Gloora sericea ( Zerny, 1931 ) Grados & Laguerre & Boppré, 2018

Grados, Juan, Laguerre, Michel & Boppré, Michael, 2018, Gloora gen. nov. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Arctiini: Ctenuchina) for several Agylla - like Arctiinae, Zootaxa 4497 (2), pp. 226-240 : 233-234

Gloora sericea ( Zerny, 1931) comb. nov.

( Figs. 23‒26 , 39‒42 , 49 , 53 )

Eucereon sericeum Zerny, 1931: 25 ; Tafel 1, fig. 5. Type locality: BRAZIL, Rio de Janeiro, Neu-Freiburg ( Semper 1873). Type depository: NHMW .

Eucereon sericeum— Hoffmann (1936: 449), Pinheiro & Gaal-Haszler (2015; figs 22, 62).

Agaraea sericeum ( Zerny, 1931) — Beccacece & Zapata (2017).

Lectotype: BRAZIL, 1 ♂, with three labels: Stieglmayr , Rio Gr . do Sul / Ende August / Eucereon sericeum Zerny ♂ Type. Designated by Pinheiro & Gaal-Haszler (2015).

Paralectotypes: BRAZIL, 1 ♂, Stieglmayr Rio Gr. do Sul / Ende August / Eucereon sericeum Zerny ♂ Type; 1 ♂, Stieglmayr Rio Gr. do Sul / Anf. August / Eucereon sericeum Zerny ♂ Type; 1 ♂, Semper Nea Freiburg 1873 / Eucereon sericeum Zerny ♂ Type; 1 ♀, Stieglmayr Rio Gr. do Sul / Mitte Septb. / Eucereon sericeum Zerny ♂ Type; 1 ♀, Stieglmayr Rio Gr. do Sul / Jänner / Eucereon sericeum Zerny ♂ Type. All specimens in NHMW.

Additional material examined: BRAZIL, 1 ♂, São Paulo, Alto de Serra, IX.1923 (R. Spitz) (Rothschild / Bequest / B.M. 1939-1) ( NHMUK) ; 1 ♂, idem except, VI.1926; 1 ♀, idem except, VII.1928; 1 ♂, idem except, VIII.1928; 1 ♀, idem except, IX.1928; 1 ♂, Paraná, Curitiba , 920 m, 25.X.1975 (V.O. Becker col.) ( NHMUK) . BRAZIL, 1 ♂, Santa Catarina, Neu Bremen , 31.i.1932 (Fr. Hoffmann) ; 1 ♂, idem except, 250 m (NHMW). BRAZIL, a series of ♂♂ and ♀♀ from Castro Paraná, is pinned in row with the type of G. alba in NHMUK . BRAZIL, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Paraná, Estrada da Graciosa, 2-XII- 2011, 873 m, M. Zenker leg. Both specimens are sequenced: Sample ID MMZ1080, BOLD Proc ID LEMMZ1080-12 and MMZ1082 , BOLD Proc ID LEMMZ 1082-12 . 1 ♀, same data but 700 m and Sample ID MMZ1081 , BOLD Proc ID LEMMZ1081-12 . All in DZUP. [All examined.]

Diagnosis. Head and patagia creamy. Tegulae and dorsal surface of thorax and abdomen, white. All wings silky white. In males a creamy androconial patch in the costal cell dorsally. Valvae symmetrical, longer than the uncus. Saccus evenly rounded.

