Megalographa agualaniata (Dognin)

Lafontaine, J. Donald & Sullivan, J. Bolling, 2009, A review of the genus Megalographa Lafontaine and Poole (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Plusiinae) with the description of a new species from Costa Rica, Insecta Mundi 2009 (77), pp. 1-10 : 4

Megalographa agualaniata (Dognin)

( Figure 2 , 10 , 15 )

Plusia agualaniata Dognin 1912: 7 . Syntypes: 3 males, USNM, Washington [examined]. Type locality: Agualani, Peru.

Diagnosis. This species is characterized by the lack of silvery-white shading on the reniform spot and the brownish-gray forewing with hoary-gray shading in the outer and costal parts of the wing. The silver stigma mark is separated into two spots in four of the 12 specimens examined. The sexes are similar. In the male genitalia, the clasper reaches the costa; the clavus is short; the vesica is slightly upcurved mesially with a slight dorsal bulge mesially and apically and a long, slender apical cornutus. In the female genitalia, the ductus bursae is very long, 0.5X as long as the corpus bursae; the posterior half of the corpus bursae has long sclerotized, spiculate bands, like those of the ductus bursae; the appendix bursae is about 0.3X as long as the corpus bursae but appears shorter because it curls dorsally around the posterior end of the corpus bursae.

Distribution and Habitat. Megalographa agualaniata occurs in montane areas of South America from Venezuela and Colombia southward to Bolivia and Peru.

Figures

Figure 1–8. Megalographa spp. 1) M. monoxyla, m, Cochabamba, Incachaca, Bolivia. 2) M. agualaniata, m, Cochabamba, Incachaca, Bolivia. 3) M. culminicola, m, Ecuador. 4) M. culminicola, f, Junin to Huanuco Hwy., Pasco, Peru, 3600 m. 5) M. bonaerensis, m, Curitiba, 920 m, Paraná, Brazil. 6) M. biloba, m, San Gerardo de Dota, Cartago, Costa Rica. 7-8) M. talamanca, m, Reserva los Nimbulos, 3150 m, Cerro de la Muerte, San José, Costa Rica.

Figure 9–14. Male genitalia of Megalographa spp. and Lophoplusia sp. 9) M. monoxyla, Cochabamba, Incachaca, Bolivia. 10) M. agualaniata, Venezuela. 11) M. bonaerensis, Curitiba, 920 m, Paraná, Brazil. 12) M. biloba, Verdugo, California. 13) M. talamanca, Reserva los Nimbulos, 3150 m, Cerro de la Muerte, San José, Costa Rica. 14) Lophoplusia sp., Kauai, Hawaii.

Figure 15–18. Female genitalia of Megalographa spp. 15) M. agualaniata, Bolivia. 16) M. bonaerensis, Curitiba, 920 m, Paraná, Brazil. 17) M. biloba, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. 18) M. talamanca, Reserva los Nimbulos, 3150 m, Cerro de la Muerte, San José, Costa Rica.