Getta niveifascia Walker

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 : 705-706

Getta niveifascia Walker , revised status Figures 289B–D, 289G , 292 ; plate 26 [EX]

Getta niveifascia Walker, 1864: 140 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Peru, Nauta, ‘‘Amazon Region’’.

TYPE: Syntype 3, ex Bates Collection ( BMNH).

Getta probles Prout, 1918: 427 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Peru (E), Chanchamayo, 1000–1500 m.

TYPE: Holotype ♀, leg. Watkins ( BMNH).

DISCUSSION: Material identified as Getta clite in museum collections has been incorrectly named. I dissected the BMNH type of clite and discovered it to be a species of Erbessa (tribe Dioptini ). Getta niveifascia , formerly a synonym of ennia ( Bryk, 1930) , is thus raised from synonymy. The wing patterns of E. clite (pl. 3) and G. niveifascia (pl. 26) are easily confused, but obvious features of their morphology, such as tympanal structure and wing venation, differ drastically. This misidentification, ascribed to Kirby (1892), was followed by all subsequent authors. Prout (1918) described probles as a subspecies of ‘‘ Getta clite ’’. My dissections of the types confirm that probles and niveifascia are conspecific.

Preliminary studies suggest that G. niveifascia occurs throughout the Amazon Basin, occurring at a fairly wide range of altitudes. The type locality, Nauta, is near Iquitos on the Río Marañon at an elevation of 100 meters. Other examples, such as Prout’s type of probles , were collected at 1000–1500 meters in the eastern Andes.

However, dissections hint that G. niveifascia could ultimately represent a case analogous to what was discovered for G. baetifica ; what appeared at first to be a single species, is in fact a series of cryptic species. French Guiana specimens of G. niveifascia show slight differences from Peruvian material. In males the costa of the valva is straighter and the vesica of the aedeagus is larger. Rather than describe material from French Guiana as distinct, I await future revisionary work and treat all this material as a single species.

Getta niveifascia was reared in French Guiana (table 6) on Passiflora candida (pl. 41B, subgenus Astrophea ).

DISTRIBUTION: Peru (AMNH, BMNH, MUSM); Bolivia (CUIC); Ecuador (BMNH); Colombia (AMNH) ; Brazil (USNM, VOB); French Guiana (AMNH, BHC, OUMNH); Guyana (CMNH); Venezuela (MNHN).

DISSECTED: Syntype 3 (genitalia slide no. JSM-1403 ) ; 3, Peru, La Merced , 2500 ft, 5 Jun 1903, leg. Watkins & Tomlinson, BMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-1365 ) ; 3, Peru, Madre de Dios, Tambopata Reserve , 200 m, Dec 1994, leg. S. Fratello, day-collecting (genitalia slide no. JSM-1462 ) ; 3, Colombia, Cauca Valley , AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-366 ) ; 3, French Guiana, Kaw , PK 31.5, 25 Sep 1992, leg. J.A. Cerda, AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-1367 ) ; 3, ‘‘ French Guiana’ ’, BMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-1405 ) ; 3, French Guiana, Fourgassie´, 20 Jan 1985, no. 98, leg. B. Hermier, AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-1524 ) ; ♀, Brazil, Santarém, Rio Tapajós, Pará , Nov 1921, USNM (genitalia slide no. JSM-563 ) ; ♀ holotype of probles Prout , Peru, Chanchamayo 1000–1500 m, BMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-1525 ) ; ♀, Peru, Moyobamba , 1888, leg. M. de Mathan, BMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-1366 ) ; ♀, French Guiana, Kaw , PK 41, 25 Aug 1994, leg. J.A. Cerda, AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-1368 ) ; ♀, French Guiana, Matoury , Oct 1981, leg. J.Y. Gallard, BHC (genitalia slide no. JSM-1735 ) .

Figures

Fig. 289. Morphology of Getta. A, head of G. unicolor 3, lateral view; B, head G. niveifascia 3, lateral view; C, head of G. niveifascia 3, frontal view; D, head G. niveifascia 3, posterior view; E, G. baetifica 3 labial palpus; F, G. baetifica ♀ wings; G, G. niveifascia 3 tegula; H, G. baetifica 3 wings (illustration by J.S. Miller).

Fig. 292. Genitalia of Getta niveifascia (3 JSM-366, ♀ JSM-563). A, 3 genitalia; B, 3 St8; C, aedeagus; D, 3 Tg8; E, ♀ genitalia (illustration by A. Trabka).