Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2020-10-09
Page range: 67–91
Abstract views: 92
PDF downloaded: 4

Taxonomic revision of Schausiana Viette with two new species from Guatemala and notes on biogeography and correlated tectonics (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae)

Caixa postal 1206, 84.145-000 Carambeí, Paraná, Brazil.
Research Associate, McGuire Center for Lepidoptera & Biodiversity, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Centro de Estudios Ambientales y Biodiversidad, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, 18 Avenida 11-95 Zona 15, Vista Hermosa III, Guatemala, Guatemala, C. A.
Lepidoptera morphology Neotropical Pallas Phassus Phthius taxonomy

Abstract

We morphologically validate the genus Schausiana Viette, 1950 as a monophyletic group comprising five species—S. phalerus (Druce, 1887) comb. n. and S. trojesa (Schaus, 1901) from Mexico, S. chalciope sp. n. and S. maishei sp. n. from Guatemala and S. pharus (Druce, 1887) comb. n. from Mexico to Costa Rica. Potential morphological monophyly of the genus is supported by the unique shared presence of specialized scales spine-like, elongate spinous, or piliform, located along the forewing veins. We investigate possible close phylogenetic relationships of this genus with the Mexican and Central American genera Pallas C. Mielke & Grehan, 2015, and Phassus Walker, 1856, and the southeastern Brazilian genus, Phthius C. Mielke & Grehan, 2017. Also discussed are the shared presence of several characters supporting the morphological monophyly of Schausiana, Phassus, and Pallas as ‘phassine’ Hepialidae. The distribution range of Schausiana is bounded in its northwestern range by the Guerrero terrane. Other than the widespread S. pharus with a disjunct record from Costa Rica, the southern distribution boundary corresponds to the Motagua-Polochic Fracture Zone in Guatemala. We suggest that the ancestral range of Schausiana did not include the Guerrero terrane and was possibly also absent from the Chocos Block (Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua) and the Costa Rica-Panama arc of Central America. Further divergence of Schausiana is predicted to have been influenced by tectonic events during late Cretaceous or early Cenozoic time. Colour photos are presented for all species for the first time. Holotypes of S. maishei, sp. n., and S. chalciope, sp. n., are deposited in the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala.

 

References

  1. Butler, A.G. (1882) Heterocerous Lepidoptera collected in Chili by Thomas Edmonds, Esq. Part I. Sphinges and Bombyces. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1882, 1–30.

    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.1882.tb01566.x

    CENGICAÑA [Centro Guatemalteco de Investigación y Capacitación de la Caña de Azúcar] (Ed.) (2007) Eventos históricos y logros 1992–2007. Citas bibliográficas, Guatemala City (Guatemala), 85 pp.

    Clennett, E., Sigloch, K., Mihalynuk, M.G., Seton, M., Henderson, M.A., Hoosseini, K., Mohammadzaheri, A., Johnston, S.T. & Müller, R.D. (2020) A Quantitative Tomotectonic Plate Reconstruction of Western North America and the Eastern Pacific Basin. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. [in press]

    https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GC009117

    Decaëns, T. & Rougerie, R. (2008) Descriptions of two new species of Hemileucinae (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) from the region of Muzo in Colombia—evidence from morphology and DNA barcodes. Zootaxa, 1944 (1), 34–52.

    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1944.1.2

    Druce, H. (1881–1900) Heterocera. In: Godman, F.C. & Salvin, O. (Eds.), Biologia Centrali-Americana, Zoology. Insecta, Lepidoptera-Heterocera. Vols. I–III. Published for the editors by R. H. Porter, London, pp. i–xxxi + 1–490, 1–622 & col. pls. 101 .

    Dumbleton, L.J. (1966) Genitalia, classification and zoogeography of the New Zealand Hepialidae (Lepidoptera). New Zealand Journal of Science, 9 (4), 920–981.

    Edwards, M.A. & Hopwood, A.T. (1966) Nomenclator Zoologicus. Vol. 6. Zoological Society of London, London, x + 329 pp.

    Gómez, B. & Junghans, C. (2014) Julieta Ramos Elorduy y la antropoentomofagia en Chiapas, México. In: Costa-Neto, E. (Ed.), Julieta Ramos Elorduy, una vida de enseñanzas y labor. Asociación Etnobiológica Mexicana, A.C., San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, pp. 16–21.

    Gómez, B., Junghans, C., Aldaroso, E.M. & Grehan, J.R. (2016) The ghost moth (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) as food of indigenous people in Mexico. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 2 (1), 53–59.

    https://doi.org/10.3920/JIFF2015.0092

    Grehan, J.R. (2010) Structural variants in the morphology of the first abdominal tergite supporting the monophyly of the Latin American genera Cibyra Walker, Druceiella Viette, Pfitzneriana Viette and Trichophassus Le Cerf (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae). Bulletin of the Buffalo Museum of Science, 39, 43–63.

