Castnia oberthueri, (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 : 331

oberthueri ( Houlbert, 1917)

( Figs. 7D, E )

“ C. Oberthüri , sp. nov. ” Houlbert, 1917, Études de Lépidoptérologie comparée 13: 52–53, Pl. 3, Fig. 3 .

Type material: Houlbert (1917) states that more than 30 specimens exist in the Oberthür collection. These are all syntypes and are now in NHMUK. There is one male from Zaruma and 11 males and 14 females from Balzapamba collected by Marc Hüe de Mathan (1876–1908) which are ex Oberthür and are definitely all syntypes of oberthueri (e.g. figs. 7D, E). There are four additional males and two females from Balzapamba which were not collected by de Mathan; these may also be syntypes, but we cannot be sure whether Houlbert examined them. There is also a male from Balzapamba in ( MHNG) (ex Ch. Blachier) with the same de Mathan data, if this specimen was still in Oberthür’s collection when Houlbert examined it, it is also a syntype .

Type locality: According to Houlbert (1917, 1918) all the types come from Balzapamba (Bolívar province) and Zaruma (El Oro province) in Ecuador. There is a large distance between these localities in southern Ecuador.

Taxonomic status: A junior subjective synonym of Castnia angusta H. Druce, 1907 (now in Amauta ). Originally described as a species but synonymised by Miller (1995).

Male genitalia: See angusta .

Distribution: Not relevant.

Discussion: Houlbert (1917) described oberthueri in ignorance of Druce’s description of angusta . He was then informed about this by George Talbot (1882–1952) and published a note to this effect with the description of angusta in Houlbert (1918). Apparently, Houlbert refused to accept Druce’s description as it was not accompanied by an illustration and continued to give his own name priority.

Material examined: For this study we have examined all known syntypes.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Labial palp comparison. A: ♂ Amauta procera (coll. RW); B: ♂ Vadina hodeei (coll. RW); Fig. C: ♂ Divana diva (coll. RW); D: ♂ Telchin licus (coll. RW).

FIGURE 7. Amauta angusta (H. Druce, 1907): A, ♂ HT, jeanneei (Rebel, 1915), [Peru] (Original photo); B, ♂ HT, subangusta Strand, 1913, S[an] Antonio [Ecuador] (MWNH); C, ♀ HT, angusta, Los L[l]anos, Ecuador, ex Druce, ex Joicey, NHMUK010474224 (NHMUK); D, ♂ ST, oberthueri (Houlbert, 1917), Equateur, Balzapamba, Prov de Bolivar, M de Mathan, 9bre 1893 á Fev 1894, Colombia, ex Oberthür (NHMUK); E, ♀ ST, oberthueri (Houlbert, 1917), Equateur, Balzapamba, Prov de Bolivar, M de Mathan, 9bre 1893 á Fev 1894, Colombia, ex Oberthür (NHMUK).