Castnia diva, (Butler, 1870)

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 : 325

diva (Butler, 1870)

( Figs. 11A–E )

“ Castnia Diva sp. nov. ” Butler, 1870, Lepidoptera Exotica , or descriptions and illustrations of exotic Lepidoptera : 46, Pl. XVII, fig. 1, 2.

Type material: Butler (1870) described the male and female, so there was more than one type. There are two male syntypes in NHMUK, one is labelled “ Chontales, Nicaragua ” with another label reading “ C. Diva Butl type”, the other has a label reading “ Chontales, E. M. Janson ” both are ex Druce and ex Joicey, no others could be found .

Type locality: Butler (1870) gives the type locality as “ Chontales ( Janson )” . Chontales is a department on the east shore of Lake Cocibolca in Nicaragua. E. W. Janson (1822–1891) was the proprietor of a London Natural History business who published Butler’s work in which this species was described .

Taxonomic status: A valid species of Divana .

Male genitalia: ( Figs. 5A, B ) Uncus somewhat shortened in relation to the tegumen. Socii are weakly developed. Subscaphium slightly sclerotised basad, but somewhat membranous distad. Gnathos is moderately sclerotised, recurved. Valva lobate, with numerous setae (not shown in drawing). Valva slightly obcordate posteriad. Sacculus weakly developed and bearing a large setal tuft. Saccus blunt. Phallus is moderately sclerotised and recurved, with section beyond coecum long and slender, more than three times the latter, and is distally contorted. Vesica spontaneously partly everted in our preparations and bearing very minute spinous cornuti. Even though the specimens used for dissection were of different size and were collected in Mexico ( Fig. 5A ) and Costa Rica ( Fig. 5B ), their genitalia are very similar, hinting that they certainly are the same taxon. Differences with typical Telchin species are noted ( Figs. 5E, 5F ).

Distribution: The nominotypical subspecies of Divana diva is found from Mexico to Panama ( Fig. 16 ).

