Phragmatobia Stephens, 1828

Schmidt, B. Christian & Freina, Josef J. De, 2011, Generic placement of the Neotropical species of " Phragmatobia " (Erebidae, Arctiinae), with a remarkable matrivorous species from the Peruvian Andes, ZooKeys 149, pp. 69-88 : 70

Phragmatobia Stephens, 1828

Type species.

Phalaena fuliginosa Linnaeus, 1758 (by monotypy).

Type locality.

[Europe].

Phragmatobia includes five species distributed in the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions (including one Holarctic species, Phragmatobia fuliginosa (L.)), with the Neotropical species and one Asian species here transferred to other genera. As suggested by Forbes (1960), Phragmatobia is probably most closely related to the Nearctic genus Pyrrharctia Packard; male genitalic and molecular characters strongly support these two as sister taxa ( Schmidt 2007). We examined all Phragmatobia species, i.e. Phragmatobia fuliginosa (Linnaeus, 1758), Phragmatobia amurensis Seitz, 1910, Phragmatobia placida (Frivaldszky, 1835), Phragmatobia lineata Newman & Donahue, 1966 and Phragmatobia assimilans Walker, 1855. Examination of the type material (BMNH) of Phragmatobia oberthueri Rothschild, 1910, described from Kuku-Noor, Tibet, revealed that it is a junior synonym of Lachana alpherakii (Grum-Grzhimailo, 1891) [ Erebidae : Lymantriinae ], syn. n., comb. n., a group recently revised by Trofimova (2008). Two other species sometimes placed in Phragmatobia in the recent literature have been transferred to other genera, namely Orontobia coelestina Püngeler, 1904 ( De Freina 1997) and Epatolmis luctifera ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) ( Kôda 1988). Watson and Goodger (1986) placed eight Neotropical species in Phragmatobia , three of which were transferred to other genera by Ferguson (1985). Phragmatobia modesta Maassen, 1890 was recently moved to Amastus Walker [ Arctiini : Phaegopterina ] by Vincent and Laguerre (2010), leaving four Neotropical species that are dealt with here.

Diagnosis.

Phragmatobia is a fairly homogeneous group characterized by the following combination of characters: male antennae simple; wings fully developed in both sexes, forewing transverse lines diffuse or absent; wing colours varying from pinkish red to dark vinaceous red with darkbrown to blackish markings. Microtymbal of metepisternum well developed ( Phragmatobia fuliginosa ) to obsolete ( Phragmatobia assimilans ). Male genitalia with apical process of valve finger-like and ovoid in cross section; clasper spade-like, oriented transverse to longitudinal axis of valve, originating from inner surface of valve and directed mesad (divided into a ventral and costal lobe in Phragmatobia fuliginosa ); apex of aedeagus with spinose plates; paired, intersegmental coremata present between sternites 7-8. Females with ductus bursae heavily sclerotized, dorso-ventrally flattened, and nearly as wide as width of abdomen; corpus bursae globose, with two signa consisting of small flattened spicules; dorsal pheromone gland paired, each duct with 3-4 branches, the apices of which are rounded.