Eusceptis Hübner, [1823]

Lafontaine, Donald & Poole, Robert, 2010, Review of the New World genera of the subfamily Acontiinae (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 137-160 : 150

Eusceptis Hübner, [1823]

Figs 15, 35, 45

This genus includes 11 species, mainly of the Neotropical Region, but one species extends northward to Texas. Th e relatively large moths (forewing length 9–17 mm) with their broad boldly-patterned forewings, are more reminiscent of some species of Eulepidotis Hübner than an acontiine. One species ( E. obscura ) is drably colored with more rounded wings, but the genitalia are typical for Eusceptis . Male genitalia (Fig. 35). The rows of stiff setae on the ventral surface of the uncus are diagnostic for the genus. The valves are broad and apically rounded, widest near the apex; they are highly asymmetrical in almost all species (less so in E. irretita ) and in most the right valve is more structurally complex than the left one. In all species except two the corona is concentrated in a small cluster at the dorsal-apical corner of the valve at the apex of a rod-like thickening of the costal margin of the valve. Female genitalia (Fig. 45). These are similar to those of Acontia . The ostial area is sclerotized but the ductus bursae and corpus bursae are elongated and membranous; the appendix bursae is on a short membranous lobe on the left posterior margin of the corpus bursae. Th e apophyses and abdominal segment eight are very long and suggest a different mode of oviposition than other acontiines.

Food plant. Malvaviscus arboreus Cav. (Malvaceae) ; reared by D. Janzen and W. Hallwachs in Costa Rica.