Material examined: For this study, as well as the syntypes of diva , we have examined 22 males and 4 females from Panama (mainly Chiriquí), and 7 males and 3 females with no locality data. We have also studied 71 males and 18 females from other Central American countries as follows: MEXICO : 1♂ Escuintla , Chiapas, 10/VI/1955, Coll. T.W. Davies ; 1♂ idem, 10/IV/1962 ( CAS) ; 1♂ Veracruz, VI/1961 ; 1♂ El Vigía, Santiago Tuxtla , Veracruz, V/1964, leg. R. F. de la Maza R .; 1♂ Estación Biológica Los Tuxtlas, Sontecomapan , Veracruz, 7/VI/1975, leg. H. Pérez R .; 1♂ Chiltepec , Oaxaca, V/1970, leg. A. Díaz F .; 1♂ Metates , Oaxaca, 20/V/1980 ; 1♂ Chiapas, V/1970 ; 1♂ Santa Rosa , Chiapas, VII/1990, leg. J. Saldaña ; 1♂ idem, VII/1991 ; 1♀ Sontecomapan , Veracruz, V/1955, leg. T. Escalante ( IBUNAM) ; 1♂ El Vigía, Santiago Tuxtla , Veracruz, VIII/2014 ; 1♀ idem, VIII/2015 ; 3♂♂ Santa Rosa , Chiapas, IX/2020 ( BLG) ; 2♂♂ El Vigía, Santiago Tuxtla , Veracruz, 20/V/2014 ; 1♂ idem, 20/VI/2019 ; 2♂♂ idem, 5/VII/2019 ; 2♂♂ idem, 21/VI/2021 ; 3♂♂ idem, 29/VI/2021 ; 1♂ idem, 5/VI/2021 ; 2♂♂ idem, 7/VII/2021 ; 1♂ idem, 12/ VII/2021 ; 1♀ idem, 5/VII/2021 ; 1♂ Soconusco , Chiapas, 25/VII/2014 ( JG) ; 1♂ Ocozocoautla de Espinosa , Chiapas, 1500m, IX/1987, leg. O.S. Guzmán ; 2♂♂ Oculapo , Chiapas, IX/1994 ; 1♀ Chiapas, IV/1998 ( DC) ; 2♂♂ 42km N of Ocozocoautla de Espinosa , Chiapas, 1500m, VIII/1987, leg. O.S. Guzmán ( RV) ; 6♂♂ 3♀♀ idem (Anon) ; 1♂ Puerto Eligio , Oaxaca, 1400m, IX/1987 ; 2♂♂ Eloxochitlán, San José Buenavista , Oaxaca, 1200m, 11-12/VII/2018 ; 1♂ Rancho Santa Rosa, San Antonio , Chiapas, 1/VIII/1987 ; 1♂ ejido Bocas de Chajul , municipio de Ocosingo, Chiapas, 300m, juillet 1985 ; 1♂ 1♀ 42km N of Ocozocoautla de Espinosa , Chiapas, 1500m, VIII/1987, leg. O.S. Guzmán ( RW) . BELIZE: 1♂ Toledo district, Bladen reserve, lowland forest creek reef Bladen River , 1/VIII/2008 ( DC) . GUATEMALA: 2♂♂ Zapote, G.C. Champion, ex Godman-Salvin ; 1♀ Guatemala, Salvin ( NHMUK) ; 2♂♂ San Sebastian , Retalhuleu, 1930, L. Thiel ( CUIC) ; 1♂ Antigua , June 2006 ( AB) ; 2♂♂ Escuintla, 11/VI/2008 ( RW) . HONDURAS: 1♂ Honduras, ex Crowley ; 2♂♂ 1♀ San Pedro Sula , 1895, E. Wittkugel ( NHMUK) ; 1♂ La Ceiba , 6/VIII/1998 ( RW) . NICARAGUA: 1♂ Nicaragua, ex Cutter ; 1♂ Chontales, T. Belt, ex Godman-Salvin ; 1♂ 1♀ Chontales, T. Belt, ex Druce, ex Joicey ( NHMUK) ; 1♂ 1♀ Great Falls, Pis Pis river , 10 miles NW of Eden, 26/ V/1922, Wharton Huber ( ANS) ; 1♂ Chocoyero , 400m, 13/VII/1999 ( RW) . COSTA RICA: 1♂ 2♀♀ ex Druce, ex Joicey ; 3♂♂ Esperanza; 1♂ Car [r]illo ; 1♂ idem 16/V/03, Underwood ; 1♀ idem 6/VII/03 ; 2♀♀ A.G.M. Gillott ( NHMUK) ; 1♂ Turrialba , 30/VII/1963, M. Irwin & D.Q. Cavagnaro ( CAS) ; 1♀ Fila Rio Sucio, Carillo , San Jose, 700m ., 4-V-1983, leg. R Hesterberg ( HG) ; 1♂ San Vito ( RW) .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Genitalia drawings. A: ♂ Divana d. diva (Mexico) (coll. RW); B: ♂ D. d. diva (Costa Rica) (coll. RW); C: ♂ D. d. tricolor (coll. RW); D: ♂ D. d. hoppi (coll. RW); Fig. E: ♂ Telchin licus (from González, 1981); F: ♂ T. drucei (from González, 1981).

FIGURE 11. A–E: Divana diva diva (Butler, 1870): A, ♂ ST, Chontales, Nicaragua, NHMUK014173439, Vial NHMUK010402739 (NHMUK); B, ♂, Rancho Santa Rosa, San Antonio, Chiapas, Mexico, 1/VIII/1987 (coll. RW); C, ♀, Chontales, Nicaragua, T Belt, ex Druce, ex Joicey (NHMUK); D, ♂ HT, chiriquiensis (Strand, 1913), Chiriqui, Panama, der. Strand (MfN); E, ♀, Chiriqui, Panama, ex Joicey (NHMUK). F, G: Divana diva tricolor (Oberthür, 1881): F, ♂ LT, Bogota, [Colombia], Lindig type, LT designation by J.Y. Miller (USNM); G, ♀, Muzo, Colombia, Aug 1924, Apoll Maria, ex Joicey (NHMUK). H, I: Divana diva hoppi (Oberthür, 1881): H, ♂ HT, Buenavista, 700mt, 13 Juli 1921, Columbien, Dr. A. Scultze [sic] S. G (MfN); I, ♀, Chuchuvi, Esmeraldas, W Ecuador, 800m, April 2013 (coll. RW).

FIGURE 16. Distribution map of all known collecting localities of Divana diva, ssp. diva (blue circles), ssp. tricolor (red squares) and ssp. hoppi (yellow triangles). The black circle is the type locality of diva, the black star is the type locality of chiriquiensis and the black triangle is the type locality of hoppi.