Cerodirphia zulemae Decaëns and Rougerie, 2008

Decaëns, Thibaud & Rougerie, Rodolphe, 2008, Descriptions of two new species of Hemileucinae (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) from the region of Muzo in Colombia-evidence from morphology and DNA barcodes, Zootaxa 1944 (1), pp. 34-52 : 44-49

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.1944.1.2

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0380D154-DE45-8204-838D-80A4FBD7FE80

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Cerodirphia zulemae Decaëns and Rougerie
status

sp. nov.

Cerodirphia zulemae Decaëns and Rougerie , new species

Figs. 16–19 View FIGURES 16–23 , 24, 28 View FIGURES 24–31 , 32–36 View FIGURES 32–51 and 52–54 View FIGURES 52–54 .

Type material. Holotype, male: Colombia, Boyacá department, Municipio de Quipama, Vereda Caviche , alt. 1500 m. a.s.l., 1–3.xii.2002; attracted to UV light, D. Bonilla and G. Lecourt leg.; genital prep. TD#141; barcode sequence BC-Dec0010/ SATWA047-06 . Deposited in INCN.

Paratypes ( Figs. 17–19 View FIGURES 16–23 ): 4 males (1 in collection of R. Rougerie, 2 in collection of T. Decaëns, 1 in MNHN) and 2 female (one designated as allotype and deposited in INCN, the other in the collection of T. Decaëns), same data as the holotype; 3 males have barcode sequences attached on BOLD : BC-Dec0008/ SATWA045-06 , BC-Dec0009/ SATWA046-06 , BD-Dec0491/ STDA481-07 .

Diagnosis. Within the genus, Cerodirphia zulemae n. sp. belongs to the Cerodirphia speciosa Cramer (1777) group ( Fig. 22 View FIGURES 16–23 , 47–51 View FIGURES 32–51 ), which is characterized by the vivid pink background colour of the wings and by the presence of a characteristic “Y”-shaped discal mark on the forewing. Based on the structure of the male genitalia ( Figs. 32–36 View FIGURES 32–51 ), C. zulemae appears to be closely related to Cerodirphia brunnea Draudt 1930 ( Figs. 23 View FIGURES 16–23 , 42–46 View FIGURES 32–51 ) and Cerodirphia apunctata Dias & Lemaire 1991 ( Fig. 20–21 View FIGURES 16–23 , 37–41 View FIGURES 32–51 , Table 5) ( Lemaire 2002). It can be distinguished easily from C. brunnea by its pink rather than brown ground colour, the more elongated hindwing, the absence of medial lines on both wings ( Figs. 16, 18–19, 23 View FIGURES 16–23 ), and the more rounded general shape of the male genitalia ( Figs. 32–33, 42–43 View FIGURES 32–51 ). It is difficult to separate C. zulemae from C. apunctata using only external characters. The somewhat sharper apex and more elongated hindwing ( Figs. 16, 18–21 View FIGURES 16–23 ) are in fact subtle characters that may represent intra-specific variation ( Lemaire 2002). The strongest diagnostic characters thus are to be found in the male genitalia morphology (see discussion). C. zulemae differs mainly from C. apunctata by the morphology of the sclerites of the eighth abdominal segment ( Figs. 24–25, 28–29 View FIGURES 24–31 ) and the larger and more sclerotized cornuti of the vesica ( Figs. 35–36, 40–41 View FIGURES 32–51 ).

