Hemithea squalidaria O. G. Costa, 1848

Sihvonen, Pasi, Skou, Peder, Flamigni, Claudio, Fiumi, Gabriele & Hausmann, Axel, 2014, Revision of the Hylaea fasciaria (Linnaeus, 1758) species group in the western Palaearctic (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Ennominae), Zootaxa 3768 (4), pp. 469-486 : 483

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3768.4.5

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DBDE3685-85AC-4739-95DB-F8BA16117AAB

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5047217

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C37B8D57-2E2C-C939-FF72-B11F5C3E7127

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Hemithea squalidaria O. G. Costa, 1848
status

 

Hemithea squalidaria O. G. Costa, 1848 View in CoL , combination and status uncertain

squalidaria O. G. Costa, 1848 View in CoL , Fauna Regno Napoli (Ent.): [331], pl. (Geom.) 2, fig. 4, ( Hemithea View in CoL ). Syntype (s), [ Italy]: Adriatic coast: San Cataldo, near Lecce; Tyrrhenian coast: [Lago di] Patria [near Naples].

Hemithea squalidaria O. G. Costa, 1848 View in CoL from southern Italy ( Figure 5a View FIGURES 1–5 ) is a problematic taxon due to the lack of type material. Only the original, hand-drawn colour illustration on the taxon exists (reprinted in Figure 5a View FIGURES 1–5 ). Prout (1912 –1916) combined squalidaria View in CoL with Ellopia Stephens (= Hylaea View in CoL ), due to its similarity with H. compararia ( Staudinger, 1894) View in CoL . Wehrli (1939 –1954), in the absence of material, treated squalidaria View in CoL putatively valid at species level, as did Scoble (1999).

If Hemithea squalidaria View in CoL belonged to the genus Hylaea View in CoL , in theory it could be conspecific with H. mediterranea . Hemithea squalidaria View in CoL has rather straight and well developed forewing medial lines, and the hindwing postmedial line is clearly curved ( Figure 5a View FIGURES 1–5 ), whereas the forewing antemedial line is curved towards the costa and the hindwing postmedial line is only slightly curved in H. mediterranea ( Figures 2 View FIGURES 1–5 , 7 View FIGURES 6–9 ). Costa (1848) gives squalidaria View in CoL ’s wingspan as 13 linee, which is 2.33 cm, assuming he used the old Sicilian definition of line, one line being equal to 1/12 of an Sicilian ounce. Costa also reported the same wingspan for Thetidia smaragdaria (Fabricius, 1787) View in CoL , which is generally smaller than Hylaea View in CoL specimens. Further, the specimen has simple (fasciculate?) antennas and long labial palpi, thus different from Hylaea View in CoL (males). Therefore, in our opinion, the original hand-drawn illustration of H. squalidaria View in CoL and the description of the taxon reported in Costa's text (e.g. the wingspan of ca. 23 mm) exclude the possibility of Hemithea squalidaria View in CoL being conspecific with H. mediterranea (smallest H. mediterranea male available to us has a wingspan of 31 mm, smallest female is 37 mm). Hylaea compararia View in CoL and H. fasciaria View in CoL are externally different and, according to the current knowledge, they do not occur in southern Italy.

Based on the illustration (reprinted in Figure 5a View FIGURES 1–5 ), we are unable to exclude the possibility that H. squalidaria may be a species of the subfamily Geometrinae . There are potentially several Geometrinae species, which live at the sea-level in southern Italy that may be relevant in this context.

H. squalidaria View in CoL was described by Oronzo Gabriele Costa, the father of Achille Costa, and it is possible that the type specimen(s) of the taxon no longer exist. Turati (1911) visited the Costa Collection in the Zoological Museum of Naples, Italy, and he does not mention squalidaria View in CoL . Only two wings, thorax and head with an antenna of Megalycinia serraria (Costa, 1882) (Ennominae) View in CoL are mentioned in the article. Also Conci (1975) reports that part of the A. Costa collection is destroyed. Due to the unavailability of the type material, we are unable to place the taxon squalidaria View in CoL in the genus Hylaea View in CoL . We revert it to its original combination, and its taxonomic combination and status are uncertain, being potentially valid at species level and potentially belonging to another genus in the subfamily Geometrinae View in CoL (see discussion above). We have been unable to trace a candidate for a neotype designation basing on a specimen from southern Italy that would fit well enough the habitus of the figure from the original description.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Geometridae

Genus

Hemithea

Loc

Hemithea squalidaria O. G. Costa, 1848

Sihvonen, Pasi, Skou, Peder, Flamigni, Claudio, Fiumi, Gabriele & Hausmann, Axel 2014
2014
Loc

H. mediterranea

Sihvonen & Skou & Flamigni & Fiumi & Hausmann 2014
2014
Loc

H. mediterranea

Sihvonen & Skou & Flamigni & Fiumi & Hausmann 2014
2014
Loc

H. mediterranea

Sihvonen & Skou & Flamigni & Fiumi & Hausmann 2014
2014
Loc

H. mediterranea

Sihvonen & Skou & Flamigni & Fiumi & Hausmann 2014
2014
Loc

squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

Hemithea squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

Hemithea squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

Hemithea squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

H. squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

Hemithea squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

H. squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

squalidaria

O. G. Costa 1848
1848
Loc

Hemithea

Duponchel 1829
1829
Loc

Hylaea

Hubner 1822
1822
Loc

Hylaea

Hubner 1822
1822
Loc

Hylaea

Hubner 1822
1822
Loc

Hylaea

Hubner 1822
1822
Loc

Hylaea

Hubner 1822
1822
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