Lyces minuta (Druce) Druce, 1885

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 : 776-777

Lyces minuta (Druce) , new combination Figure 324A–E ; plate 31 [EX]

Actea minuta Druce, 1885b: 526 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Ecuador, Sarayacu. TYPE: Holotype ³, leg. C. Buckely

( BMNH).

DISCUSSION: This species, described by Druce (1885b) in the josiine genus Actea , was then transferred to Brachyglene ( Kirby, 1892) in the Dioptini . Prout (1918), who saw this taxon as somehow forming a ‘‘link’’ between Brachyglene and Josia , then created the genus Leptactea , with minuta Druce as its sole member. The species bears no affinity to Brachyglene . My cladistic analyses show not only that minuta belongs within the Josiini proper, but that it is a derived member of the tribe. In my species sample, it arises within the Patula Group as the sister species to L. cruciata (fig. 283). Thus, Leptactea is here proposed as a new synonym of Lyces , and Lyces minuta (Druce) becomes a new combination.

The genitalia of L. minuta (fig. 324A–E) exhibit all requisite features of the Patula Group. Lyces minuta and L. cruciata also exhibit an obvious synapomorphy—presence of an orange-yellow band across the base of the abdomen (pl. 31). The reason Prout gave special status to this moth seems attributable to its unusual FW pattern; L. minuta is the only josiine bearing a thin longitudinal stripe, located entirely anterior to the DC between the radial and subcostal veins, along with a distal cross-band. However, L. minuta simply joins the ranks of Lyces species, such as L. fornax , L. fluonia , L. vulturata , and L. solaris (pl. 30), with anomalous wing patterns.

When I began studying the Dioptinae in 1986, Lyces minuta , an Ecuadorian endemic, was one of the most rare species of Josiini . The only specimen known at that time was the BMNH type. In recent years, additional specimens have surfaced. Three were captured by Phil DeVries (June–September 1994) at Garza Cocha, on the Río Napo in Sucumbíos Province. Tom Emmel (FNHM, Gainesville) collected a fourth specimen (September 1972) approximately 25 km upriver at Limoncocha. The largest series of L. minuta can be found in the collection of Francico Piñas (Quito, Ecuador). These were reared by Elicio Tapia on an unidentified Passiflora species.

DISTRIBUTION: Ecuador (AMNH, BMNH, FNHM, FPC).

DISSECTED: Holotype ³(genitalia slide no. JSM-343 ); ³, Ecuador, Río Napo, Limoncocha , 10 Sep 1972, leg. T. C. Emmel, FNHM (genitalia slide no. JSM-1467 ); ♀, Ecuador, Sucumbios, Garza Cocha — Anyagu, La Selva, 175 km ESE of Coca, 1 Sep 1994, leg. P.J. DeVries, AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-721 ).

Figures

Fig. 324. Genitalia of Lyces. A, ³ of L. minuta (JSM-1467); B, aedeagus of L. minuta; C, ♀ of L. minuta (JSM-721); D, ³ Tg8 of L. minuta; E, ³ St8 of L. minuta; F, ³ of L. solaris (JSM-1391); G, aedeagus of L. solaris; H, ♀ of L. solaris (JSM-1392); I, ³ Tg8 of L. solaris; J, ³ St8 of L. solaris.