    Grehan, J.R. (2012) Morphological evidence for phylogenetic relationships within the Hepialidae (Lepidoptera: Exoporia). Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, 42, 1–30.

    Grehan, J.R. & Mielke, C.G.C. (2017) Re-characterization of Gymelloxes with a re-description of Gymelloxes terea from Central America (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae). Zootaxa, 4363 (3), 434–440.

    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4363.3.8

    Grehan, J.R. & Mielke, C.G.C. (2018) Description of new species of Yleuxas Viette, 1951 from Peru and taxonomic notes on the genus (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae). The European Entomologist, 9 (2), 45–59.

    Grehan, J.R., Mielke, C.G.C., Ignatev, N., de Groof, B., Austin, K. & Witt, T. (2019) Three new species of Endoclita C. &. R. Felder, 1874 from northern Laos and Thailand (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae). Entomofauna, Series 2, 40 (11), 273–297.

    Grehan, J.R., Mielke, C.G.C. & Nishida, K. (2018) Redescription of the male golden ghost moth Phassus aurigenus Pfitzner, 1914 from Costa Rica with taxonomical note (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae). Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo, Neue Folge, 39 (2), 63–68.

    Grehan J.R. & Rawlins, J.E. (2003) Larval description of the New and World ghost moth Phassus and the evolutionary biogeography of wood boring Hepialidae (Lepidoptera: Exoporia: Hepialoidea). Journal of the Washington Entomological Society, 105, 733–755.

    Grehan, J.R. & Rawlins, J.E. (2016) A remarkable new genus and species of ghost moth from Peru (Lepidoptera: Exoporia: Hepialidae). Annals of Carnegie Museum, 84, 47–57.

    https://doi.org/10.2992/007.084.0106

    Heads M. (2016) Pan-biogeografia da América do Sul. In: Carvalho, C.J.B. & Almeida, E.A.B. (Eds.), Biogeografia da América do Sul: Análise de tempo, espaço e forma. Roca, Rio de Janeiro, pp. 57–103.

    Hebert, P.D.N., Cywinska, A., Ball, S.L. & de Waard, J.R. (2003) Biological identifications through DNA barcodes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B 270, 313–321.

    https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.2218

    Kirby, W.F. (1892) A synonymic catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera (moths). Vol. I. Sphinges and Bombyces. Guerney & Jackson, London and R. Friedlander, Berlin, xii + 951 pp.

    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.9152

    Kristensen, N.P. (2003) 4. Skeleton and muscles: adults. In: Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.), Band/Volume 4: Arthropoda: Insecta, Teilband/Part 36. Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies. Vol. 2. Morphology, physiology, and development. Handbook of Zoology/Handbuch der Zoologie. Part IV. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and Boston, pp. 39–131.

    López de la Cruz, E., Gómez, B., Sánchez-Cortés, M.S., Cortés, S. Junghans, C., Lázaro, Y. & Martínez Jímenez, L.V. (2015) Insectos útiles entre los Tsotsiles del municipio de San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas, México. Etnobiología, 13 (2), 72–84.

    López Gómez, J.A., Mariaca Méndez, R. & Gómez y Gómez, B. (2013) Conocimiento tradicional y antropoentomofagía del Chanulte’ en Oxchuc, Chiapas, México. Etnobiología, 11 (2), 69–80.

    Maddison, P.A. (1993) UNDP/FAO-SPEC Survey of Agricultural Pests and Diseases in the South Pacific, Technical report. Vol. 3. Pests and other fauna associated with plants, with botanical accounts of plants. Manaaki Whenua Landcare B Research, Auckland, 748 pp.

    Mallet, J. (1984) Sex roles in the ghost moth Hepialus humuli (L.) and a review of mating in the Hepialidae (Lepidoptera). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 79, 67–82.

    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1984.tb02320.x

    Mielke, C.G.C. & Casagrande, M.M. (2013) A new Cibyra Walker, 1856 from Southern Brazil (Lepidoptera, Hepialidae). Nachrichten entomologische Vereins Apollo, Neue Folge, 34 (1/2), 73–86.

    Mielke, C.G.C. & Grehan, J.R. (2012) Catalogue of the Latin American Hepialidae with taxonomic remarks (Lepidoptera). Nachrichten entomologische Vereins Apollo, Neue Folge, 32 (3/4), 131–158.

    Mielke, C.G.C. & Grehan, J.R. (2015) Description of a new species of Phassus Walker, 1856 from Costa Rica, Pallas, gen. n., with a new species from Guatemala, and taxonomic notes on Sthenopis Packard, [1856] (Lepidoptera, Hepialidae). The European Entomologist, 7, 113–134.

    Mielke, C.G.C. & Grehan, J.R. (2017) Description of Phthius gen. n., with a new species from southeastern Brazil with possible vicariance relationships to Mesoamerica (Lepidoptera, Hepialidae). Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo, Neue Folge, 38, 132–137.

