Panthea Hübner, [1820]

Anweiler, Gary G., 2009, Revision of the New World Panthea Hübner (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) with descriptions of 5 new species and 2 new subspecies, ZooKeys 9 (9), pp. 97-134 : 99

Panthea Hübner, [1820]

Type species: Phalaena coenobita Esper.

Elatina Duponchel, [1845] . Type species: Phalaena coenobita Esper [extralimital].

Audela Walker, 1861 . Type species: Audela acronyctoides Walker.

Platycerura Packard, 1864 . Type species: Platycerura furcilla Packard.

Diphthera Hampson, 1913 , not Hübner, [1809]. Type species: Phalaena coenobita Esper [extralimital].

Diagnosis. The genus Panthea is characterized by a combination of characters including a dorsal forewing with a white or gray ground and a complete pattern of five black cross lines with the normal spots (reniform, orbicular and claviform) obsolete or nearly so. Male antennae are bipectinate and both sexes have greatly reduced apparently non-functional mouthparts. Male genitalia have simple heavily sclerotized valves with a well-developed clasper, a laterally compressed uncus with a high crown, triangular in cross-section and in lateral profile resembling a bird’s head with beak, and a simple vesica armed with 1-3 large sclerotized cornuti. Females have a well-developed or massive sclerotized sterigma and a simple oval or oblong bursa copulatrix, lacking both appendices and signa.

Description. The genus Panthea is described and illustrated in detail in Smith and Dyar (1898). Head – broad, retracted; frons flat; eyes widely separated; ocelli small, concealed; proboscis greatly reduced, short, weak, apparently non-functional; palps small, slender, hardly extending to front; antenna bipectinate in male, simple in female; eyes hairy, without lashes. Thorax – quadrate, wider than long, with smooth hairy somewhat loose vesiture; legs short, stout, all similar in size, clothed with long loose hair; unarmed except for short, weak spurs; tarsal claws weak. Dorsal forewing – broadly triangular, outer margin oblique, with apex produced so costa is about 2 × length of inner margin, clothed with a mixture of dark-gray or brownish-black and white scales, generally appearing gray; five black transverse lines; spots obsolete in most species, reniform and/or orbicular spot a small patch or bar of dark scales in a few species. Dorsal hindwing – usually lighter in color than forewing, poorly marked with several diffuse gray bands, or entirely gray in some forms. Abdomen – cylindrical, plump, longer in female, without tufts, clothed in short, stiff hair. Male genitalia – valve simple but robust, heavily sclerotized with prominent erect clasper at distal end of sacculus; tegumen with a pair of large ear-like subuncal lobes; uncus highly modified, laterally compressed with high rounded crown sloping down and tapering to a narrow terminus; aedeagus cylindrical, slightly expanded at terminus in some species; vesica a membranous sac, armed with 1-3 large sclerotized cornuti in all but one species. Female genitalia – sterigma in all but one species well-developed, massively sclerotized in P. judyae group; ductus bursae variable in size and proportions, sclerotized or partially sclerotized in most species, usually folded or twisted and with a thickened wall; corpus bursae a simple translucent oval or oblong sac, with thick-walled upper and thin-walled lower section in P. furcilla group; signa absent.