Josia lativitta Walker, 1869

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 : 817

Josia lativitta Walker

Josia lativitta Walker, 1869: 6–7 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Not known.

TYPE: Not seen ( BMNH?).

DISCUSSION: I was not able to establish the identity of J. lativitta . The location of the type remains a mystery. Intense searches during numerous visits to the BMNH were fruitless, and it is not at the OUMNH, where several Walker types are housed. Walker’s (1869) description suggests that this moth belongs in Josia : the head, palpus, and abdomen are white beneath; the abdomen bears ochreous lateral stripes, and the wing stripes are wide, ‘‘luteous white’’. According to Prout (1918: 423) ‘‘Walker’s type has the band of the forewing bleached white, but evidently belongs to the Amazonian species which resembles oribia except in the narrower orange areas’’. Hering gave no definitive characters for the species. His illustration of lativitta ( Hering, 1925: fig. 71b) shows a moth similar to oribia , but with narrower longitudinal FW bands, thus matching Prout’s diagnosis. On the other hand, the specimen in Hering’s figure is indistinguishable from many known examples of J. ligula . The latter is Amazonian (see below), which vaguely plays into this discussion. To summarize: The identity of J. lativitta is in question, but I have placed it in the Ligula Group based on the scant evidence at hand. It will be essential to locate and study the type.

DISTRIBUTION: Not known.

DISSECTED: None.