Meskea Grote, 1877

Queiroz-Santos, Luziany, Casagrande, Mirna Martins & Mielke, Olaf Hermann Hendrik, 2021, Taxonomic revision of the monotypic genera of Siculodini (Lepidoptera, Thyridoidea, Thyrididae, Siculodinae), Zootaxa 4920 (2), pp. 235-253 : 243-244

Meskea Grote, 1877

( Figs 4 , 8 , 12 , 15 )

Meskea Grote, 1877 . The Canadian Entomologist, 9: 114; species included: Meskea dyspteraria Grote, 1877 .— Hampson, 1897. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1897 (1): 631.— Dalla Torre, 1914. Lepidopterorum Catalogus 20: 43.— Gaede, 1936, in Seitz. Die Gross -Schmetterlinge des Amerikanischen Faunengebietes. Die amerikanischen Spinner und Schwärmer 6: 1211.— Whalley, 1964. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, (13) 7 (74): 122.— Whalley & Heppner, 1995, Thyridoidea, in Becker et al. Checklist: Part 2, Hyblaeoidea–Pyraloidea–Tortricoidea, in Heppner (ed.). Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera 3: 31.

Type species: Meskea dyspteraria Grote, 1877 , by monotypy.

Taxonomic history. Grote (1877) described the genus to accommodate Meskea dyspteraria from Bastrop, Texas, USA; type species.

Diagnosis. Meskea is distinguished from the remaining genera of Siculodini by: (i) wings with general ocher coloration stained by dark ocher to grayish spots, and diffuse whitish spot with dark pupil on the apex of both sides ( Fig. 4 ); (ii) hindwing lanceolate, (iii) abdomen in both sexes subequal to forewing; (iv) choremata on the eighth segment of males; (v) uncus and tegumen fused; (vi) gnathos Y-shaped; (vii) valva formed by two parts; (viii) aedeagus larger than the valva; (ix) vesica without cornuti; (x) without signum and (xi) papillae anales taller than long.

Redescription. Forewing: length—males 16.0 mm (n = 40), females 18.8 (n = 40); apex rounded and outer margin slightly convex; retinaculum below CuA 2.

Hindwing: length—males 11.5 mm (n = 40), females 13.9 (n = 40); lanceolate, apex projected, outer margin concave; white submarginal broad band on both sides, extending from the costal margin close to the apex, to the base; male with one and female with two bristles in the frenulum.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 8 ): tegumen rectangular in dorsal view, slightly longer than wide; saccus in ventral view reduced and with numerous thin and long setae in the posterior portion; uncus fused to tegumen and of the same length, serrated on the dorso-lateral margins, up to the posterior tip, the latter directed ventrally and coated with thin and short setae immediately after the base; gnathos Y-shaped, forming a loop and with a median ventral projection; valva formed by two parts, both with setae on the inner face, dorsally elongated and posterior half bifid (the structure is distorted in figure), and ventrally elongated with spinous anterior process; fultura inferior rectangular and distally crenulated (the structure is distorted in figure); aedeagus cylindrical, straight and long, larger than the valva, with proximal opening for the ejaculatory ductus rounded and vesica without cornuti.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 12 ): tergum VIII square in lateral view, lamella antevaginalis and ostium slightly sclerotized; posterior apophyses longer than the anterior apophyses; bursae copulatrix with the anterior third of ductus bursae sclerotized and corpus bursae half the length of the ductus, without signum; papillae anales taller than long and covered with short a thin setae.

Etymology. According to Grote (1877), the genus was named after a lepidopterologist from Albany, USA— Otto von Meske.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Male genitalia of Meskea dyspteraria from Costa Rica, Guanacaste (Santa Rosa National Park) (NHMUK 010921587) (valva and fultura inferior distorted due to preparation technique). A) ventral view. B) dorsal view of tegumen and uncus. C) lateral view of aedeagus. Scale bar 1mm.

FIGURE 15. Geographic distribution of Hepialodes and Meskea species in North, Central and South America.

FIGURES 3–4. Loxiorhiza and Meskea species in dorsal (A and C) and ventral (B and D) views. 3. L. cervinalis, A–B: male from Bolivia, Santa Cruz, Buenavista (NHMUK 010921576); C–D: female from Brazil, Goiás, Leopoldo Bulhıes (NHMUK 010921560). 4. M. dyspteraria, A–B: male from USA, Texas, Hidalgo, Pharr (Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park) (MGCL); C–D: female from El Salvador, San Salvador (ZSM). Scale bar 1cm.

FIGURES 9–12. Female genitalia of Hepialodes, Iza, Loxiorhiza and Meskea species in lateral view. 9. H. follicula from Brazil, Goiás, Campinaçu (Barra Mansa farm) (DZ 39.216). 10. I. nubecula from Brazil, S„o Paulo, Salesópolis (Boraceia) (DZ 39.288). 11. L. cervinalis from Bolivia, Santa Cruz, Buenavista (NHMUK 010921618). 12. M. dyspteraria from El Salvador, San Salvador (MSFR). Scale bar 1mm.