Dicepolia roseobrunnea (Warren)

Hayden, James E., 2009, Taxonomic revision of Neotropical Dicepolia Snellen (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), Zootaxa 2237, pp. 1-33 : 8-12

Dicepolia roseobrunnea (Warren)

Figures 1–3, 17–19, 33, 35, 51

Anemosa (?) roseobrunnea Warren, 1889: 260 .

Dicepolia roseobrunnea, Snellen, 1892: 158 .― Fletcher and Nye, 1984: 45.― Munroe, 1995: 52 (no. 1308).

Calamochrous roseobrunnea, Hampson, 1899b: 228 . Pionea sp., de Oliveira, 1941: 22.

Phlyctaenia sp., da Costa Lima, 1950: 41.

Material examined: Lectotype 3 (NHM): Type [red label] // R. Jutahi / 27/1/75 / Light // 89-8 // Anemosa / roseobrunnea / Warr. Type // [Next to specimen] Type [red label] (not dissected)

Paralectotypes: Brazil: 13: Boaventura / R. Jutahi / 24/1/75 / Light // 89-8; 13: R. Javary / 7/12/74 Light // 89-8 (NHM).

Other materiaL: Bolivia: 13: Prov. del Sara / Bolivia, 450 m. / J. Steinbach // Carn. Mus. / Acc. 5571 (CNC). 13: Todos Santos, Chapare / Cochabamba, Bolivia / 300m. Nov. 1955 / F. Steinbach // [blue label] SLIDE 3029 DK (CNC). 13: Zoolog. / Staatsslg. / BOLIVIA / Chapare-Gebiet / oberer Rio Chipiriri / 400 m. / 25.X.1953. / leg. W. Forster. 13: same data as preceding except: 27.X.1953, plus label “J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 285 3.” 13: same data as preceding except: 4.XI.1953, plus label “ Dicepolia / roseobrunnea / (Warr.) / Det. E.G. Munroe 1963” (all ZSM). 1(?): same data as preceding except 28.X.1953, plus label “ Dicepolia / roseobrunnea / (Warr.) / Det. E.G. Munroe 1963” (CNC). Brazil: 13: Codajas, / Upper Amazon, / April 1907 / (S.M. Klages). // Rothschild / Bequest / 1939-1. // B.M. Pyralidae / Genitalia slide / No. 22138 3 (NHM). 13: 3 genitalia / slide - 19 June 1941 / HC [Hahn Capps] // Genitalia Slide / By CH / USNM 111,915 // BRASIL: Estado Paraiba / 1941. ex Licania sclero- / phylla. leg. da Costa Lima // Phlyctaenia n.sp. / Ex. Licania / oclerophylla [sic] / Estado da Paraiba, / Brazil, Da Costa Lima / 1941 ― see Letter / 26 July 1941 (USNM). 2ƤƤ: BRASIL: Estado Paraiba / 1941. ex Licania sclero- / phylla. leg. da Costa Lima, one with label “J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 224 Ƥ” (USNM). 13: Col. BECKER / 111253 // BRASIL: MT / 60 km S Poconé, / Pantanal 100m / 1–7.xii. 1997 / V. O.Becker Col. // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 225 3 (USNM). 1Ƥ: Col. BECKER / 111253 // BRASIL: MT / 60 km S Poconé, / Pantanal 100m / 1–7.xii. 1997 / V. O.Becker Col. // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 226 Ƥ (USNM). 1Ƥ: Coll. / Staudinger // Bras. m. / S. Paulo 96. // SLIDE / EGM / No. 3040 (ZMHB). 13: Rio Iça–Putumayo / BRAZIL Aug 11 '20 // Cornell U. / Lot 607 // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 175 3 // pho. 0 93, 0 94 (CUIC). Colombia: 13: Columbia / 3 / Petersen // Musem Leiden / Dicepolia / roseobrunnea / Warren / Det. Sn. 13?: same data as preceding except “ Columbia / Ƥ / Petersen” (both RMNH). 13: [blue label] W. Columbien / Rio Micay / W.Hopp // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 283 3 (ZMHB). French Guiana: 13, 2ƤƤ: St. Jean de Maroni, / French Guiana. / Received from / E. Le Moult. // Rothschild / Bequest / 1939-1, one with label “B.M. Pyralidae / Genitalia slide / No. 22137 3” (NHM). 13: Guyane française, Route de / Kaw @ pk 36, Camp Patawa / 10.iv.2008, GPS: elev. 188 m / N 04°32.644',W 052°09.151' / MLV, B. Landry, C. Reuteler // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 367 3 (MHNG). 1Ƥ: same data as preceding except: 31.iii.2008 / Landry, Kohll, Lemaître, with label “J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 368 Ƥ (MHNG). 6ƤƤ: Pied Saut, / Oyapok River, / Fr. Guiana. / S. M. Klages, / C. M. Acc. 6173 // March, / 1918, one with label “J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 18 Ƥ,” one with labels “J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 240 Ƥ” and “J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 370 Ƥ wings,” one with label “1503” (CMNH). 