Halesidota picturata Burmeister, 1878: 442

Beccacece, Hernan M., Vincent, Benoit & Navarro, Fernando R., 2014, The type-material of Arctiinae (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) described by Burmeister and Berg in the collection of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia (Buenos Aires, Argentina), ZooKeys 421, pp. 65-89 : 70

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Erebidae

Halesidota picturata Burmeister, 1878: 442 Fig. 6

Current identity.

Phaegoptera picturata (Burmeister, 1878).

Material.

Described based on two female syntypes. A female from Las Conchas (Buenos Aires, Argentina) collected by M. Ruscheweyh; a female reared by Berg from a caterpillar found in "Bande Orientale de l’Uruguay” [Republic of Uruguay].

Type locality.

"Bande Orientale de l’Uruguay” [Republic of Uruguay].

MACN.

A female syntype housed in the Berg collection with a white label with the inscription “Typus,” a green label with the inscription "Banda Oriental" and another red label with the inscription "Lectotype ♀ Halesidota picturata Burmeister assigned by Beccacece, Vincent & Navarro." We hereby designate it as lectotype [MACN]. It is in moderate to poor condition; the abdomen and distal half of the left antenna are missing (Fig. 6).

Remarks.

The other female specimen from Las Conchas was not found in the MACN. A male specimen labelled “Cumtypo/comparat.” and "Banda Oriental" is associated with the female lectotype. It possibly corresponds to the same taxon, but it was incorrectly labelled cotype as it was not mentioned in the original description. The female lectotype presents the same habitus as Opharus brunnea Gaede, 1923. This taxon was described from a female holotype from the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), housed in the ZMHB. The proximity of type localities, associated with a similar habitus, particularly in the ornamentation of the forewings, justifies the synonymy of the two taxa. However, the placement of the taxon picturata in the genus Opharus Walker, 1855 seems more consistent than its current placement in the genus Phaegoptera Herrich-Schäffer, [1853]. We therefore propose the following new combination and synonymy.

Opharus picturata (Burmeister, 1878), comb. n. = Opharus brunnea Gaede, 1923: 7, syn. n.