Aprica Goldstein

Goldstein, Paul Z., Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2019, Aprica: a new genus and life history for the pteridivore Xanthia patula Druce, 1898 (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), ZooKeys 866, pp. 127-145 : 129-130

Aprica Goldstein gen. nov.

Type species.

Xanthia patula Druce, 1898.

Type locality.

Costa Rica.

Etymology.

Aprica (feminine) derives from the Latin apricus, sunny, open to the light.

Diagnosis.

Aprica may be diagnosed readily both from the appearance of the forewing and by the male and female genitalia. The bisection of the golden-orange FW and similar thoracic coloration from the sunset-reddish HW and similar abdominal coloration is distinctive. Although the male genitalia are unremarkable, the valve simple with a rudimentary, hook-like clasper, the combination of this feature with the absence of abdominal coremata, and the presence of M2 on the HW, differentiates Aprica from other genera with pteridivorous species in which either the clasper is absent and the coremata present (e.g., Callopistria , Phuphena Walker, 1858); from genera with the reverse condition (e.g., Fagitana Walker, 1865, in which coremata are absent but which bear a complex clasping apparatus and corresponding ridge on the female 8th sternite), or in which the hindwing M2 is not expressed (e.g., Leucosigma , Lophomyra ). In both Aprica patula and Fagitana littera , the corpus bursae is elongate and the ductus seminalis arises from an appendix bursae located at the posterior (proximal) end of the corpus, a condition shared by several Eriopinae but usually uninformative at the generic level.

Description.

Head. Antennae setose, biramous in males, uniramous in females; scaled above, cupreous. Labial palpi upturned, densely scaled. Eyes naked.

Thorax. Thoracic vestiture golden orange, concolorous with forewing. Wings. General “background” coloration sharply bisected between forewing and hind wing, the former predominantly orange (as the thoracic vestiture) and the latter a reddish russett (as the abdominal vestiture); M2 faintly but clearly expressed on hindwing. Legs. One pair mid-tibial spurs, two pair on hind-tibiae; three rows of tibial spines on legs.

Abdomen. Coremata absent; without brushes, pockets, or levers.

Male genitalia. Uncus heavily setose; dorsal edges of tegumen straight, angled ventrally at roughly 45°, tegumen widest supra-medially; valvae medially situated, articulating with the vinculum in its dorsal half, setose throughout, of more or less constant width with a minor constriction at the cucullus; corona well developed; baso-costal processes of sacculus robust; clasper medially situated in valve, elongate with a sharply sclerotized apical hook at the cucullus; pleurite fused; juxta shield-shaped; transtilla well developed and paratergal sclerite evident, well fused; sacculus gently rounded.

Female genitalia. Papillae anales flanged at postero-basal edge; posterior and anterior apophyses rod-like, not swollen apically, the anterior slightly shorter than the posterior. Antrum well developed; ductus seminalis arising from the appendix bursae, appendix bursae deriving dorsally from the posterior third of the ductus bursae; ductus bursae wide, elongate, tubular, with a 360° counter-clockwise torsion immediately posterior to the corpus bursae; corpus bursae, oblong, bearing a single transverse signum.

Immature stages.

Known from images of A. patula ; see description below.

Distribution.

Mexico and Central America