Insigniocastnia taisae, 2019

Worthy, Robert, González, Jorge M. & Ríos, Sergio D., 2019, A review of the genus Insigniocastnia J. Y. Miller, 2007 (Lepidoptera: Castniidae) with notes on Castnia amalthaea H. Druce, 1890, Zootaxa 4550 (2), pp. 277-288 : 282-287

taisae J. Y. Miller, 2007

“ Insigniocastnia taisae , new species ” J. Y. Miller, 1972: Bulletin of the Allyn Museum 145: 1–7.

Type material: Described from a male holotype ( Figs. 19, 20 ) and 14 male paratypes ( Figs. 21, 22 ). Three male paratypes are in MS, one is in TP and the rest, including the holotype, are in MGCL.

. Type locality: San Francisco, 26 km. north of the road San Lorenzo Ibarra, northern Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador at 150 metres above sea level (I. Aldas, pers. comm.). The holotype and all paratypes were collected at the same locality.

Taxonomic status: A junior subjective synonym of Insigniocastnia bogota (Strand, 1912) syn. nov. Originally described as a valid species by J. Y. Miller (2007).

Male genitalia: See J. Y. Miller (2007)

Distribution: See bogota .

Discussion: Recent examination of the holotype and several paratypes of I. taisae shows clearly that it is the same as Castnia bogota (= Athis bogota ); the wing venation of both holotypes is the same. As mentioned before, Miller included A. bogota in both her 1986 dissertation and her 1995 checklist. It is therefore surprising that in the description of Insigniocastnia taisae J. Y. Miller, 2007 she wrote “…It is indeed a very distinctive member of the Castniidae and truly remarkable that this genus and species were not described previously”, clearly overlooking Strand’s (1912) description and type illustration ( Strand, 1914) from 90-plus years previously.

The area where the type specimens, as well as most other known specimens, were collected is a small hill between 130 and 160 m above sea level, an area covered with primary forest. The species flies between 5 and 7 metres above the ground, and flight activity has been noticed from 9:00 to 12:00h (I. Aldas, pers. comm.). The general area of collection is part of the Ecoregional Complex of the Chocó Biogeographic Region that includes lowlands, mangroves, and humid forests and is shared with neighboring Colombia (V. González, pers. comm.) ( Figs. 23, 24 ). The whole region containing the humid forests has received the status of “Critical/Endangered” from the World Wide Fund for Nature due to an excess of highway construction and oil exploration that has caused the destruction of most of the humid forests, and are one of the most threatened habitats in the world.

A good number of males were collected for the type series and several just afterward; however, fewer seem to have been collected in recent times. The female has only recently been discovered and we only know of two specimens. It is herein described for the first time.

Material examined: 25 males and 2 females were examined for this study. 1♂ Holotype, Ecuador, Esmeraldas, San Lorenzo, 150m ., II-2006; 3♂♂ Paratypes, idem, IV-2005; 7♂♂ Paratypes, idem, II-2006 ( MGCL) ; 2♂♂ Paratypes, idem, II-2006; 1♀, idem, 24/III/2017, leg. Juano Bolaños (MS); 1♂ Paratype, idem., II- 2006; 2♂♂, idem., II-2007 ( TP) ; 1♀, idem, about 300–500m, IV-2014 ( MB) ; 2♂♂, Chuchuvi , Esmeraldas, Ecuador, I-2017 ; 1♂, idem, X-2009 ( DC) ; 1♂, idem, 1♂, Ecuador, Esmeraldas, San Lorenzo, 160m ., II-2014 ( RW) .

Description of female: Two females of this species have been found since the original description, one is in MS and the other is in MB. The species is sexually dimorphic, and females ( Figs. 25, 26 ) can be easily separated from males. See J. Y. Miller (2007) for a description of the male.

Head: Antennae, more than half the length of costal margin; brown above and below, although below it is slightly greyish especially along the nudum. Vertex and frons brown. Vertex covered with a few slightly large, fulvous scales. Palpi reduced, yellowish cream. Pale yellow setal patch in occiput.

