Scea grandis (Druce) Miller, James S, 2009

Miller, James S, 2009, Generic Revision Of The Dioptinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae) Part 2: Josiini, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2009 (321), pp. 675-1022 : 849

Scea grandis (Druce) , new combination Plate 33

Brachyglene grandis Druce, 1900: 510 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Colombia, Sierra del Libane, 6000 ft.

TYPE: Syntype ♀, leg. H.H. Smith ( BMNH).

DISCUSSION: Scea grandis resembles both S. discinota and S. dimidiata in size and wing pattern (pl. 33), and genital morphology supports a close relationship between them. The genitalia of S. circumscripta (pl. 33) also suggest membership in this group, which seems to form a subclade of Scea . Scea grandis is distinctive in exhibiting less orange at the base of the FW and HW than the other three.

This species is known from few specimens: four females (including the type) and a male at the BMNH; one male and two females at the ZMH; and a single male in the CMNH collection. The specimens of T. grandis dissected for this study were collected in the Santa Marta mountain range of northeastern Colombia, near the border with Venezuela, a fascinating region rich in endemic species, but an area that is currently too dangerous for travel. That locality is also near Mérida, Venezuela, the home of S. discinota ( Miller and Otero, 1994) .

The vesica of T. grandis is extremely long, with a set of robust, spinelike cornuti at its apex. The membrane of the vesica is packed tightly into the aedeagus at rest. The female dissection of S. grandis (JSM-1445) reveals that the large distal spikelike cornuti of the male (e.g., see fig. 351D) can sometimes break off and become lodged in the CB membrane during copulation.

DISTRIBUTION: Colombia (BMNH, CMNH, ZMH) .

DISSECTED: ³, Colombia, Magdalena, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta , 2300 m, 17 Jul 1974, Hotel Solito, leg. C. Gibson, at Tilley Lamp, B.M. 1976-712., BMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-1444 ) ; ♀, Colombia, Magdalena, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta , 10 ° 54 9 N 74 ° 00 9 W, 2300 m, 3 Jul–2 Sep 1973, Oxford Expedn to Colombia, B.M. 1973-500., BMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-1445 ) .