lightly sclerotized, with apex roughly halfway to distal tip of uncus. Valves simple, lightly sclerotized, basal half wider than distal half, sacculus half to one third width of valve at base, extending to half or two-thirds valve length. Juxta ventrally with quadrate lip and with two triangular arm-like spurs, one on either side of phallus. Juxtal spurs reach roughly midway along length of phallus. A small relatively quadrate sclerotized plate present dorsally to juxta/phallus. Vinculum broadly ovoid though flattened on dorsal and ventral margins, somewhat quadrate. Phallus simple, cylindrical, vesica sac-like or elongated with scobinate patch or with multidentate cornutus. Female. Similar to male except for: Head: Eyes greater than two thirds area of head, labial palpi smaller, region of brown scales bordering posterior of eyes thicker, extending to prothorax ventrally. Legs: Small scales nearly completely cover tibial spurs. Forewing dorsum: Forewing length range: 22-24 mm, n=3. Compared to male, forewing much broader overall, postmedial region lighter, more silvery gray than medial area, hyaline discal spot large, prominent. Postmedial line present, more pronounced than for male, brown, dentate, narrowly interrupted by veins, dark wedge where postmedial line meets costa. Antemedial lines present, bilobed, B-shaped. Forewing venter: As for dorsum, but lighter, postmedial line more contrasting. Hindwing dorsum: Broader, hardly accentuated anal angle, essentially bearing same coloration as forewings. Unlike males, entire hindwing, save for postmedial line, concolorous silvery gray, without a brown edge and without darker medial area present in forewings. Dentate postmedial line dark and well pronounced, narrowly interrupted by veins, slightly darker than that of forewing. Hindwing venter: As for dorsum, but lighter, postmedial line more contrasting, frenulum rudimentary with numerous bristles hidden by hindwing scales. Wing venation: As for male but Rs appears to originate closer to middle of cell. Abdomen: Much broader than that of male. Coloration a continuation of thoracic color, though darkening somewhat distally. Two very elongated sclerotized plates present on venter of eighth segment. Genitalia: Papillae anales elongated or stocky, covered in fine setae, apophyses posteriores shorter or same length as apophyses anteriores. Ductus bursae short, ostium opening immediately into corpus bursae. Corpus bursae, round, with or without sclerotized structures reinforcing membrane, elongated appendix bursae.

Remarks.

Despite Schaus’ (1928) comment that Eadmuna genitalia are allied to those of Psychocampa (unspecified species), this has not been found when comparing Eadmuna genitalia to those of some representative Psychocampa . No Eadmuna genitalia resemble any of the Psychocampa genitalia figured in Herbin (2012), including Psychocampa kohlii Herbin which greatly resemble the genitalia of the type species Psychocampa concolor Grote & Robinson, 1866 ( Herbin 2012).

Aceclosteria villaricensis (Schaus, 1933) was originally described in Eadmuna . Currently the genus Aceclosteria Vuillot, 1893 contains one species, Aceclosteria mus Vuillot, 1893. Previously Schaus described a female Aceclosteria specimen as Eadmuna villaricensis due to it being allied with " Eadmuna esperanza ," [sic] (Schaus, 1933) though the two species are quite dissimilar. For instance, Aceclosteria mus has a continuous, non-dentate postmedial line. Additionally, in a single male genitalia dissection of Aceclosteria mus from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (CUIC genitalia dissection 10-8-14:2), the genitalia were found to be highly complex structurally and asymmetrical, completely unlike Eadmuna . Becker (1996) synonymized Eadmuna villaricensis with Aceclosteria mus . An external examination of the holotype of Eadmuna villaricensis supports Becker’s synonymy.

One or two other undescribed species from Costa Rica are currently considered to belong to Eadmuna by Daniel Herbin (pers. comm.). These golden-colored species, superficially somewhat similar to Eadmuna guianensis , new species and Eadmuna esperans , have broad wings, dentate postmedial lines, and bisected forewing hyaline areas. However, the genitalia are very distinct (MGCL dissection number 9-24-14:1). In one of these undescribed species, the uncus is not truncate and is rather triangular and flattened apically, the juxta has two extremely long, curved tusk-like projections, pointed outwards above the phallus. Finally, somewhat triangular tegumen lobes are present, as in Eadmuna , but are significantly elongated and without numerous ridges as in Eadmuna . Thus, these species from Costa Rica cannot be considered Eadmuna .

The geographic distribution of the species Eadmuna esperans and Eadmuna paloa , and possibly Eadmuna pulverula , very clearly follows the Atlantic coastal rainforest of Brazil (see Figure 18) (IBGE). This biome is of particular conservation interest due to a massive loss of habitat, such that it has been estimated that only approximately 11% of the Brazilian Atlantic forest remains ( Ribeiro et al. 2009). The association of these two or three species with this biome, along with the almost complete lack of recent material of these species in any of the visited collections, presents further justification for the conservation of this area of high species richness ( Ribeiro et al. 2009).

Key to species of Eadmuna *

* Note: the male of Eadmuna pulverula and the females of Eadmuna esperans and Eadmuna guianensis are unknown