Bardaxima ionia ( Druce, 1900 )

Becker, Vitor Osmar, 2021, A review of the Neotropical moth genus Bardaxima (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae: Nystaleinae), with special reference to the species occurring in Brazil, Zoologia (e 63526) 38, pp. 1-14 : 6

Bardaxima ionia ( Druce, 1900)

Figs 14–19, 48–50

Heterocampa ionia Druce, 1900: 515 . Lectotype male, [ BRAZIL]: AM, Manaus (NHMUK), here designated [examined].

Symmerista albolimbata Dognin, 1909: 83 . Holotype male, VENEZUELA: [Distrito Capital], Caracas [no further data] (illegible) (USNM) [examined]. Syn. nov.

Gisara ambigua Dyar, 1908: 49 . Holotype male, PERU: [Callao], Callao ( Pusey ) (USNM), [examined]. Syn. nov.

Gisara metcalfi Schaus, 1928 . Lectotype male, BOLIVIA: [Santa Cruz], Rio Songo, 750 m (Fassl) (USNM), designated by Schintlmeister (2016: 322) [examined]. Syn. nov.

Diagnosis. Male ( Figs 14, 16, 18) FW length 23–27 mm (52–60 mm wingspan), female ( Figs 15–17, 19) FW length 32 mm (70 mm wingspan). FW gray; patch on tornus before termen paler than ground color or whitish; postmedial band double, edged outwards with black lunules in vein interspaces. HW gray, paler towards base, cilia white. Distal margin of 8 th male sternite ( Fig. 50) slightly round. Male genitalia ( Fig. 48): uncus long, broad, branched at distal half. Socii large, distal third bent ventrad, apex of branches with small teeth. Valva with costa straight, slightly incurved near apex; sacculus thin, longer than valva, with two long, thin branches at end, ventral one slightly curved before sharp pointed tip. Aedoeagus ( Fig. 49) straight, slightly expanded and branched distad.

Material studied. Types; 10 males (g.s. 4589, 5611, 5612), 4 females ( VOB) .

Distribution. Costa Rica to Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia east to São Paulo, Brazil.

Remarks. Heterocampa ionia was described from a pair of specimens, the lectotype and a female, that belongs to Disphragis occulta (Schaus, 1905) ( Becker 2014: 6) . The patch on dorsum, before termen, varies from white, as in the type of G. metcalfi , to almost the same as the ground color, as in G. ambigua , looking similar to B. subrutila , but easily distinguished by the black mark at end of FW cell: a small round dot in B. ionia , whereas a short, vertical dash in B. subrutila . The female from Costa Rica ( Fig. 21) is an exact match to the female lectotype of G. metcalfi , from Peru, illustrated in Schintlmeister (2016: 322). Gisara ambigua is not more than a rubbed specimen of B. ionia . As Callao, a city close to Lima, Peru, is located in the desert coast along the Pacific side of South America, almost devoid of vegetation, it is very likely that the type specimen of G. ambigua is mislabeled.