Re-description. Male. Head. Proboscis light brown. Palpi creamy, not exceeding vertex in length. First and second palpomeres with brown scales dorsally. Frons creamy, slightly longer than wide. Ocular ring brown with bluish hue. Vertex, scales immediately posterior to the antennal sockets and occiput creamy. Antennae creamy with brown scales along the shaft of flagellomere. Medial rami approximately two times the width of the shaft of flagellomere. Rami decreasing in length gradually towards the tip of the antennae. Distal flagellomeres lacking rami. Thorax. Patagia creamy. Dorsal surface of meso- and metathorax, including tegulae, white. Foreleg coxae creamy white on the anterior side, white on the posterior side. Foreleg femora, tibia and tarsi light brown, with white scales on the outer surface. The epiphysis light brown. Mid- and hindleg coxae white. Mid- and hindleg femora, tibia and tarsi light brown, with white scales on the outer surface. Forewings. Forewing length 13‒14 mm (n = 4) (no types). Dorsal and ventral surfaces identical in color pattern, covered by white scales. The costal margin brown, fading towards the apex. Retinaculum white. Hindwings. Dorsal and ventral surfaces almost identical, covered with white scales. Presence of a creamy androconial patch in the costal cell upper side. Abdomen. Countertympana, dorsal and ventral side, white. Genitalia ( Figs. 39‒42 ). Saccus developed. Tegumen narrower than vinculum, glabrous. Anterior margin of tegumen with a deep U-shaped invagination. Posterior margin of tegumen thinning, in the middle membranous, from which two structures emerge in the form of tongues, sclerotized. Uncus unilobed, acute. Juxta extended, sclerotized, basally two times wider than distally. Valvae symmetrical, longer than the uncus; in lateral view, thin and slightly curved, covered with setae. Ventral process membranous covered with setae. Dorsal process slender, slightly sclerotized and acute. Phallus widening distally. Vesica membranous with two patches of cornuti: the first in the basal area of the right side, the second in the distal area of the left side. Coremata with additional scale bunches ( Fig. 49 ) at the bases of coremata tubes (as in alba , above).

Female. Forewing length 14‒15 mm (n = 2) (no types). As males, but medial rami as long as the shaft width. The costal margin brown, but less pronounced than males. The frenulum with two bristles. Genitalia ( Fig. 53 ). Ninth tergite slightly sclerotized. Papillae anales with relatively long setae. Anterior and posterior apophyses subequal. Ostium and antrum centralized. Antevaginal and postvaginal lamellae sclerotized. Ductus bursae wide, flattened, sinusoid, membranous in the distal half, sclerotized in the basal half. Corpus bursae oval and membranous, with sclerotized spicules on more than half its surface. Ductus seminalis emerging from the first third of the bursa.

Barcode. See Discussion.

Biology. Unknown.

Distribution. In the Southeast and South of BRAZIL, including the states of Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul ( Zerny 1931), Santa Catarina ( Hoffmann 1936), Paraná and São Paulo (NHMUK).

Remarks. Gloora sericea is easily confused with some Lithosiini , including Agylla and Cyptonychia flaviceps Druce ( Hoffmann 1936) .

Pinheiro & Gaal-Haszler (2015) asserted that the habitus and genitalia are certainly not part of a monophyletic concept of Eucereon , also mentioning that the species may be related to Hyaleucerea mundula, Eucereon alba and E. vestalis . With the last two they share similarities in the color of adults males and females. Greater similarities in relation to external morphology and genitalia are found with H. mundula and E. alba ; for E. vestalis see Discussion.

Eucereon sericeum was recently erroneously transferred to the genus Agaraea Herrich-Schäffer , [1855] ( Beccacece & Zapata (2017) which belongs to the Phaegopterina . The genitalia of Agaraea ( Beccacece & Zapata (2017: figs. 11‒14) are very different and E. sericeum is a Ctenuchina .

Figures

FIGURES 15‒30. Gloora alba comb. nov. (15‒18), G. mundula comb. nov. (19‒22), G. sericea comb. nov. (23‒26), and G. canae sp. nov. (27‒30), habitus male (15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28) and female (17, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26, 29, 30), dorsal (left) and ventral (right) view. Scale bar: 5 mm.

FIGURES 39‒42. Gloora sericea comb. nov., male genitalia; dorsal (39), ventral (40), lateral (41), phallus (42). Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIGURES 47‒50. Dense clusters of scales, representing crystal scales (cs)(sensu Boppré et al. 2018) at the base of coremata (co) as seen in a freshly killed specimen in which coremata were artificially protruded (47) and in a KOH abdominal preparation of Gloora alba comb. nov. Same structures in KOH preparations of G. sericea comb. nov. (49) and G. canae sp. nov. (50).

FIGURE 51‒54. Gloora alba comb. nov. (51), G. mundula comb. nov. (52), G. sericea comb. nov. (53), G. canae sp. nov. (54), female genitalia (bursae). Scale bars: 1 mm.