Aziba vehemensaria (H. Edwards, 1884 ) Queiroz-Santos & Casagrande & Mielke, 2024

Queiroz-Santos, Luziany, Casagrande, Mirna Martins & Mielke, Olaf Hermann Hendrik, 2024, Taxonomic revision of Siculodes Guenée and revalidation of Aziba Walker (Lepidoptera, Thyrididae, Siculodinae, Siculodini), Zootaxa 5543 (4), pp. 501-538 : 529-536

Aziba vehemensaria (H. Edwards, 1884) stat. rev. et comb. nov.

( Figs 11 , 17 , 27 , 46 )

Drepanodes vehemensaria H. Edwards, 1884 . Papilio , 4 (1): 19; 1 female [recte male] [holotype].—H. Druce, 1895, in Godman & Salvin. Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta . Lepidoptera —Heterocera, 2: 31.

Aziba macropterana [misidentification]; H. Druce, 1895, in Godman & Salvin. Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta . Lepidoptera —Heterocera, 2: 187, plate 59, fig. 8 (d).

Risama avicula [misidentification]; Gaede, 1936, in Seitz. Die Gross -Schmetterlinge des Amerikanischen Faunengebietes. Die amerikanischen Spinner und Schwärmer, 6: 1208, fig. 175d (d).— Forbes, 1942. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, 90 (2): 350.

Siculodes eurymenanus [sic] [in part]; Whalley & Heppner, 1995, Thyridoidea, in Becker et al. Checklist: Part 2, Hyblaeoidea—Pyraloidea—Tortricoidea, in Heppner (ed.). Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera , 3: 31; syn.: vehemensaria .

Taxonomic history. H. Edwards (1884) described the species based on one female [recte male] [holotype] without illustration and locality, in Geometridae . Synonymized by Whalley & Heppner (1995) with S. eurymenanus [sic]. H. Druce (1895), Gaede (1936), and Forbes (1942) misidentified the species.

Taxonomic comments: Whalley & Heppner (1995) mention the species in the synonymy of Siculodes eurymenanus [sic], however, after analyzing the holotype of S. eurymenana , the holotype of Drepanodes vehemensaria , and the wing morphology, we concluded that they are distinct species, hence the revalidation of Drepanodes vehemensaria stat. rev. H. Edwards (1884), when describing the species, mentions that the wing characters are similar to Aziba gen. rev. After examining the [holotype] of D. vehemensaria and lectotype of A. transversa we concluded that the morphological characters are similar, indicating that D. vehemensaria belongs to Aziba gen. rev.

Type material. H. Edwards (1884) described the species based on one female [holotype]; however, the specimen is a male [holotype] found in USNM, with the author’s original labels matching the information provided in the original description: / Drepanodes vehemensaria Type H. Edw / Jalapa, Mexico / Collection BrklynMus / Type N° 34333 U.S.N.M / .

Diagnosis. Aziba vehemensaria stat. rev. et comb. nov. can be easily distinguished from S. eurymenana and all its congeners by wings light grayish brown, as the tegulae, gray spots and lines, more accentuated on ventral surface and oblique stripes, gray on dorsal surface and brownon ventral surface ( Figs 11A–D ). In addition, by combination of the following characters: i) saccus oval ( Fig. 17B ), ii) vesica with cornutus ( Figs 17E–F ), and iii) signum absent.

Redescription. Forewing: length—male 22.0–31.0 mm (n = 8), female 21.0–43.0 mm (n = 29); both surfaces with oblique postdiscal stripe from apex to two-thirds of inner margin, lighter between R 5 to CuA 1; veins R 3 +R 4 bifurcates 2/3 of costal margin.

Hindwing: length—male 13.0–21.0 mm (n = 8), female 13.0–21.0 mm (n = 29); outer margin convex; both surfaces with oblique discal stripe from Rs to inner margin.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 17 ): tegumen with anterior and posterior margins with median indentation forming small lobes in dorsal view; saccus oval in lateral view; uncus with small elevation at base, forming lateral lobes; gnathos V-shaped in posterior view; valva with slightly concave costa, sinuous ventral margin, narrowing obliquely from middle; fultura inferior U-shaped and apex looks like dilated; aedeagus with an elongated dorsal opening for ductus ejaculatorius, vesica with small, fine cornuti.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 27 ): tergite VIII rectangular in lateral view; anterior and posterior apophyses of same size; bursa copulatrix membranous except by short sclerotized antrum, ductus bursae eight times longer than antrum, signum absent.

