Loxomorpha cambogialis ( Guenée, 1854 ), Guenee, 1854

Bernard Landry, 2016, Taxonomic revision of the Spilomelinae (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae s. l.) of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, Revue suisse de Zoologie 123 (2), pp. 315-399 : 351-353

Loxomorpha cambogialis ( Guenée, 1854)

Figs 31, 32 , 111 , 157

Botys cambogialis Guenée, 1854: 331 . Loxomorpha cambogialis (Guenée) : Roque-Albelo & Landry,

2015.

Material examined

Type specimens: ♂ lectotype, ♀ paralectotype from Brazil ( BMNH).

Other specimens: 11 ♂, 18 ♀ from the Galápagos Islands: – Isabela: Alcedo, lado NE, camp arida alta, 200 m; Volcan Sierra Negra, Santo Tomas, Corazon Verde, 360 m; Sierra Negra, Corazon Verde; 11 km N Puerto Villamil; ± 15 km N P[uer]to Villamil. – Pinzón: plaja [sic] Escondida. – San Cristóbal: 4 km SE Pto Baquarizo [sic]; transition zone, SW El Progreso, GPS: elev[ation]. 75 m, S 00°56.359’, W 89° 32.906’. – Santa Cruz: casa L. Roque-Albelo & V. Cruz, GPS: 137 m elev., 00° 42.595’, W 90° 19.196’; transition zone, recently cut road, GPS: S 00°42.528’, W 90°18.849’; Horneman Farm; Horneman Farm, 220 m; Finca Vilema, 2 km W Bella Vista; Los Gemelos. Deposited in BMNH, CAS, CDRS, CNC, and MHNG.

Diagnosis: In the Galápagos this species ( Figs 31, 32 ) is most similar to Neohelvibotys hoecki Landry, 2015 , based on size and general colouration, but it differs externally by the round frons, conical in N. hoecki , and the hindwing pattern with an extra dot submedially in L. cambogialis . Wingspan: 9-12 mm.

Biology: De la Torre y Callejas (1967) recorded the larva on Opuntia dillenii (Cactaceae) , without further indication. Robinson et al. (2014) report rearing records from eight different host plants in the Amaranthaceae , Basellaceae , Fabaceae , Cactaceae , Portulacaceae , and Urticaceae from Brazil and Cuba. Moths in the Galápagos have been collected from sea level up to about 720 m (Los Gemelos, Santa Cruz), in anthropized as well as pristine habitats, and from January until May and in November and December.

Distribution: Widespread in the Western Hemisphere in warmer climates, as follows, based on published records: Brazil (type locality, Guenée, 1854), Colombia ( Snellen, 1875), Cuba (De la Torre y Callejas, 1967), Guadeloupe ( Munroe, 1956), Jamaica ( Butler, 1878), Puerto Rico ( Möschler, 1890; Schaus, 1940), USA (Florida) ( Kimball, 1965; Heppner, 2003; Patterson et al., 2015), Venezuela ( Heppner, 2003). Also found in Grenada (Caribbean), Paraguay, and Peru based on BMNH specimens. In the Galápagos the species has been collected on Isabela, Pinzón, San Cristóbal, and Santa Cruz.

Remarks: Loxomorpha cambogialis occurs in two forms in the Galápagos, one ‘white’ form ( Fig. 31 ) on Isabela Island, and a bright yellow form ( Fig. 32 ) on the other three islands on which the species has been found thus far, but clear differences in genitalia are not perceptible. Based on a personal communication by Alma Solis (24.iii.2014), I refrain from naming the light form as a new subspecies, the type series of L. cambogialis being bright yellow, because similar variation occurs elsewhere such as in Cuba, from where there is a reared pair in the USNM for which the female is dark yellow and the male lighter, like the Isabela specimens. The species was described from Brazil on the basis of two specimens recorded as a male and a female ( Guenée, 1854: 331). Both specimens are in the BMNH, but one, the female, is without abdomen and designated paralectotype while the other, a male with the abdomen in a gelatine capsule, was dissected (slide BM 21109) and is here designated lectotype: 1- ‘Lecto- | type’ [circular, with marine blue edge, typed]; 2- ‘Cotype’ [orange, typed]; 3- ‘ Brasil | ex coll. Gn’ (typed); 4- ‘Paravicini Coll. | BM 1937-383’ [typed]; 5- ‘B.M. Pyralidae | Genitalia Slide |. 21109 ♂ ’ [typed except male sign]; 6- ‘ Cambogialis | Gn. Brésil’ [handwritten]; 7- ‘ LECTOTYPE | Botys cambogialis | Guenée | Des. B. Landry, 2000’. The dissected lectotype had two tufts of rather wide androconial scales of medium length (inferior tuft) to long (superior tuft) on the membrane before the genitalia next to the tegumen, which became detached during the dissection.

Figures

Figs 25 - 32. Galápagos specimens of Spilomelinae, size not to scale. (25 - 27) Lineodes corinnae. (25) Lineodes corinnae ♀ holotype, CNC. (26) ♀ paratype, Isabela, NE slope Alcedo, ca. 400 m up Los Guayabillos camp, 892 m, 1. iv. 2004, MHNG. (27) ♂ paratype, Isabela, Alcedo, lado NE, camp Guayabillos, 700 m, 16. iv. 2002, MHNG. (28) Lineodes fontella ♂, Santa Cruz, NNW Bella Vista, 225 m, 18. ii. 2005, MHNG. (29, 30) Lineodes vulcanalis. (29) ♀ paratype, BMNH ©, the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London. (30) ♂ holotype, BMNH ©, the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London. (31, 32) Loxomorpha cambogialis. (31) ♀, Isabela, 11 km N Pto Villamil, 13. iii. 1989, CNC. (32) ♀, Santa Cruz, transition zone, recently cut road, 12. iii. 2004, MHNG.

Figs 110 - 112. Male genitalia of Galápagos Spilomelinae, a and b from same slides, but not to scale, (a) showing the genitalia without phallus and (b), the phallus. (110) Lineodes vulcanalis holotype, BMNH ©, the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London. (111) Loxomorpha cambogialis: slide MHNG-ENTO- 6588, San Cristóbal. (112) Marasmia trapezalis: slide MHNG-ENTO- 9005, Santa Cruz.

Figs 153 - 157. Female genitalia of Galápagos Spilomelinae, not to scale. (153) Lineodes corinnae paratype: slide MHNG-ENTO- 8678. (154) L. fontella: slide MHNG-ENTO- 9002, Isabela. (155) L. integra: slide MHNG-ENTO- 8680, Pinta. (156) Lineodes vulcanalis paratype, BMNH ©, the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London. (157) Loxomorpha cambogialis: slide MHNG-ENTO- 8602, Isabela.