Josia ligata Walker Plate, 1864

Miller, James S, 2009, Generic Revision Of The Dioptinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae) Part 2: Josiini, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2009 (321), pp. 675-1022 : 823

Josia ligata Walker Plate 32

Josia ligata Walker, 1864: 131–132 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Colombia, Bogotá, ‘‘New Grenada’’.

TYPE: Syntype ³, ex Stevens Collection ( BMNH).

DISCUSSION: The identity of this species is problematic. I dissected five CMNH specimens (3³³, 2♀♀) from Choachi, Colombia, that match the wing pattern of the J. ligata syntype, from Bogotá, perfectly. The genitalia of these are indistinguishable from Ecuadorian material whose wing pattern shows slightly narrower longitudinal FW and HW stripes. We can thus conclude that J. ligata occurs in Ecuador as well. The identity of Venezuelan material is at issue. Josia radians , whose type locality, Onaca, is in the northeastern portion of Colombia, is reported to occur east into Venezuela ( Miller and Otero, 1994). However, the male and female genitalia of J. radians are impossible to distinguish from those of J. ligata , and their wing patterns seem to intergrade. Revisionary study will perhaps reveal that J. radians and J. ligata constitute a single species, distribut- ed from western Venezuela east to Colombia and south at least as far as Ecuador. Josia ligata Walker would be the senior name.

Rex Friesen (USDA) collected larvae of Josia ligata in Ecuador (1992) on Passiflora mollissima (table 6).

DISTRIBUTION: Colombia(AMNH, BMNH, CAS, CMNH, CUIC, MNHN, NMW, OUMNH, USNM, ZMH) ; Ecuador (AMNH, BMNH, USNM); Venezuela (AMNH, BMNH, OUMNH, USNM, ZMH).

DISSECTED: Syntype ³ (genitalia slide no. JSM-633 ) ; ³, Colombia, Choachi , Nov 1914, CMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-608 ) ; ³, Colombia, Choachi, Dec 1914 , CMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-608 ) ; ³, Colombia, Choachi , Nov 1914, CMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-619 ) ; ³, Ecuador, Napo, Baeza near Río Quijos , 6200 ft, 31 Oct 1988, blk. lt., leg. J.S. Miller, AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-611 ) ; ³, Ecuador, Carchi, Hwy btwn. Mira-El Angel , 8300 ft, 8 Jun 1992, leg. R. D. Friesen, AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-617 ) ; ♀, Colombia, Choachi , Nov 1914, CMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-609 ) ; ♀, Colombia, Choachi , May 1915, CMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-608 ) ; ♀, Ecuador, Carchi, Hwy btwn. Mira-El Angel , 8300 ft, 8 Jun 1992, leg. R. D. Friesen, AMNH (genitalia slide no. JSM-618 ) .