Athaumasta Hampson, 1906

Volynkin, Anton V., Saldaitis, Aidas, Titov, Sergey V. & Truuverk, Andro, 2019, Six new species of Athaumasta Hampson, 1906 (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Bryophilinae) from the mountains of Kazakhstan, Russian Altai and Mongolia, Ecologica Montenegrina 22, pp. 1-26 : 2-3

Athaumasta Hampson, 1906

Athaumasta Hampson, 1906 , Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum 6: 380. A replacement name for Thaumasta Staudinger, 1871 .

= Thaumasta Staudinger, 1871 , Catalog der Lepidopteren des europaeischen Faunegebiets (Edn. 2) 1871: 79, a junior homonym of Thaumasta Gistl, 1848 (Crustacea).

Type species: Polia expressa Lederer, 1855 , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Athaumasta is closely related to the genera Victrix Staudinger, 1879 and Bryophila Treitschke, 1825 , but its members are easily recognizable by their broader forewings with the characteristic pattern described below, which is rather uniform within the genus. Male antenna of typical Athaumasta is bipectinate, whereas in Victrix and Bryophila male antennae are ciliate. Only the miltina species-group has filiform antennae. The male genitalia of Athaumasta is also very similar to those of the genus Bryophila (subgenera Bryophila and Moureia Orfila & Rossi, 1956 ) and Victrix (subgenera Rasihia Koçak, 1989 and Micromima Matov, Fibiger & L. Ronkay, 2009 ), but the distal part of its uncus is dorso-ventrally flattened (uncus is evenly cylindrical in Bryophila and Victrix ), and the valva strongly narrowed distally and pointed apically (that is broader and rounded distally in Bryophila , Moureia and Micromima ). In the miltina species-group, the distal section of valva is slightly broadened with a rounded tip (similar to Bryophila , Moureia and Micromima ), and the uncus is strongly broadened and swollen basally and medially, and the valva shape of all Athaumasta species is similar to that of Victrix (Rasihia) , but the dorso-ventrally flattened tip of uncus is characteristic for the genus and can be considered as an autapomorphic feature. In addition, in Athaumasta the tip of uncus is blunted (like in Moureia and unlike Bryophila , Rasihia and Micromima , which have a pointed claw-like tip of uncus); the tip of harpe is pointed (that is rounded in Bryophila and Micromima ; in Moureia that is pointed, but the harpe is longer and reaches the tip of valva); the aedeagus has no heavily sclerotized carinal plate (present in Moureia ); the vesica is broadly saccate (that is narrowly tubular in Bryophila and much narrower in Rasihia and Micromima ). In female genitalia of Athaumasta , the heavily sclerotized anterior section of ductus bursae is characteristic.

Description. External morphology of adults. Male antenna bipectinate (filiform in the miltina species-group), female antenna filiform. Head, thorax, patagia and tegulae orange from orange and ochreous to greyish green or brownish olive. Abdomen dark brown with ochreous scales. Forewing ground colour from orange and ochreous to greyish green or brownish olive, often irrorated with blackish or grey scales; wing pattern well developed (in the pekarskyi species-group may be diffuse); basal area as ground colour. Transverse lines double: subbasal, postmedial and subterminal lines blackish inwardly and whitish outwardly, antemedial line whitish inwardly and blackish outwardly; subbasal line dentate, antemedial line irregularly wavy, postmedial line S-shaped curved, dentate on veins, subterminal line sinuous, discontinuous; terminal line as row of black dots on veins. Reniform and orbicular stigmata as ground colour, with whitish margins edged by blackish scales along outer margin; claviform stigma as dark stroke, indistinct, sometimes absent. Cilia as ground colour with blackish spots on veins. Hindwing dark, greyish brown; discal spot as large dark grey; transverse line pale grayish brown; cilia grayish brown. Male genitalia. Uncus moderately long, cylindrical basally and dorso-ventrally flattened distally, slightly curved at base with blunted apex; tegumen relatively short, penicular lobes narrow and rounded; transtilla broad, obtuse apically; juxta ovate, broad, shield-like, with two short trigonal apical processes; valva elongated, moderately broad, strongly narrowed distally, with pointed apex, its width vary within species; costal margin of valva slightly convex, dorsal margin slightly constricted at middle; clasper moderately long, distally broadened, S-shaped; harpe long, finger- or claw-shaped, evenly curved or almost straight, narrowed distally, with pointed apex; width of its basal and medial sections vary within species. Aedeagus short, cylindrical, distally curved, with weakly scobinated carinal plate; vesica saccular, membranous, finely granulated, its basal part broad, globular, curved dorsally, with small plate-like cornutus in distal section (the expressa , nana and miltina species-groups) or without it (the pekarskyi and splendida species-groups); distal tube long and narrow. Female genitalia. Ovipositor short, broadly conical; papillae anales trapezoidal, with rounded edges; apophyses anteriores and posteriores of equal length, elongated and thin, as long as 8 th abdominal segment; antrum broadly funnel-like, heavily sclerotized; ductus bursae as long as antrum or longer, its posterior section membranous, anterior section sclerotized; corpus bursae sack-like, membranous; appendix bursae situated postero-laterally, broadly conical.