Gaujonia Dognin, 1891

Martinez, Jose I., 2020, Revision of the South American genus Gaujonia Dognin (Noctuidae, Pantheinae) with descriptions of five new genera and twenty-one new species, ZooKeys 985, pp. 71-126 : 71

Gaujonia Dognin

Gender.

Masculine.

Type species.

Gaujonia arbosi Dognin, 1891. Descriptions de Lépidoptéres nouveaux. Le Naturaliste, 13: 126.

Etymology.

Paul Dognin probably named this genus Gaujonia after Fr. Theophile Gaujon a Catholic Lazarist missionary priest and entomologist residing in Loja, Ecuador, who helped by collecting specimens for him.

Included species.

Within the genus Gaujonia there were previously four species, however, three of the species belong to three different genera: Gaujonia arbosioides Dognin ( Millerana arbosioides (Dognin), comb. nov.), G. renifera Hampson ( Oculicattus renifera (Hampson), comb. nov.), and G. vau-nigrum Hampson ( Cicadoforma vau-nigrum (Hampson), comb. nov.) based on genetic and morphological differences. Only one of the original species remains in Gaujonia , it being the type species Gaujonia arbosi Dognin. However, during this revision four new species were discovered: Gaujonia bichu sp. nov., Gaujonia chiqyaq sp. nov., Gaujonia kanakusika sp. nov., and Gaujonia sourakovi sp. nov.

Diagnosis.

Gaujonia is similar to Oculicattus morphologically, but it is most closely aligned genetically with Cicadoforma and Cicadomorphus (Fig. 1 ). The interfacetal setae of Gaujonia are longer than those in Cicadoforma and Cicadomorphus . Male genitalia are similar to those of Oculicattus , however, the cucullus is wider and slightly square in shape, whereas in Oculicattus the cucullus is thinner and rounded. Gaujonia has a short vesica and two patches of spines, whereas in Oculicattus the vesica is longer with three patches of spines. Female genitalia of Gaujonia are similar to that of Oculicattus , but that of Oculicattus is larger in size, however, the sterigma is smaller in that genus than in Gaujonia . DNA barcoding corroborated that Gaujonia is closer to Cicadoforma and Cicadomorphus (~ 6% divergent) than Oculicattus (~ 8%).

Description.

Sexually dimorphic in size, female larger than males; forewing and hindwing hyaline with scales only on wing veins; orbicular and reniform spots in male inconspicuous or absent, whereas female has an orbicular spot and narrow reniform spot. Antenna filiform and long haustellum dark brown; eyes hairy with long interfacetal setae. Male genitalia with saccular and cucullar regions separated and clasper absent; short-beaked uncus; aedeagus wide and vesica short with two sclerotized patches of spines on each side. Female genitalia with sterigma open wide, ductus bursae and appendix bursae are heavily sclerotized, whereas corpus bursae is not.

Immature stages.

Egg. Circular, slightly flattened; chorion forming large square cells making the surface slightly rugose. Larva. Undergo from five to seven instars. Late instars with dense bands of secondary setae on the abdominal tergites, which are more scattered on the thorax; verrucae have scattered long setae; two large prothoracic verrucae with long tufts of secondary setae Pupa. Similar in features to other genera in the Gaujonia genus group (see Cicadomorphus diagnosis).

Biology.

The biology is known only from one species in Gaujonia (see G. kanakusika immature stages) (JIM, pers. obs.).

Figures

Figure 1. Maximum likelihood tree showing relationships between the Gaujonia genus group and the rest of the other jaguar moth genera based on the cytochrome c oxidase I gene (COI) marker. Nodes with black circles represent high support (UFBoot ≥ 95 and SH-aLRT ≥ 80). Nodes with gray circles represent low support (UFBoot <95 and SH-aLRT <80). Black branches constitute the outgroups.