Visiana brujata (Guenée), Guenee

Schmidt, Olga, 2015, The genus Visiana Swinhoe (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae) in Australia: resurrection of two species from synonymy, Zootaxa 4021 (4), pp. 501-514 : 503-506

Visiana brujata (Guenée)

( Figs 2 , 6, 7 , 11 , 14, 15 , 18 )

Scotosia brujata Guenée, 1858 [‘1857’]: 444.

Hydriomena brujata (Guenée) : Meyrick, 1890: 855. Xanthorhoe brujata (Guenée) : Turner, 1926: 128. Visiana brujata (Guenée) : Holloway, 1986: 542.

Types. V. brujata : [ Australia]. Tasmania. Holotype female, ex. Musaeo Ach. Guenée, no further data ( Fig. 2 ) (BMNH, examined).

Other material examined. Australia. Queensland. One male, three females, Kuranda, 1907 or 1910, FPD or FPD, no further data, Herberton district, 1911, FPD ( BMNH), three males, eight females, Curtain Fig, Wongabel SF, 6.viii.1996, 9-10.ii.1997 or 9.11.2005, BO, HM, OS or no further data, Lamington NP, 20-24.x.2006 or 12.iii.2007, RLK (IBISCA, OSPC), one female, Toowoomba, 11.x.1945, no further data ( ANIC). New South Wales. Two females, Illawarra, Schrader, Carlton, x.1924 ( BMNH), six females, Narara, 30.vii.1947, L.H. Mosse- Robinson, Wingham, 30.vi.1990 or 8-10.ix.1992, J. Stockard, Barren Grounds, 12.ii.1979, V.J. Robinson, Mt Wilson, 11.xii.1958, Thirkell ( ANIC). Victoria . One male, Gippsland, [18]92, JAK ( BMNH). Tasmania. One male, Hobart, xii.1924, no further data ( ANIC), two males, NE Tasmania, 366 m, i.1906, R.M. Green or no further data ( BMNH).

Diagnosis. Forewings similar to V. incertata but slightly paler, with the median band slightly broader than in V. repentinata . In the male genitalia, the valvae are shorter than in V. incertata , as well as the projecting apical processes, and the aedeagus is usually distinctly smaller than in V. incert ata . In the female genitalia, the ductus bursae is medially thinner than in V. incertata , the corpus bursae and the diverticulum are smaller than in V. incertata .

Description. Labial palpi brown. Legs brown, with indistinct rings of ochreous-brown scales. Wing expanse 30-40 mm (n=10). Forewings above ochreous-brown to brown, darker in males, with basal band not quite distinct, with median band slightly narrowing to the hind margin, more distinct in males, with rather blunt medial projecting tooth, edged with a brown wavy line and a fine broken whitish line, with whitish dots at the veins, more distinct in males, with very short, blunt, usually rounded posterior projecting tooth partly edged with a rather distinct whitish line, with a small discal dot, more distinct in males, underneath ochreous-brown, with a thin, wavy, dark brown median line in females and several thin, wavy, dark brown median lines in males, with a small brown discal dot. Hind wings above usually ochreous-brown to brown, with a few brownish wavy lines in the basal half, sometimes indistinct, underneath coloured and patterned as forewings ( Figs 6, 7 , 11 ).

Remarks. Specimens from northern Queensland differ from the more southern examples by their slightly smaller size.

Male genitalia ( Figs 14, 15 ). Uncus long, robust, relatively broad at base, more or less gradually tapering towards the apex; tegumen long for the genus, with rather distinct shoulders at base of uncus, with long lateral arms of gnathos extended from the shoulders, reaching the level of the juxta; valvae elongated, with costa relatively narrow, sclerotized, with rather short, thin, narrowly rounded distally, projecting apical processes and with rather long and narrow basal projections towards the juxta; saccus long, shaped more or less like uncus but broader; juxta with small, somewhat oval lateral papillae; aedeagus relatively small, thin, usually less than 2.5 times as long as uncus, with anellus covered with fine spines, without cornuti or distinct scobination in vesica.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 18 ). Antrum somewhat funnel-shaped, sclerotized only in its proximal part; ductus bursae long, slightly broadening towards the corpus bursae, evenly sclerotized; corpus bursae very small for the genus, about the same length as the ductus, oval, membranous, with a small, rounded diverticulum connected between the ductus and corpus bursae by a short, thin tube, with ductus seminalis set medio-proximally on corpus bursae; signum a rather small, rounded patch of symmetrically arranged, inwardly directed spicules.

Distribution. Australia (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria , Tasmania,?Western Australia).

Remarks. One female collected in Western Australia (Perth, 1906, no further data), with wing pattern very similar to V. brujata was found in the BMNH. Unfortunately, it is not possible to confirm the identification as the abdomen is missing.

There is a redescription of Hydriomena brujata (Guenée) by Meyrick (1891) which is apparently based on a superficially similar but not closely related species, namely Scotocyma albinotata ( Walker, 1866) .

Figures

FIGURES 2 – 5. Visiana spp., type specimens, wings above: 2. V. brujata, holotype female, ex. Musaeo Ach. Guenée, Tasmania; 3. V. incertata, holotype female, Moreton Bay, Queensland; 4. V. breviaria, holotype male, Australia; 5. V. repentinata, holotype female, Moreton Bay, Queensland.

FIGURES 6 – 10. Visiana spp., wings above: 6. V. brujata, male, Tasmania; 7. V. brujata, female, Queensland; 8. V. incertata, male, Queensland; 9. V. incertata, female, Queensland; 10. V. repentinata, female, Australia, Queensland.

FIGURES 11 – 13. Visiana spp., wings underneath: 11. V. brujata, holotype female, ex. Musaeo Ach. Guenée, Tasmania; 12. V. incertata, holotype female, Queensland, Moreton Bay; 13. V. repentinata, female, Queensland, Brisbane.

FIGURES 14 – 17. Visiana spp., male genitalia: (14, 16) armature, (15, 17) aedeagus: 14 – 15. V. brujata; 16 – 17. V. incertata (type specimen of V. breviaria).

FIGURES 18 – 20. Visiana spp., female genitalia, type specimens: 18. V. brujata, holotype; 19. V. incertata, holotype (the ductus seminalis is hidden behind the corpus bursae); 20. V. repentinata, holotype.