2ƤƤ: St. Laurent / du Maroni // 36. CRAMBIDAE –SPILOMELINAE– ODONTIINAE . Mermiscopis [sic], etc. Coll. L. et J. de Joannis, 403, one with label “ Calamochrous / roseobrunnea / Warr / (un à vérifier).” 1Ƥ: same data as preceding, except: St. Laurent / du Maroni / Guyane française / [underneath] 26 Decembr 0 7. 1Ƥ: same data as preceding, except: Maroni / 16 Nov. 67 // 36 (all MNHN). Guyana: 1Ƥ: Tumatumari, / British Guiana, / December 1907. / (S. M. Klages). // Rothschild / Bequest / 1939-1 (NHM). Honduras: 1Ƥ: Lancetilla, Tela / Hond. 3-V-35 / M.Bates // not found in / U.S. N.M. '57 // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 369 Ƥ (MCZ). Panama: 1Ƥ: Barro Colorado / C.Z. 29-I / M. Bates coll. 1Ƥ: Barro Colorado / C.Z. 6-II / M. Bates coll. // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 242 Ƥ. 1Ƥ: Barro Colorado / C.Z. 4-I / M. Bates coll. // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 518 Ƥ. Peru: 13: La Oroya, Rio / Inambari, 3100', / Jan. 1906. wet s. / (Ockenden). // Rothschild / Bequest / 1939-1; 13: Palcazu, / Dept. Junin, / (Sedlmayr). // Rothschild / Bequest / 1939-1 (NHM). 13: PERU, Huanuco: / Tingo Maria / 28.XI.46 / J. C. Pallister (AMNH). 13: same data as preceding, except 27.XI.46, with label “J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 222 3” (AMNH). 13: PERU: Madre de Dios; / Rio Tambopata Res; 30 air / km.SW Pto. Maldonado, 290m. / 16–20 XI 1979 J.B.Heppner / subtropical moist forest (USNM). Surinam: 1Ƥ: Aroewarwa Creek, / Maroewym valley, / Surinam, July 1905. / (S.M. Klages). // Rothschild / Bequest / 1939-1 (NHM). Trinidad: 1Ƥ: TRINIDAD: Simla / Arima Valley / 13–19.II.66 / SS&WDDuckworth // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 231 Ƥ (USNM). Venezuela: 13, 1Ƥ: VENEZUELA, Amazonas: / Rio Mavaca Cp. 65º06'W / 2º2'N 150m. III-16/ 27 -1989 / David Grimaldi / Exp. Phipps–Fudeci, one with label “J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 221 3,” other with “J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 223 Ƥ” (AMNH). 13: VENEZUELA: T.F. Amaz. / Cerro de la Neblina / Basecamp. 0°50'N / 66°9'44"W. 155 m / Canopy 1–10Mar.1984 / D.Davis & T.McCabe (USNM). 13: VENEZUELA; T.F. Amaz. / 6 km E San Carlos / de Rio Negro / 23 Nov. 1984 / R. L. Brown (USNM).

Diagnosis: Size and color variable. Dark gray to black androconium present on male foreleg femur. Forewings brownish rosy or brownish orange; rosy scales along hindwing veins distally, with hindwing PM not strongly developed. Forewing PM smoothly and moderately curved basad. Vinculum broadly concave. Male S8 posterior edge broadly concave with large median spine. Phallus with about 1.5 spirals and one large cornutus to apex. Spur of female colliculum extending far onto cervix bursae. Corpus bursae without smooth signum but with large patch of granules (autapomorphic).

Redescription: Frontoclypeus not very prominent, projecting 0.15 ± 0.06 mm (n = 42), frontoclypeus a rounded arch, 90-degree angle or slightly obtuse. Frons very slightly rounded, dark red. Vertex rose. Eye 0.8 ± 0.06 mm long (n = 42). Antennae brown. Male antennal cilia moderately long, not longer than antennal width, except long in some eastern Brazilian males; female cilia short. Labial palpi porrect, 1.4–2.6 mm (mean 1.9 ± 0.1 mm, n = 37). Mean palp/eye ratio 2.3. Labial and maxillary palpi wine-red with interspersed black scales. Haustellar scales white. Cervical scales white. Tegulae and dorsal thorax reddish orange to brownish red, darker in greasy specimens. Ventral thorax white. Legs all white, except gray areas: foreleg femur and tibia, midleg femur, dorsal edge of midleg tibia, outer spurs of all legs. Male with complex androconia on ventral side of foreleg femur, coupling with tibia, which are both dark gray to blackish. Spurs and midleg femur white in Brazilian specimens. Outer: inner spur ratios: midleg, 0.4; hindleg, 0.75.