Geographic distribution ( Fig. 46 ). MEXICO: Morelos: Cuernavaca; Nayarit — Jalisco; Veracruz: Huatusco; Jalapa; Motzorongo; Orizaba; Presidio. BELIZE: Orange Walk: Savana de Pinheiro —aprox. 3km SW Rancho Dolores, Hill Bank Field Station. HONDURAS: Atlántida: Parque Nacional Pico Bonito. EL SALVADOR: San Salvador. COSTA RICA: San José: San José.

Natural history. Immature stages and host plant unknown. Based on label information the species occurs in forests and adults were caught from March to August and October.

Comments. Aziba substrigata Warren, 1900 comb. rev. and A. vehemensaria stat. rev. et comb. nov. are sympatric and easily distinguished by external morphological features, such as wings with a light brown background, irregular brown spots and lines in A. substrigata comb. rev., while A. vehemensaria stat. rev. et comb. nov. has light grayish brown background color with gray spots and lines.

Examined material (8 ♂, 30 ♀).

MEXICO: 1 ♀ ( SMT) , 1 ♀, NHMUK 010921214 ( NHMUK) , 1 ♂ ( USNM), Morelos: Cuernavaca, 1 ♀, 1929 ( NHMV); Nayarit—Jalisco: 1 ♀, VIII.1954, Sharon Keef leg. ( AMNH) ; Veracruz: Huatusco, 1 ♂, NHMUK 010921217 ( NHMUK); Jalapa, 1 ♂ ([Holotype] of Drepanodes vehemensaria stat. rev.) ( USNM) , 2 ♀, Hartmann leg. ( ZSM) , 2 ♀, 1 ♂, M. Trujillo leg., NHMUK 010921207 , NHMUK 010921237 , NHMUK 010921213 ( NHMUK) , 1 ♀, NHMUK 010921203 ( NHMUK) , 6 ♀ ( USNM); Motzorongo, 1 ♀, 1932, C. C. Hoffmann leg. ( AMNH) ; Orizaba, 2 ♀, 3 ♂, III.1896, W. Schaus leg., NHMUK 010921205 , NHMUK 010921228 , NHMUK 010921212 , NHMUK 010921215 , NHMUK 010921232 ( NHMUK) , 1 ♀, IV.1910, C. C. Hoffmann leg. ( AMNH) ; Presidio, 1 ♀, X.1939, C. C. Hoffmann leg. ( AMNH) .

BELIZE: Orange Walk: Savana de Pinheiro —aprox. 3km SW Rancho Dolores, 1 ♀, 2.III.1998 , Hill Bank Field Station, 1 ♀, 20.III.1998, Valerie Giles leg. ( AMNH) .

HONDURAS: Atlántida: Parque Nacional Pico Bonito, 1 ♀, 24.VI–2.VII.2010, 80–250m, 15º41.5’N 86º54.1’W, Moser leg., CLAM 144 ( CLAM), 1 ♀, 9.VII. 2015, 125 m, 15.692865° -86.902373°, D. Matthews & J. Y. Miller leg. ( MGCL) .

EL SALVADOR: San Salvador, 1 ♀ ( USNM) , 1 ♀, 30.IV.1955, A. Zilch S. leg. ( MSFR) , 1 ♀, 6.VI.1956, 700m, E. Möhn leg. ( MSFR) .

COSTA RICA: 1 ♀, 7.X.1919, NHMUK 010921202 ( NHMUK), San José: San José, 1 ♂, 30.VI.1908 ( MfN) , 1 ♀, V.1909, Curt Brade leg. ( MfN) , 1 ♀, 21.VI.1929, NHMUK 010921210 ( NHMUK) .

Figures

FIGURE 46. Geographic distribution of Aziba gen. rev. in Central and South America.

FIGURES 10–11. Adults of Aziba gen. rev. in dorsal (A and C) and ventral (B and D) views. Depositories of the specimens: 10A–B in CEIOC. 11A–B in NHMUK (NHMUK 010921212); 11C–D in NHMUK (NHMUK 010921228). Scale bar = 1 cm.

FIGURES 15–17. Male genitalia of Aziba gen. rev. 15. A. falcata comb. rev. from Brazil, São Paulo (NHMUK 010921236). 16. A. substrigata comb. rev. from Colombia, Norte de Santander, Cúcuta (NHMUK 010921556). 17. A. vehemensaria stat. rev., comb. nov. from Mexico, Veracruz, Jalapa (NHMUK 010921213). A) posterior view. B) lateral view. C) inner view of valva. D) dorsal view of tegumen and uncus. E) dorsal view of aedeagus. F) lateral view of aedeagus. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURES 26–27. Female genitalia of Aziba gen. rev. lateral view. 26. A. transversa comb. rev. from Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis (Independência) (DZ 39.388). 27. A. vehemensaria stat. rev., comb. nov. from Honduras,Atlántida (Parque Nacional Pico Bonito) (MGCL). Scale bar = 1 mm.