Camaegeria Strand, 1914

Bartsch, Daniel & Berg, Jutta, 2012, New species and review of the Afrotropical clearwing moth genus Camaegeria Strand, 1914 (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae: Synanthedonini), Zootaxa 3181, pp. 28-46 : 29-30

Camaegeria Strand, 1914

Camaegeria Strand, 1914: 48 . Type species: Camaegeria auripicta Strand, 1914 , monotypic.

Hampson 1919: 56 ( Tipulamima ); Dalla Torre & Strand 1925: 117; Gaede 1929: 518; Naumann 1971: 13; Heppner & Duckworth 1981: 41; Fletcher & Nye 1982: 163; Pühringer & Kallies 2004: 33.

Redescription. Small to medium-sized clearwing moths, in most cases with indistinct sexual dimorphism. Head with haustellum well developed and certainly functional; labial palp narrow, slightly upturned, covered with almost smooth, ventrally somewhat rough scales; first palpomere short, second twice as long as third; antenna narrow, slightly clavate, approximately reaching to forewing discal spot, ciliate in male, simple in female; frons smooth, dark grey with pearly gloss, lower part and adjacent to the eye whitish; vertex with rather short and somewhat rough hair-like scales. Thorax and abdomen slender, covered with smooth and glossy scales; abdomen usually quite short, particularly in male; anal tuft in male inconspicuous, formed by two short, lateral scale tufts, in female more or less reduced. Important exceptions to this are some Madagascan species with long and slender, caudally tapering abdomen and well-developed, long and narrow anal tuft in male. Legs long and narrow, covered with short and glossy scales; Madagascan species mostly with dense scale-tufts on hindtibia, rarely also on first tarsomere; forecoxa narrow; hindleg with extended tarsus, about 1.5 times as long as abdomen; spurs long, lateral spur half as long as mesal one on all legs. Wings hyaline, margins narrow; costal margin of forewing somewhat broader than other margins, nearly as broad as discal spot; the latter narrow, straight, nearly extending from costal to anal margin; apical area very narrow or absent; discal spot of hindwing weak. Forewing venation ( Fig. 31 ) with distal half of R1 and R2 confluent, R3 arising from cell corner; R4 and R5 stalked in basal third to half; CuA1 and CuA2 approximated, running very close to anal margin; hindwing with M2 arising costad at midway of crossvein, M3 and CuA1 stalked in basal fifth.

Male genitalia. Very homogenous and poor in specific characters within the genus. Weakly sclerotised; tegumen narrow, especially in lateral view; gnathos absent; uncus with well-developed scopula androconialis; juxta posteriorly protruding to somewhat more than half of the length of phallus; manica tubular with numerous microscopic spines; valva elongate to oval, rather broad, margins ventrally straight, dorsally straight or rounded, distally rounded, apex round, inner surface nearly completely covered with bifurcate setae, more dense at basal part, ventro-proximally a very small bald area; crista sacculi absent; saccus short and broad; phallus short, straight, as long as valva, proximally somewhat enlarged, distally moderately tapered, often with small tooth-like distal protrusion; vesica tubular, proximally somewhat enlarged, without sclerotised structures.

Female genitalia. Tergite eight and papillae anales long and narrow, extremely telescopic, pipette-like, somewhat pointed, posteriorly and laterally with sparse hair-like setae; apophyses long, anterior and posterior pair subequal. Ostium bursae membranous, located ventro-basally on segment eight; antrum and ductus bursae membranous, antrum short and constricted, medially with a narrow sclerotised ring; ductus bursae long and tubular; corpus bursae round, dorso-basally with short linear signum.

Diagnosis. The following putative synapomorphies are postulated: (1) Tegumen very slender; (2) gnathos absent; (3) valva more or less oval, inner surface without crista sacculi and large bald ventral area; (4) juxta protrudes nearly as far as phallus; (5) phallus rather short, straight, proximally only slightly enlarged, vesica without sclerotised structures; (6) tergite eight and papillae anales very small, pipette-like; (7) antrum with narrow sclerotised ring; (8) corpus bursae round, with short linear signum.

