Panthea guatemala Anweiler, 2009

Anweiler, Gary G., 2009, Revision of the New World Panthea Hübner (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) with descriptions of 5 new species and 2 new subspecies, ZooKeys 9 (9), pp. 97-134 : 109-110

Panthea guatemala Anweiler , sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B73B5B00-C011-41B9-B7A2-0F285C41234E

Figs. 10-11 , 49 , 61 , 70

Type material. Holotype male – “ GUATEMALA / San Lorenzo 1700 m [15° 7.002' N 89° 37.998' W] / 6-10.vi.1986 / P.T. Dang’ ’; “ HOLOTYPE / Panthea / guatemala / G.G. Anweiler ” [red label]; deposited in CNC . Paratypes (17 ♁, 2 ♀): same data as holotype (10 ♁) ; MEXICO. Chiapas: Lagos de Colores, Route 17, 13.vi.1969, A. Mutura, coll. (1 ♁) ; San Cristobal, 21 miles southeast, Rt. 190, 1850 m, 30.vi.1989, Wolfe, Valverde and Mullins, coll.(1 ♁) ; Tapilula, 21.vi.1969, A. Mutuura (2 ♁). Oaxaca: Tierra Azul, 3 mi. n. Tlaxiaco , 7.viii.1992, 7500', H. Romack., coll. (1 ♁) ; 7 mi. s. Miahuatlan , 19.viii.1992, 7000', H. Romack, coll. (1 ♁, 1 ♀) ; 3 mi. e. La Trinidad , 2.viii.1992, 8500', H. Romack, coll. (1 ♁) ; Sierra Juarez, Gulf slope, 4500', 8.iv.1992, J. Kemner, coll., (1 ♀) ; Sierra Madre del Sur , ca. 32 km N. San Gabriel Mixlepec, 1590 m., 10.vii.1991, J. Kemner and H. Romack, coll. (1 ♁). [ LACM; CNC; NYSM] .

Etymology. The name refers to the country Guatemala, where the holotype and much of the type series originated.

Diagnosis. Panthea guatemala is externally very similar to P. gigantea from northern Mexico. Their large size will separate them from all other Mexican Panthea except P. gigantea . Both sexes of P. guatemala can be separated from P. gigantea by range ( Fig. 70 ) and by genitalic characters, the male by the narrow fused uncus ( Fig. 49 ), which is bifurcate in P. gigantea , and the female by the laterally compressed and heavily sclerotized ductus bursae of P. guatemala ( Fig. 61 ). Both sexes of P. guatemala have a faint but consistent white streak on the lower forewing from just basad of the antemedial line to just beyond the postmedial line; this streak is absent or much fainter in P. gigantea .

