Phavaraea dilatata (Walker), 1854

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 : 731-732

Phavaraea dilatata (Walker) Figures 305E–G , 306B , 307 ; plate 28 [EX]

Josia dilatata Walker, 1854: 316 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Brazil.

TYPE: Syntype 3, Bates Collection ( BMNH).

DISCUSSION: Phavaraea dilatata can be distinguished from other members of the genus because the FW is more elongate (pl. 28), and the FW veins are lined with light brown scales as they run through the dark brown ground color; in other Phavaraea the FW veins are concolorous. Males exhibit a complex, and unique, set of androconia providing for easy recognition. First, the HW is extremely full with a greatly expanded anal margin (fig. 306B), held folded around the abdomen ( Walker, 1854). Within this fold, the HW margin bears long, pedicellate, light gray androconia interspersed with even longer, brown lanceolate ones. On the abdomen itself there are two types of androconia: (1) long, blackish-brown bristles arising from the pleuron of A4–A6; and (2) elongate blackish-brown scales on the dorsum of A5–A7. The blackish bristles alone make the moth instantly recognizable. How the various parts of this male system function together during courtship is unknown.

Phavaraea dilatata is relatively rare. My survey of the world’s collections uncovered a total of 24 specimens (1933, 5♀♀), most of these captured well over 100 years ago. The largest series, at the ZMH, contains six males and two females, originally from the Staudinger Collection, all in beautiful condition ( Brazil, Novo Friburgo). Three specimens document the species’ occurrence in Suriname (13) and French Guiana (13, 1♀), while the remainder were collected in eastern Brazil, in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro. The genitalia of moths from these rather disjunct localities are identical.

DISTRIBUTION: Brazil (BMNH, CAS, MCZ, MNHN, OUMNH, VOB, ZMH); French Guiana (CAS); Suriname (BMNH).

DISSECTED: 3, Suriname, BMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-346 ) ; 3, Brazil, Espírito Santo, R. H. Stretch Collection, CAS (genitalia slide no. JSM-1743 , wing slide no. JSM-1667 ) ; ♀, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, San Fidelis, Sto. Antonio dos Brotos, 1876 –1882, leg. August Vincent de Lyon , BMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-347 ) .

Figures

Fig. 305. Morphology of Phavaraea (33). A, head of P. rejecta, lateral view; B, head of P. rejecta, lateral view; C, head of P. rejecta, frontal view; D, head of P. rejecta, posterior view; E, head of P. dilitata, lateral view; F, head of P. dilatata, frontal view; G, head of P. dilatata, posterior view (illustration by J.S. Miller).

Fig. 306. Morphology of Phavaraea (33). A, wings of P. rejecta; B, wings of P. dilatata (illustration by J.S. Miller).

Fig. 307. Genitalia of Phavaraea dilatata (3 JSM-346, ♀ JSM-347). A, 3 genitalia; B, 3 St8; C, aedeagus; D, 3 Tg8; E, ♀ genitalia (illustration by A. Trabka).