Forewing length 7.2–10.3 mm (mean 9.1 ± 0.2 mm), width 3.5–5.4 mm (mean 4.6 ± 0.2 mm), mean length:width ratio 2.0 (n = 42); reared Brazilian specimens on the smaller end of range (figs 1–3, 33). Forewing color varying from pale brown, orange brown to brownish red: Venezuelan and Andean specimens brown in median area, brownish red distal of postmedial line; Brazilian specimens brownish orange; Guyanan specimens either. Costa and lines brown. Antemedial line slanted basad from discal cell to costa but often broken around cell; perpendicular or slightly concave from cell to posterior edge (more strongly basad in Brazilian specimens). Dark scales on posterior edge variously absent, running as darkish fringe along whole edge, or sometimes more concentrated at the AM line as a proto-scale-tooth. Postmedial line smoothly curving parallel to termen, then smoothly but distinctly bent basad on 1A. Basad bend even less distinct on some specimens from Bolivia and Peru, with PM nearly straight (fig. 2). Marginal fringe basal scales dark gray, distal scales white. Forewing underside brown, paler in anal area; lines absent in most but PM a complete brown line in some female Guyanan specimens. Hindwings mostly lustrous white (very pale bronze in some specimens); terminal area suffused with brown between veins. Rosy scales running along distal hindwing veins. Postmedial line usually absent, but brown and faint from medial to anal veins in some Guyanan and Brazilian specimens. Hindwing underside distally brown.

Abdomen dorsally brownish gray, with mix of rose and brownish cream scales basally and distally (terga 1–2, 7, and fringe of 8). Ventrally white. S7 tuft pale yellow. Scales of genitalia pale yellow; scales on sacculus yellow to orange-gray.

Male genitalia (figs 19, 35): S8 anterior emargination broadly triangular. S8 posterior edge slightly emarginate, flexures directly below lamelliform chaetae, with large medial spine. A8 pleural androconium linear. Lamelliform structures on sloping shoulders (except JEH prep. 285); bases laterally parallel-sided. Vinculum typically broadly concave, rarely flat. Gnathos arms converging at 90-degree angle; gnathos lateral arms not robust; median element longer than arms. Costal flutes present. Valva oblong. Phallus with 1.5 spirals. Single long cornutus.

Female genitalia (fig. 51): S9 length:depth ratio, 0.6. Ductus long between ostium bursae and colliculum. Colliculum just as long as wide. Spur of colliculum elongate, extending down cervix bursae. Appendices of ductus bursae and corpus bursae present, of normal size. Granules of corpus bursae present laterally as oval or elongate patch. Signum of corpus bursae absent.

Immature stages: Described by de Oliveira (1941: 23–24), who provides more information on life stages and bionomics. The following details are summarized from that source: eggs are laid singly on flowers and fruit of Licania spp. in August–September. First instar larvae are ca. 2mm long, cream-colored with brown head. Later instars have the normal complement of pyraloid pinacula, which are rosy to blood-red in the dorsal, subdorsal, lateral, and ventral groups and uncolored in the subventral group. Crochets are in a semicircle. Larvae bore into fruit, consume the seed and then the flesh. Entry holes are a millimeter or less and usually obscured by silk and frass. Requiring more than one fruit to mature, larvae seek out additional fruits suspended by silk.

Larvae reach maturity after at least 15 days. The pupation site is chosen opportunistically: inside excavated fruit nearest the branch, on the branch, on bark, or under loose bark. Pupae are 8 mm in length, chestnut-brown, last 5 abdominal segments mobile (ibid.: 24). Adults emerge after another 10–15 days. Adults are not positively phototropic over a few hundred meters, although they are active (ibid.: 27). Parasitoids and predators were never observed, although dead prepupae were often found (30).

Distribution: Widespread: Amazon Basin from central and northern Bolivia and southeast Peru to northeastern Brazil, the Pantanal to coastal range of northern Andes, Trinidad, and low and high elevations in Guyana, Surinam and French Guiana. One specimen from Honduras. Most records from moderately high elevation, but others from lower elevation.