Description. Male ( Figs. 16, 18–19 View FIGURES 16–23 ). Wingspan: 71–80 mm. Head: orange, labial palpi of the same colour, antennae light orange. Thorax: With orange erected scales; leg vestiture a mixture of short appressed light brown scales and hair-like orange scales. Forewing length 37–42 mm, elongated with straight outer margin, rounded apex; ground colour light pink brown, with a clear pink fringe on outer margin; venation sustained by a thin web of brown scales. Classical “Y”-shaped mark extending on veins from the origin of CuA1 and bifurcating to the apical corner of the discal cell and to the first third of vein M3; this mark white, heavily sustained with dark grey scales along vein M3 and the transverse discal vein between M2 and M3. Hindwing with same colour pattern as forewing, with a wider extension of the areas covered by pink scales on the dorsal side; zone between vein Sc+R and the costal margin almost entirely covered with white scales on both sides of the wing; discal markings absent; baso–median dorsal area extensively covered by brownish orange hair–like scales. Ventral side same colour as dorsal with similar patterns except for the discal spot of the forewings rep- resented by a small rectangular area of light scales. Abdomen: Dorsal side black with white intersegmental transversal strips; anal tuft and ventral side orange. Posterior margin of eighth sternum ( Fig. 24 View FIGURES 24–31 ) enlarged and highly sclerotized, minutely dentate on its external quarter and showing a small smooth concavity on each side of a short median spine; eighth tergum ( Fig. 28 View FIGURES 24–31 ) triangular, its posterior margin tapering to a small and thin process.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 32–36 View FIGURES 32–51 ). Uncus ( Figs. 32–34 View FIGURES 32–51 ) narrow, its posterior half setose, downcurved and highly sclerotized; apical part narrow then widening as a small plate with a curving rim. Gnathos present and merged with the transtilla, the median plate of which is broad, heavily sclerotized and anteriorly connected to the juxta ( Fig. 33 View FIGURES 32–51 ); its lateral arms merged basally with the valvae, highly setose, oriented backward and resembling small valvae. Valva short and thick ( Fig. 34 View FIGURES 32–51 ), produced as small tapering lobe at the apex; the base merged with the juxta ( Fig. 33 View FIGURES 32–51 ), the latter forming a sclerotized ring fused with the surrounding structures. Saccus short, anterior margin rounded. Aedeagus ( Figs. 35–36 View FIGURES 32–51 ) short, posterior part longitudinally divided in two highly sclerotized parts; caecum penis enlarged. Vesica evaginating ventrally at the longitudinal division of aedeagus, bearing two cornuti: a large and highly sclerotized square tooth and a very small apical spike.

Female ( Fig. 17 View FIGURES 16–23 ). Wingspan: 98 mm. Very similar to male but larger. Head: Dark yellow–orange, labial palpi concolourour with head, antennae light orange. Thorax: Orange brown; legs light orange. Forewing length 55 mm, elongate, with slightly convex border, rounded apex; above ground colour pink, scattered with dark orange brown scales, the pink colour being more vivid near the margins; venation marked with brown scales; discal markings as described for the male; proximal area covered with pink–orange hair–like scales near the anal border. Hindwing with same colour pattern but devoid of discal mark and with a wider extension of the pink areas. Ventral side with similar colour patterns as the dorsal one; forewing discal mark represented by a grey strip bordered of lighter scales; hindwings with a rectangular discal spot of light scales; area delimited by Sc+R and the costal margin dark brown externally bordered with a fringe of white hair–like scales. Abdomen: Dorsal side black with white intersegmental transversal strips; anal tuft and ventral side dark orange brown.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 52–54 View FIGURES 52–54 ). Papillae anales setose; anterior and posterior apophyses subequal in length. Vaginal plate laterally connected to the eighth tergum, broad, with merged lamella postvaginalis; the latter ( Fig. 53 View FIGURES 52–54 ) composed of a pair of small sclerotized lobes and a median shield-like ( Lemaire 2002: 750) structure bearing a small triangular notch. Tergum eight medially interrupted. Ostium bursae barely visible. Ductus bursae short, broad and heavily sclerotized. Corpus bursae rounded, its surface smooth.

Distribution and biology. This species is known only from the type locality at an elevation between 1500 and 2000 m a.s.l. As for L. bonillensis , its exact relationship with the three biogeographical regions that contribute to the Saturniidae fauna of the mountains of Muzo ( Decaëns et al. 2007) will require more data to be defined precisely. The presence of both species on the other side of the Oriental Cordillera (which goes down to the Eastern Plains) also requires investigation. For example, a female of Cerodirphia from the Amazonian Piedmont of the Caqueta department ( Racheli & Vinciguerra 2005) should be compared carefully to C. zulemae . Immature stages and biology are unknown

Etymology. This species is dedicated to the wife of the senior author, acknowledging her patience and collaboration during all the collecting trips made by D. Bonilla, L. D. Ramirez and T. Decaëns in Colombia.

UV

Departamento de Biologia de la Universidad del Valle

R

Departamento de Geologia, Universidad de Chile

T

Tavera, Department of Geology and Geophysics

MNHN

Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Saturniidae

Genus

Cerodirphia

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