Trogotorna Hampson, 1910

Lafontaine, Donald & Poole, Robert, 2010, Review of the New World genera of the subfamily Acontiinae (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 137-160 : 152

Trogotorna Hampson, 1910

Figs 18, 38, 48

This genus has only recently been confirmed as an acontiine though the research of J. B. Sullivan. It currently contains only the type species, Trogotorna persecta , but several undescribed species are under study (J. B. Sullivan, pers. comm.). Th e moth (Fig. 18) does not at all look like it would belong to the Acontiinae , but the scaphium has the characteristic pair of setose patches, the enlarged alula over the tympanum, a vestigial tympanal hood, and asymmetrical male sacculi and claspers. Also, the CO1 barcode consistently places Trogotorna among the acontiine genera. Male genitalia (Fig. 38). These would hardly be recognizable as belonging to the Acontiinae were it not for the characteristic setose pouch on each side of the scaphium. The valve tapers apically, unlike most acontiines, and the clasper is short leaf-shaped. Th ere is no corona, ampulla, or saccular extension. The valves are slightly asymmetrical in that the sacculus and clasper on the left valve are smaller than those on the right valve. Th e aedeagus is unusually short and wide for an acontiine. The vesica is short and bulbous, except for a large subapical diverticulum with a dense patch of spines at the apex. Female genitalia (Fig. 48). Th e apophyses, abdominal segment eight, and the ostium and ductus bursae are very short, whereas the corpus bursae is very large, 10 × as long as the ductus bursae.

Food plants. Unknown.

Acknowledgments

We thank Michael Pogue (Systematic Entomology Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, USNM, Washington, DC) for the loan of specimens. We also thank Jocelyn Gill (CNC, Ottawa) for assistance with the preparation of the genitalia, photographs, and plates. Paul Hebert and the staff at the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada, provided data and information from the Barcode of Life Data (BOLD) system. Bo Sullivan (Beaufort, North Carolina) generously shared data, specimens, and insights from his study of the Acontiinae in Central America. Chris Schmidt and James Adams reviewed the manuscript and made many useful suggestions.