Remarks. As far as known, representatives of Camaegeria do not exhibit a distinct sexual dimorphism. Specimens from the African mainland are very homogenous in size and habitus and are easily recognized by the typical shape of the almost black body with some reddish markings, which lacks raised, hair-like scales, with the rather long hairy hindlegs, the large transparent areas of the wings, the stripe-like discal spot that occupies almost the entire width of the forewing, the lack of the apical area, the hindwing with a very short and small discal spot, and the origin of vein M2 about midway of the crossvein. The Madagascan members of the genus, which may represent a distinct subgenus, differ by the longer and more slender body, the rough-scaled hindtibia, the occasional presence of a well-developed anal tuft and the origin of vein M2 at the anterior third of the crossvein.

Episannina Aurivillius, 1905 is a morphologically similar genus in regard to some external characters and genitalic morphology and also occurs in the Afrotropics. The males of Episannina ( Fig. 27 ) differ from those of Camaegeria by a very distinct shape of their body with short, spindle-like abdomen, fan-like or bi-partite anal tuft, short legs with very dense scale-tufts on mid- and hindtibia, smaller transparent areas of the wings, often without a longitudinal area and well-developed apical area with short basad pointing projections between vein interspaces. The females of Episannina are more robust than those of Camaegeria and differ by their dense and rough-scaled hindtibia. The male genitalia of Episannina ( Fig. 38 ) are more strongly sclerotised and differ as follows: tegumen as in Camaegeria without gnathos, but in lateral view the distal part broader, dorsally distinctly angled; valva as in Camaegeria without crista sacculi, but smaller and longer, more pointed, setae of inner surface distinctly denser, without bald ventral area; phallus of typical Synanthedonini shape, proximally with balloon-like enlargement, distally narrow, without tooth-like protrusion; vesica with specialised, strongly sclerotised appendix. The female genitalia ( Fig. 40 ) are similar to those of Camaegeria , with long tubular ductus bursae and round corpus bursae, but the latter with longer signum, antrum without sclerotised ring, but well sclerotised throughout. Episannina has never been assigned to a tribe before. It is placed here in Synanthedonini based on the genitalia characters listed above.

Superficially, Camaegeria resembles Tipulamima ( Fig. 30 ). This genus differs by its usually distinct sexual dimorphism, the very long hindlegs with long scale tufts on tibia and tarsus (hindlegs shorter without long scales of the African species of Camaegeria , or only hindtibia with long scales but barely longer than abdomen in Madagascan species) and in the female by the extensive, often dark-scaled wings (wings opaque in females of Camaegeria ). The wing venation of Tipulamima differs by having non-fused forewing veins R1 and R2 and by having the origin of hindwing vein M2 close to costa (R1 and R2 fused, origin of M2 from medial part of cross vein in Camaegeria ).

Camaegeria currently consists of 12 species, namely C. aristura ( Meyrick, 1931) , C. auripicta Strand, 1914 , C. monogama ( Meyrick, 1932) , C. exochiformis ( Walker, 1856) , C. massai n. sp. and C. sophax ( Druce, 1899) from the African mainland and C. polytelis n. sp., C. sylvestralis ( Viette, [1955]), C. xanthomos , n. sp. C. xanthopimplaeformis ( Viette, [1955]), C. lychnitis n. sp. and C. viettei n. sp., from Madagascar.

Figures

FIGURE 31. Camaegeria auripicta Strand, 1914 wing venation.

FIGURES 25 – 30. Specimens of Camaegeria Strand, 1914, Episannina perlucida (Le Cerf, 1911) and Tipulamima haugi (Le Cerf, 1917). Scale bar: 10 mm. 25 – 26. C. lychnitis n. sp., 3 holotype, upperside (25), underside (26). 27. Episannina perlucida (Le Cerf, 1911), 3 lectotype. 28 – 29. C. viettei n. sp., 3 holotype, upperside (28), underside (29). 30. Tipulamima haugi (Le Cerf, 1917), 3 syntype.

FIGURES 38 – 39. Male genitalia. 38. Tipulamima haugi (Le Cerf, 1917), male syntype. 39. Episannina perlucida (Le Cerf, 1911).

FIGURES 40 – 41. Female genitalia. 40. Camaegeria massai n. sp. 41. Episannina perlucida (Le Cerf, 1911).