Lophoterges (Fibigerges), Ronkay, 2005

Ronkay, L., 2005, Revision Of The Genus Lophoterges Hampson, 1906 (S. L.) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Cuculliinae). Part Ii. The Genus Lophoterges S. Str., Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 51 (1), pp. 1-57 : 35-37

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.12586551
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03CF707A-FF90-FFA7-BB0D-FE20FCCFFC15
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Lophoterges (Fibigerges)
status	subgen. nov.

Treatment

Subgenus Fibigerges subgen. n.

Type species: Lithocampa millierei STAUDINGER, 1871 , Berliner Entomologische Zeitung

[ 1870]1871: 119, 330. Type locality: Spain .

Diagnosis. External morphology ( Figs 19–28, 32 View Figs 17–24 View Figs 25–32 ). Body slender, fore wings long, relatively broad, apex finely pointed. Fore wing ground colour most often shining brownish with fine grey and blackish-brown irroration. Wing pattern typical of Lophoterges , stigmata encircled with white and filled with brownish or greyish, upper part of reniform stigma rather shadowed; costal stripe paler than ground colour, at least at basal third; crosslines reduced, sometimes their dark costal streaks may be recognised; terminal line regularly double, its inner white line most often conspicuous, sharply marked. Abdominal coremata represented by variably strongly sclerotised pedicels of the brush-organs and their membranous pouches; last sternite of the female abdomen with well-developed pair of lateral gelatinous appendages.

Male genitalia ( Figs 51, 52 View Figs 51–53 , 54, 55 View Figs 54–55 , 57, 58 View Figs 57–58 , 62, 63 View Figs 62–63 , 65 View Figs 64–66 ). Socii well-developed and heavily sclerotised, projected ventrad, strongly asymmetrical, their apices acutely pointed or finely bifurcate, laterally strongly dentated/serrate. Valvae less strongly asymmetrical, saccular parts usually slightly unequal in size: left valva somewhat broader (in L. (F.) millierei considerably broader). Clavi reduced, costal margin with sclerotised, small basal process; harpes represented only by their basal bars. Distal parts of valvae shorter, flattened, straight and bar-like or somewhat arched and terminally spatulate, forming variably broad, quadrangular cucullus. Aedeagus long, strong, cylindrical, rather straight, carina less specialised. Vesica strongly shortened and simplified, narrowly tubular with somewhat inflated basal part; everted forward then bent dorsad and recurved towards coecum penis. Armature of vesica arranged into two small groups: a smaller subbasal and a more or less discontinuous, larger terminal field of cornuti consisting of fine spinules.

Female genitalia ( Figs 53 View Figs 51–53 , 56 View Fig , 59–61 View Figs 59–61 , 64, 66 View Figs 64–66 ). Ovipositor short, weak, broadly conical, cartilaginous intersegmental appendages well-developed; gonapophyses slender, fine. Ostium bursae huge, strongly sclerotised, more or less symmetrical (except in L. (F.) hoerhammeri ), broadly infundibular, dorsal and ventral plates very strongly unequal in size. Distal, heavily sclerotised, part of ductus bursae relatively short, considerably shorter than ostium bursae, tubular, flattened with folded lateral margins; proximal part forming a gelatinous, wrinkled-rugose bulb. Cervix bursae shortened, always shorter than sclerotised part of of ductus bursae, semiglobular or subconical, its apical section gelatinous-rugose, sometimes partly sclerotised. Corpus bursae elliptical-ovoid, weakly membranous; signum regularly absent, rarely represented by a diffuse verrucose patch.

The most westernly distributed lineage of the genus has been derived supposedly from an archaic taxon of the Varierges line. The known four species are completely allopatric but their morphological features do not fit completely with a “linear tendency of changes” theory: the three main morphotypes of the subgenus (the mariannae-, the hoerhammeri-, and the millierei- groups) are rather divergent in their male genital characteristics while the female genitalia are much more conservative, displaying only small specific differences. The first two species-groups represented by single species while the millierei -group contains three closely related taxa: L. (F.) millierei millierei , L. (F.) millierei fibigeri and L. (F.) atlas , respectively.

Bionomics. The species inhabit most often stream valleys and rocky slopes in xerothermic hilly and mountainous areas (from the low altitudes up to 3000 m), occurring also in semiarid and arid regions where their foodplants live. They seem to prefer the lower and medium-high places except L. (F.) mariannae which has been found exclusively above 2000 m a.s.l. The species are univoltine or bivoltine but it is often hardly decided whether they have a single, long or two short, partly overlapping generations in a given locality; the imagines are on the wing from the beginning of May to the end of August–beginning of September.

The early stages of the species are usually unknown, the caterpillars of L. (F.) millierei have been found and reared on Lonicera species.

Distribution. The range of the subgenus covers small, more or less disjunct areas in the Mediterranean and western Asia but their ranges are still incompletely known; the most easterly distributed species is known from the Elburs Mts. All members of the subgenus are stenochorous and their ranges, at least in case of the European species, are strongly fragmented.