Description. Sexually dimorphic; female larger and with broader forewing and darker hindwing than male; forewing length of male 22-25 mm, female 27-28 mm. Head – male antenna bipectinate with pectinations about 1.5 × as long as width of antennal shaft; female antenna simple; palps and frons a mix of dark brownish-gray and white hair-like scales. Thorax – collar and thorax a mix of dark brownish-gray and white hair-like scales; tegulae crossed by two diffuse oblique brownish-black bands; legs densely covered with long wooly gray-black and white hairs; tarsi banded white and gray. Dorsal forewing (male) – a mix of white and brownish-gray scales producing a smooth pale brownish-gray ground; basal line poorly marked; antemedial, medial and postmedial lines prominent, black; basal and antemedial lines straight or nearly so, medial line sinuous, bending outward at cubital vein then continuing almost straight to lower margin; postmedial line straight to vein M2, then bending inward and connecting with medial line in fold, diverging outward just before reaching lower margin; subterminal line nearly obsolete, very erratic, curving inward between veins M1 and M3, M3 and CuA1, CuA1 and 1A+2A, and defined by abrupt shift from gray to white scales, shading back to gray prior to reaching margin. A short, thin poorly defined black bar marks end of cell, and a faint diffuse white dash runs parallel to and below cubital vein between antemedial and postmedial lines. Fringe gray brown lightly checkered with white scales at veins. Dorsal forewing (female) – as in male but broader, more rounded and with fewer white scales and therefore darker overall. Dorsal hindwing (male) – white with long gray-brown hair, darkest in basal area and along inner margin; leading edge light gray; poorly defined faint light-gray medial and postmedial bands, latter terminating in a patch of gray at anal angle; narrow dark-gray terminal line; veins narrowly lined with dark gray; fringe white with a few dark scales between veins. Dorsal hindwing (female) – suffused with gray, medial band narrow, postmedial band much wider leaving only a narrow band of lighter scales along margin; terminal line wider than in male; fringe dark gray with a few white scales, checkered with white at veins. Abdomen – clothed with stiff brownish-gray hair. Male genitalia – ( Fig. 49 ) valves simple, heavily sclerotized, cucullus rounded to a blunt ragged point; clasper large, scoop-shaped with double blade-like arms, inner branch longer, extending beyond upper margin of valve; tegumen with two large squared subuncal lobes; uncus flattened laterally with high rounded crown curving down, ending in narrow terminus bluntly to sharply truncated; aedeagus about 4 × as long as wide, somewhat flattened, flaring at terminus; vesica bulbous, tapering gradually into long ductus seminalis angled dorsad at about 45 degrees, oriented anteriorly; armed with two large cornuti, one on right near base, other larger and near crown. Female genitalia – ( Fig. 61 ) papillae anales large, soft, thinly covered with stiff hairs, fused at base on dorsal side; sterigma massive, rounded, relatively smooth; ductus bursae wide, twisted to right, compressed laterally, thickly sclerotized for half its length or more before gradually flaring into corpus bursae; corpus bursae an oblong thin-walled sac, without signa.

Distribution and biology. Panthea guatemala has been collected in the mountains of Guatemala and the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas in adjacent southern Mexico at elevations of 1580-1850 m ( Fig. 70 ). Collection dates range from late May to late July ( Mexico) and early November ( Guatemala). The Guatemala specimens were collected in pine-oak forest at 1700 m.

Figures

Figures 1-11. Panthea adults 1. P. apanthea ♁ holotype, White Mountains, AZ, USA; 2. P. apanthea ♀, Coconino Co., AZ, USA; 3. P. reducta ♁ holotype, Pedemales N.P., DR; 4. P. judyae ♁, Grant Co., NM, USA; 5. P. judyae ♀, Cochise Co., AZ, USA; 6. P. gigantea ♁ neotype, Larimer Co., CO, USA; 7. P. gigantea ♀,Grant Co., NM, USA; 8. P. gigantea ♁, Durango, MEX; 9. P. gigantea ♀, Chihuahua, MEX; 10. P. guatemala ♁ holotype, San Lorenzo, GUA; 11. P. guatemala ♀, Oaxaca, MEX.

Figures 44-49. Panthea male genitalia 44. Lichnoptera decora, Queretero, MEX; 45. P. apanthea, El Paso Co., CO., USA; 46. P. judyae Grant Co., NM, USA; 47. P.reducta, Pedemales, DR; 48. P.gigantea, El Dorado Co., CA., USA, a. tip of uncus; 49. P. guatemala, Oaxaca MEX., a. tip of uncus, Oaxaca, b. tip of uncus, Chiapas, MEX.

Figures 58-68. Panthea female genitalia 58. P. apanthea, Coconino Co, AZ. USA; 59. P. judyae, Chihuahua, MEX; 60. P. gigantea, Chihuahua, MEX; 61. P. guatemala, Oaxaca, MEX; 62. P. virginarius, Missoula Co., MT., USA; 63. P.acronyctoides nigra, Teller Co., CO., USA;. 64. P. a. acronyctoides, Ashland Co., WI, USA; 65. P. f.furcilla, Windham Co., CT, USA; 66. P. f.furcilla-f. nigra intermediate, Dauphin Co., PA., USA; 67. P. furcilla australis, Whitfield Co., GA, USA; 68. Panthea greyi, Apache Co., AZ., USA.

Fig. 70. Distribution of examined specimens of P. gigantea, P. guatemala, and P. reducta.