    Nerlich, R., Clark, S.R. & Bunge, H.-P. (2014) Reconstructing the link between the Galapagos hotspot and the Caribbean Plateau. Geological Research Journal, 1–2, 1–7.

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.grj.2014.02.001

    Nielsen, E.S. & Robinson, G.S. (1983) Ghost moths of southern South America (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) [With a summary in Spanish prepared by P. Gentili: “Mariposas Fantasmas del sur de Sudamerica”]. Entomograph, 4, 1–192, 431 figs.

    Nielsen, E.S., Robinson, G.S. & Wagner, D.L. (2000) Ghost-moths of the world: a global inventory and bibliography of the Exoporia (Mnesarchaeoidea and Hepialoidea) (Lepidoptera). Journal of Natural History, 34, 823–878.

    https://doi.org/10.1080/002229300299282

    Nye, I.W.B. & Fletcher, D.S. (1991) Microlepidoptera. In: Nye, I.W.B. (Ed.), The generic names of moths of the world. Vol. 6. Trustees of the NHMUK, London, pp. i–xxix + 1–368.

    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.119516

    Paclt, J. (1953) Genera of the Hepialidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera). Journal of the Asiatic Society, 19 (2), 141–148.

    Pfitzner, R. (1914) Neue Hepialiden. Entomologische Rundschau, 31 (18 & 19), 105–106 & 110.

    Pfitzner, R. (1937–1938) Familie: Hepialidae, In: Seitz, A. (Ed.), Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 6. Band. Die Amerikanischen Spinner und Schwärmer. A. Kernen, Stuttgart, pp. 1289–1302, pls. 99–100 + 185. [1913–1940]

    Ramos-Elorduy, J., Moreno, J.M.P., Vásquez, A.I., Landero, I., Oliva-Rivera, H. & Camacho, V.H.M. (2011) Edible Lepidoptera in Mexico: Geographic distribution, ethnicity, economic and nutritional importance for rural people. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 7 (2), 1–22.

    https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-7-2

    Ratnasingham, S. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2007) BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data System (http://www.barcodinglife.org). Molecular Ecology Notes, 7, 355–364.

    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01678.x

    Robinson, G.S. & Nielsen, E.S. (1984) Hepialidae. In: Heppner, J.B. (Ed.), Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist: Part 1. Micropterigoidea–Immoidea. W. Junk, Den Haag, pp. i–xxvii + 1–112.

    Schaus, W. (1901) New species of Heterocera from tropical America—II. Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 9 (2), 73–77.

    https://doi.org/10.1080/03745480109442893

    Simonsen, T.J. (2018) Splendid Ghost Moths and Their Allies. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, 12, i–xii + 1–300.

    https://doi.org/10.1071/9781486307487

    Vaglia, T., Haxaire, J., Kitching, I., Meusnier, I. & Rougerie, R. (2008) Morphology and DNA barcoding reveal three cryptic species within the Xylophanes neoptolemus and loelia species-groups (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). Zootaxa, 1923 (1), 18–36.

    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1923.1.2

    Viette, P. (1949) Contribution à l’étude des Hepialidae (4e note). Description de deux nouveaux genres sud-américains. Revue Française d’Entomologie, 16 (1), 52–55.

    Viette, P.L. (1950a) Contribution a l’étude des Hepialidae (11e note). Sur quelques espèces sud-américaines. Annales de la Société entomologique de France, 116, 73–81.

    Viette, P.L. (1950b) Contribution to the study of Hepialidae (9th note): The genus Phassodes Bethune-Baker (Lepidoptera). Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society, 14 (1), 189–190.

    Viette, P.L. (1951a) Contribution a l’étude des Hépialidae (17e note). Les genres et leur espèce type. Lambillionea, 50 (7–10), 73–80.

    Viette, P.L. (1951b) Contribution to the study of Hepialidae (25th note). On some new or little known species in the British Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 12, 4, 1272–1282.

    https://doi.org/10.1080/00222935108654257

    Wagner, H. & Pfitzner, R. (1911) Hepialidae. In: Aurivillius, C. & Wagner, H. (Eds.), Lepidopterorum Catalogus. 4. W. Junk, Berlin, pp. 1–26.

    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.166235

    Walker, F. (1856) s.n. In: List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VII. Lepidoptera Heterocera. Trustees of NHMUK, London, pp. [4] + [1509]–1808. [10.v]

    Williams, F.X. (1935) Hepialus pharus Druce. A moth borer attacking sugar cane in Guatemala. Hawaiian planters’ record, 39 (4), 292–297.

    Zhu, H., Wang, K. & Han, H. (2004) Fauna Sinica Insecta 38. Science Press, Beijing, 952 pp., 8pl. [in Chinese with English summary]