Eudocima apta (Walker, [1858])

Borth, Robert J. & Kons, Hugo L., 2022, Mitochondrial genetics of Ophiderini, with a new species from the Eudocima phalonia species group (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Calpinae), Zootaxa 5148 (1), pp. 1-151 : 17

Eudocima apta (Walker, [1858])

( Figs 9 : A–B, 19: A, 24: E–F, 30: O, 91: B, F)

This species and E. materna are supported as allopatric, apomorphic phylogenetic species diagnosable by unique combinations of mtDNA and genitalic characters. Eudocima apta occurs in the New World whereas nominotypical E. materna occurs in the Old World. While a single specimen in BOLD, (Sample ID: BC ZSM Lep 40393) dubiously reported to be from Brazil, comes out in the Old World mtDNA Clade, the remaining thirty specimens split into Old World and New World clades with eight consistent mtDNA character state differences between them.

These two sexually dimorphic taxa are extremely similar in wing pattern, but there is a tendency for the dorsal hindwing marginal band to be thinner in E. materna and for the medial patch to be smaller. The aforementioned specimen BC ZSM Lep 40393 has a narrow marginal band and small medial patch, consistent with the Old World phenotype, casting further doubt on the reported Brazilian locality. Zilli & Hogenes (2002) specify differences in the size and shape of the corpus bursae, which they report is distinctly longer in E. materna than E. apta .

Eudocima apta has been recorded from Argentina through Mexico and feeds on Disciphania heterophylla (Menispermaceae) and Cissampelos pareira (Menispermaceae) in Costa Rica ( Janzen & Hallwachs 2009). It also occurs sporadically in the southern United States ( Kimball 1965; Kons & Borth 2006; Brou et al. 2013; Reeves et al. 2017). It has been recorded as far north as Upper Michigan (Kyle Johnson, pers. com. 2018), Vermont ( Gilligan & Passoa 2014), Quebec ( Handfield 1999), and Ontario (Reeves et al. (2017). It has recently been found in numbers in southern Florida and Texas; we collected six specimens of E. apta in the Davis Mountains of Texas over two nights in 2018, and Reeves et al. (2017) recorded 41 adult observations on a single Ficus aurea tree in the Florida Everglades in 2016.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Eudocima materna group and African Eudocima adults (dorsal aspect).