Thorax: Dorsum (pro-, meso- and metanotum) and tegulae covered with fulvous-orange slightly spatulate scales. Venter, thorax brown covered with fulvous-orange scales. Legs also covered with fulvous-orange scales.

Forewing: Slightly rounded near the apex on both the costal and lateral margins. Basally ground colour orange-fulvous; from half the wing to the apex creamy white with black borders. All lateral borders covered with black scales forming a band which is wider at the apical region of the wing. A transverse black band appears in the costal margin and extends to M 2 -M 3, slightly curving up towards the lateral margin. This forms a large subapical oblong fulvous-creamy spot. The veins that cross it are covered by black scales. Cu veins, as well as 1A are covered with black scales from the middle of the wing towards the lateral margin. Black scales on Cu 2, however, do not extend as far as Cu 1b and 1A. Area of cells Cu 1a +Cu 1b and Cu 1b +Cu 2 closer to the lateral band are fulvous-cream; the rest of the cells towards the base of the wing are covered with orange fulvous scales. Hindwing: Rounded, especially along lateral margin. Dorsal surface orange-fulvous along the proximal two thirds to distal margin. Lateral margin completely covered with a band of dark black scales. Black scales also cover part of the veins to a length not larger than the width of the lateral band. The female specimen mentioned above in MS, examined by Dr. Covell, has the same dorsal and ventral coloration as shown in Fig. 25 . The species appears to be polymorphic (Covell, pers. comm.).

Wing venation: ( Fig. 27 ), with forewing cell open. R 1 vein is aligned close toward costal margin, while all other Radial veins are spread on the sub-apical region of the wing. 2A tends to separate from 1A but touches 1A at 1/3 of the length to separate and end at the anal margin. As in males, 2A arises as a branch of 1A and after almost touching 1A at 1/3 of its length it deviates towards the anal margin without reaching its apex. Hindwing rounded, with Rs and M 1 origins about half the distance to end cell. There is no small accessory cell as present in males, but Cu 2 arises at 1/3 of the length of the wing and Cu 1a and Cu 1b arise slightly above that.

Abdomen: dorsum brown, with fulvous-orange scales on A1 and A2; A3 to A8 brown to light-brown sparsely covered with fulvous scales, more abundant at the end of every segment. Tip of the abdomen with a tuft of large, fulvous-orange scales. Venter with all segments light brown covered with fulvous or orange fulvous scales. The darker scales at the terminal edge of every segment. Orange fulvous setae and large scales at the tip of the abdomen. Dr. Charles Covell examined the female collected by Juano Bolaños from San Francisco (Esmeraldas, Ecuador) in MS. Thorax dorsal dark brown with fulvous on dorsal and dark brown with fulvous on thorax and legs on venter. Abdomen dark brown with some fulvous on dorsal and dark brown with some fulvous on A1 and A2 shading to dark brown on remainder of abdomen (Covell, pers. comm.).

Genitalia: The genitalia of the two known female specimens are not available to us.

Figures

FIGURES 17–22. Insigniocastnia bogota (Strand, 1912), Figs. 17, 18: ♂ holotype, Castnia bogota, Colombia (Courtesy NHMW); Figs. 19, 20: ♂ holotype, Insigniocastnia taisae J.Y. Miller, 2007, Esmeraldas, Ecuador (after J. Y. Miller 2007, Bull. Allyn Mus.); Figs. 21, 22: ♂ paratype, I. taisae J.Y. Miller, 2007, Esmeraldas, Ecuador (Courtesy MGCL). Scale: 10 mm.

FIGURES 23–24. Typical habitat of Insigniocastnia bogota, Fig. 23: Hilltop of San Francisco, taken from the road to the village of La Ceiba, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador. (Photo: Keith Wilmott); Fig. 24: Tundaloma Lodge trail, km 15 San Lorenzo - Ibarra, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador. This is typical of the interior of the lowland forests of the region. (Photo: Andrew Neild)

FIGURES 25–27. ♀ Insigniocastnia bogota (Strand, 1912), Fig. 25: Dorsal view; Fig. 26: Ventral view. (Photos: Michael Büche); Fig. 27: Wing venation of the ♀ of I. bogota, Top: forewing; Bottom: hindwing.