Asuroides Durante

Durante, Antonio, 2008, Asuroides, a new genus of lithosiine moths (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae, Lithosiinae), Zootaxa 1713, pp. 53-68 : 55-56

Asuroides Durante , new genus

Type species: Setina sagenaria Wallengren, 1860 .

Forewing: wingspan 20–31 mm, overall appearance squatter than in Asura ; ground colour from straw-yellow to ochreous yellow, to brick-red, with brown-grey or violaceous-grey pattern formed by irregular transverse bands; normally two basal dots; one basal band; one median band, linked to basal band by a longitudinal streak, approaching post-median band and sometimes joined with it at the costa; median and post-median bands connected at first anal vein (except in Asuroides fasciata ); sub-marginal band formed by series of longitudinal streaks ( Asuroides similis ) or a continuous line ( Asuroides rubea , A. sagenaria ); streaks on veins M1 and M3 always distally shifted.

Hindwing: proportionately larger than in Asura ; ground colour uniform, similar or lighter than forewing; small grey sub-marginal streaks may be present ( Asuroides retromaculata , A. rosea , A. similis ); in A. fasciata there is a large marginal fascia.

Venation: similar to Asura , with forewing subcosta anastomosing with R; Rs1 free; Rs2, Rs3, Rs4 stalked (in rubea n. sp. M1 is also stalked with [Rs2, Rs3, Rs4]); hindwing frenulum composed of 3–4 bristles; Rs and M1 stalked; M2 always free (in Asura it can have the same origin with M3); M3 and CuA1 always free, even if the origin is close (see Figs. 16–17).

Body: legs with tibial spur formula 0-2-2 (in Asura it is 0-2-4); apodemes of the second abdominal sternum relatively long; ventrally, between A7–A8, males have small coremata with androconia inside; female dorsal pheromone glands unpaired with one posterior opening in the A8–A9 intersegmental membrane, bifurcating anteriorly to form two lobes that vary from being shallow ( Asuroides retromaculata , A. fasciata ) to deep ( A. similis ); this is somewhat unusual for Lithosiinae, where “the lobes [vary] from very short… to slightly elongated, with tapering apices” ( Bendib & Minet 1998: 1010); additional ventral glands with probable pherormonal function (they may be absent from Asuroides dimidiata ; A. rosea possesses two ventral saccular formations between A8–A9, that appear composed from a different tissue; see Durante 2007 for additional notes on the utility of pheromonal glands in arctiid taxonomy).

Genitalia: ɗ: valva not bifurcate into supravalva and ala valvae processes as in Asura ; processus distalis plicae appears as a swelling almost at half costa, and is often difficult to observe; uncus long, one third of the valva, distally curved, ending with a small and well sclerotized tip; aedeagus tubular; vesica bilobate with either single large cornutus ( Asuroides atricraspeda (Hampson)) , one or two clusters of spines ( Asuroides rubea ; A. sagenaria ) or no cornutus or spines ( A. similis ); Ψ: ostium usually elliptical, variable in size from one sixth ( A. similis ) to three fourths ( A. rosea ) the average diameter of A7; lamella antevaginalis absent; postvaginalis present; antrum not distinguished from ductus; ductus bursae always well sclerotized, usually cylindrical; cervix present (reduced in Asuroides retromaculata , absent in A. rosea ), from which ductus seminalis originates (in A. rosea it originates at the junction of ductus bursae and corpus); corpus bursae membranous, of moderate size (in A. rosea it is large and sclerotized), lacking signa; anterior and posterior apophyses well developed.

Etymology: Asuroides is feminine, and represents a combination of the name Asura with oides (similar to), indicating the close relationship of the two genera.

Remarks: a group of medium sized African lithosiine moths that previously had been included in the genus Asura Walker. Asuroides is Afrotropical in distribution, ranging throughout south-Saharan Africa ( Senegal to Kenya, to the South African Republic). Most of the species of Asuroides are know from few specimens, and quite limited geographic ranges, with the exception of Asuroides atricraspeda , which occurs widely throughout Africa.

Asuroides is diagnosable as follows: male antennae ciliated or serrate (bipectinate in Asura , see Common 1990); tibial spur formula 0-2-2 (0-2- 4 in Asura ); male valva undivided (valva with evident and well developed saccular process in Asura [= distal end of ala valvae, sensu Birket-Smith 1965]); median costal process of male valva very small, often difficult to observe (clearly evident in Asura [= processus distalis plicae]); male vesica bilobate, with or without spines and cornuti (vesica multilobate with clusters of spines in Asura ); female cervix and corpus bursae often laterally displaced relative to ductus bursae (usually on same axis in Asura ); ductus bursae always sclerotized at least partially. In Asura (type species A. cervicalis Walker, 1854 from Australia) the forewings are longer and the hindwings are proportionally smaller than in Asuroides , and the overall wing pattern consists of large patches on a blackish ground color, whereas the ground color is light in Asuroides (some other Australian and Bornean Asura have a somewhat less extensive dark ground colour e.g., Asura lydia (Donovan 1805) , whereas Asura fulguritis Hampson, 1900 presents a wing pattern similar to the genus Lyclene Moore (Holloway 2001) .

Asuroides appears to fit well within the arctiid tribe Nudariini Walker [1865] (note that Asura had historically been tabulated in Nudariini Börner, 1920; see Speidel & Naumann (2004) for elaboration). Nevertheless, the tibial spur formula of 0-2- 2 in Asuroides appears to have not been previously described for Nudariini, with only 0-2-4 being reported by Bendib & Minet (1999 [2000]). In fact, 0-2-2 is rare throughout the subfamily Lithosiinae: it is not seen in Nudariini, Phryganopterygini, Acsalini , Eudesmiini, and Endrosini; in Cisthenini, 0-2-4, 0-2-3, and 0-2-2 all occur, but the African genera Pusiola Wallengren , Pusiolania Strand and Siccia Walker present 0-2-4; and in Lithosiini , the genera Architosia Birket-Smith, Zobida B.-S., Nanna B.-S., Tesma B.-S., Cragia B.-S., Muxta B.-S., Lithosia Fabricius , Archilema B.-S., Pelosia Hübner , Ovenna B.-S., and Eilema Hübner all present 0-2-4 (pers. obs.; see also Birket-Smith 1965).