Josia similis Hering Plate, 1925

Miller, James S, 2009, Generic Revision Of The Dioptinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae) Part 2: Josiini, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2009 (321), pp. 675-1022 : 819

Josia similis Hering Plate 32

Josia similis Hering, 1925: 527 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Brazil, Pará.

TYPE: Syntype ³/ ♀ ( ZMH).

DISCUSSION: Hering (1925: 527) described J. similis as: ‘‘colored the same [as mononeura ], but the abdomen beneath is white, [and the moth is] somewhat smaller’’. My studies confirm his highly effective diagnosis. The abdominal venter in M. mononeura is uniformly gray, whereas in both J. similis and J. insincera it is white. Josia similis has a FW length (14.0–15.5 mm) intermediate between that of J. mononeura (17.0–20.0 mm) and J. insincera (13.0–16.0 mm). The front in J. similis and J. insincera is white, whereas that of J. mononeura is gray-brown in its center. Male genital morphology suggests that, of the three, J. similis and J. mononeura are more closely related that either is to J. insincera .

Josia similis is known exclusively from northeastern Brazil, near the mouth of the Amazon River, in the states of Pará and Ceará. Josia insincera occurs in Venezuela and Colombia, whereas J. mononeura is endemic to southeastern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina. I have seen only four specimens of J. similis —the male and female syntypes at the ZMH, one male paratype at the BMNH, and a male from the MPM (JSM-1705).

DISTRIBUTION: Brazil (BMNH, MPM, ZMH).

DISSECTED: ³, Brazil, Ceará, Joareiro , near Fortaleza, 19 May 1933, leg. R. von Ihering, MPM (genitalia slide no. JSM-1705).

2. LIGATA GROUP

The Ligata Group exhibits several ironclad diagnostic traits. One of the quickest ways to recognize its members is by examining the FW costa. In all Ligata Group species, the FW costa is orange-yellow in the basal half. The wing venation for this group is also unique within Josia , because FW vein M 1 always arises from the radial sector (fig. 336G). In other Josia species groups, M 1 arises at the base of the radial sector at the anterolateral angle of the DC (figs. 336F, H). A more subtle, but useful, Ligata Group character is the orientation of Lp 3, which droops slightly in all species.

The group’s genitalia are similarly recognizable, characterized by the following features: costa simple; a long, thin, hooklike process at valva apex; vesica of aedeagus elongate, with short spinelike cornuti along dorsal and ventral surfaces; male Tg8 equal to St 8 in width, lateral margins convex; DB elongate, curved, internally spinose; signum an elongate oval.