Castnia velutina, (Houlbert, 1917)

Worthy, Robert, González, Jorge M. & Zilli, Alberto, 2022, A review of the genera Amauta Houlbert, 1918 and Divana J. Y. Miller, 1982 (Lepidoptera: Castniidae) with description of a new genus, Zootaxa 5194 (3), pp. 301-342 : 338-339

velutina ( Houlbert, 1917)

( Figs. 9A, B )

“ Castnia Velutina , sp. nov. ” Houlbert, 1917, Études de Lépidoptérologie comparée 13: 56–57.

Type material: Houlbert (1917) does not state the number of type specimens but mentions males, therefore the type series must consist of more than one male. He does not mention female characters in the description but neither does he exclude them, so it is possible that the type series also contained at least one female.

In NHMUK there are two males and one female that have printed labels, presumably provided by Oberthür, reading: “D’un envoi fait de Guayaquil, par Erich Feyer à Carl Zacher d’Erfurt, saisi en mer sur le vapeur italien “ Sienna ” et vendu à Toulon par le service des prises le 7-10-1915 en exécution du décret du 18-3-1915.”. They also have syntype labels, so they are considered to be syntypic ( Figs. 9A, B ) .

Type locality: Houlbert (1917) states “Cette espèce a été reçu de Guayaquil qui est, comme on le sait, le grand port d’exportation de la République de l’Equateur; mais il est probable qu’elle vient de l’intérieur du pays, c’est-àdire des régions sylvatiques situées à l’est de la chaîne des Andes”. So, as Guayaquil is a large port and unlikely to be the original provenance of the specimens, he surmises that they must come from the interior of the country, that is, wooded regions to the east of the Andes.

As the locality given is clearly not the collecting locality it is not possible to narrow the type locality beyond “ Ecuador ” .

Taxonomic status: Originally described as a subspecies of papilionaris and treated as such by Miller (1995) and Lamas (1995), it is here sunk to a full synonym (syn. nov.). A junior subjective synonym of Castnia papilionaris papilionaris Walker, [1865] (now in Amauta ).

Male genitalia: See papilionaris .

Distribution: Throughout Ecuador and northern and central Peru, as far south as at least Chanchamayo (Junín department) ( Fig. 14 ).

Discussion: Houlbert does not give any specific features to separate velutina from papilionaris . The only example of papilionaris available to Houlbert was Westwood’s (1877) stylised figure ( Fig. 8C ) (see amethystina and affinis ), so any comparisons he made were meaningless. Comparing a large series of velutina with the few known specimens of p. papilionaris , it is not possible to see any consistent differences; therefore, we hereby synonymise velutina with papilionaris .

Material examined: For this study, as well as the types, we have examined 31 males and 26 females from Ecuador, and 32 males and 24 females from Peru, as well as 25 males and 10 females for which we do not have locality data .

Figures

FIGURE 8. Figures A, B: Amauta papilionaris amethystina (Houlbert, 1917): A, ♂, Panama, ex OberthÜr, dissected by J.Y. Miller, NHMUK010474233 (NHMUK); B, ♂, Costa Rica, Provincia de Limón, Limón, Nicholas Zakharoff gift (CAS). Figures C–H: Amauta papilionaris papilionaris (Walker, [1865]): C, ♂ HT (from Westwood, 1887). D, ♂ HT, Bogota, [Colombia], BMNH(E)806993 (NHMUK); E, ♂, Merida, Ven[ezuela], (Briceno), NHMUK010474234 (NHMUK); F, ♀, Via Chorro del Indio, 1200, IV-82, CR, crepuscular last p.m. (coll. CFR); G, ♀, W Columb[ia], Rio Dagua, 600–1000m, W. Hopp S, ex Joicey, NHMUK010474231 (NHMUK); H, ♀ HT, ambatensis (Houlbert, 1917), Ecuador, Hacienda Macháy, Paroisse Baños, Canton Pillaro, Province Ambato, Vallée du Pastaza, (J. Stolzmann), NHMUK010474227 (NHMUK).

FIGURE 9. A–D: Amauta papilionaris papilionaris (Walker, [1865]): A, ♂ ST, velutina (Houlbert, 1917), D’un envoi fait de Guayaquil, par Erich Feyer à Carl Zacher d’Erfurt, saisi en mer par le vapeur italien “Sienna” et vendu à Toulon par le service des prises le 7-10-1915 en exécution du décret du 18-3-1915, ex Oberthür, NHMUK010474229 (NHMUK); B, ♀ ST, velutina (Houlbert, 1917), D’un envoi fait de Guayaquil, par Erich Feyer à Carl Zacher d’Erfurt, saisi en mer par le vapeur italien “Sienna” et vendu à Toulon par le service des prises le 7-10-1915 en exécution du décret du 18-3-1915, ex Oberthür, NHMUK010474230 (NHMUK); C, ♂, Pozuzu, Huanuco, 800–1000 m (W. Hoffmanns), NHMUK010605257 (PLT of affinis) (NHMUK); D, ♀, Tingo Maria, Huanuco, Peru, October 2009 (coll. RW). E–G: Amauta papilionaris lionela Lamas, 1995: E, ♂ LT, affinis Rothschild, 1919, Songo, Bol[ivia], Garl[epp], NHMUK010605256 (NHMUK); F, ♂ PLT, affinis Rothschild, 1919, Yahuarmayo, S.E. Peru, 1200ft, Febr. Mrch. 1912, (H. & C. Watkins), NHMUK010605254 (NHMUK); G, ♀, PLT, affinis Rothschild, 1919, Yahuarmayo, S.E. Peru, 1200ft, Febr. Mrch. 1912, (H. & C. Watkins), NHMUK010605255 (NHMUK).

FIGURE 14. Distribution map of all known collecting localities of Amauta papilionaris, sspp. amethystina (blue circles), papilionaris (red squares) and lionela (yellow stars). The black triangle is the type locality of ambatensis, the black star is the type locality of affinis.