Flight period: Jan. (Rios Jutahi and Inambari, Br.), Feb. ( Trinidad), Apr. (Codajas, Br.), May ( Honduras), July ( Surinam), Aug. (Rio Iça–Putymayo, Br.), Oct.–Nov. ( Bolivia, Peru), Dec. (Rio Javary, Br.; Pantanal, Br.; Guyana). Mar.–Apr. and Dec. in French Guiana; Mar. and Nov. in Venezuela.

Similar species: The foreleg androconium is shared with D. rufitinctalis , which differs in size, color, and genitalia. The forewing maculation is dark brown in D. amazonalis and brick red in D. vaga , and D. vaga has pronounced black PM spots on the ventral forewing. The forewing PM is nearly straight in D. artoides , more basal in D. cuiabalis , and sharply cornered at 1A in D. amazonalis . The posterior margin of S 8 in D. vaga and D. venezolalis has a small medial S8 spine, and in D. cuiabalis there is a very large median spine, such that the concavity on either side of the spine is not obvious. The medial part of the saccus in D. artoides and D. bicolor is narrow and flat, not broadly concave. The field of granules on the corpus bursae is unique. Sympatric D. vaga at Barro Colorado Is., Panama, is very similar in general maculation but can be distinguished by the PM maculation and genitalia.

Remarks: Warren’s type series is located in Drawer 217- 111 in the NHM under Calamochrous Lederer , associated by Hampson. Six of the eight specimens listed in the original publication were found, and some belong to new species. In order of Warren’s listing (1889: 261), they are identified as: (1) still undet., (2) D. artoides , (3) not found, (4, 5, 6) D. roseobrunnea (the sixth being the holotype), (7) not found, (8) D. amazonalis . The two specimens on which Snellen based his description of Dicepolia also appear to be D. roseobrunnea ; although they remain undissected, their maculation falls within the range of the species and the foreleg androconia are present. Both specimens appear to be males.

Even after recognition of the new species, D. roseobrunnea exhibits much external variation in size, color, and PM curvature. Warren’s observation still appears to hold: adults occur throughout the year across the range, and the records indicate bi- or trivoltinism in the Amazon Basin. According to Oliveira (1941), there appear to be two generations per year in eastern Brazil: adults that eclose in mid-August and early September produce a second generation that feeds in September and ecloses before October, which in turn produce larvae that overwinter as prepupae. A third generation, feeding in July, is possible. The similarity of male genitalia across the distribution and the sympatry of color variants indicate that all are of one species. Brazilian specimens, including those described by de Oliveira (1941), tend to be smaller, with orange-brown wings, more uniformly white legs, and males with distinctly longer antennal cilia.

The “ rosada da oiticica ” was a pest of Licania fruit in Brazil ca. 1939-1940. The voucher specimens are small but well within the range of D. roseobrunnea , and the genitalia do not differ from those of other populations. The Brazilian populations were described and identified as “ Pionea sp.” by de Oliveira (1941) in connection with infestation of the fruit of Licania rigida in the vicinity of the São Gonçalo dam, Estado Paraíba, and reportedly elsewhere in Paraíba and Ceará. On behalf of de Oliveira, A. da Costa Lima sent specimens to C. Heinrich (USNM) for determination (letter dated 5 May 1941, United States Archives, Washington DC). Da Costa Lima identified the tree as Licania sclerophylla or “oiticica.” In his response (letter 29 July 1941), Heinrich expressed difficulty with identification, especially since wartime conditions prevented travel to the British Museum. He advised that its maculation most resembled Phlyctaenia vinotinctalis (Hampson) (now in Oenobotys Munroe ) but with completely different genitalia. Da Costa Lima seems not to have described the species as new, and he published the identification as “ Phlyctaenia sp.” (da Costa Lima 1950). The relationship of this species to D. rufitinctalis may have been subsequently noted if not published, because Heinrich’s genitalic slide (USNM no. 111,915, “ Phlyctaenia ”) stands in sequence after a slide of male D. rufitinctalis (no. 111,914) that Heinrich dissected three years previously. This other specimen was likewise identified as “ Hapalia ( Phlyctaenia ?),” despite the presence of Hampson’s syntypes in the USNM.

The seed-feeding habit is not uncommon in tropical Eurrhypini . Deanolis Snellen , a major pest of mangoes in SE Asia ( Waterhouse, 1998), likewise bores into the large, oily, single seeds of cultivated fruit. Both the slight greasiness and the variation in size seen in D. roseobrunnea could be explained by internal feeding, as the nutritional constraints on root- and seed-boring Pyraloidea often determine adult body mass.