Gaujonia arbosi Dognin, 1891

Martinez, Jose I., 2020, Revision of the South American genus Gaujonia Dognin (Noctuidae, Pantheinae) with descriptions of five new genera and twenty-one new species, ZooKeys 985, pp. 71-126 : 71

Gaujonia arbosi Dognin Figs 8 , 26 , 32 , 85 , 93

Gaujonia arbosi Dognin, 1891: 126.

Type material.

Lectotype ♂, Ecuador: " Gaujonia arbosi type ♂ Dgn. / Environs de Loja Equateur / 1993 / Type No. 30907 U.S.N.M. / Genitalia slide m, Franclemont USNM 33564", coll. P. Dognin ♂. Deposited in USNM. Additional examined specimens (4 ♂, 2 ♀, MGCL): Ecuador: Ecuador, Napo + 10km Papallacta, 2730 m, 13-15 Sep. 1982, coll. N. Venedictoff (3 ♂); Ecuador, Napo, El Carmelo Barbar’ 10km, 2750 m, 19 Jan. 1985, coll. N. Venedictoff (2 ♀). Colombia: Colombia, Putumayo near San Francisco 01°07'36"N, 076°50'30"W, 25-27.01.2018, 2525m., Leg Viktor Sinjaev and Juan Machado / (1 ♂).

Etymology.

Paul Dognin probably named this species arbosi after Fr. Mariano Arbós, a friend of Fr. Theophile Gaujon.

Diagnosis.

Gaujonia arbosi is similar to G. chiqyaq , but it can be identified by coloration, which is dark yellow in G. arbosi . Both sexes are similar with the only difference being that the female is covered with brighter yellow scales from the fold to the posterior margin of the forewing, accenting the lines. For males the forewing length ranges from 17-19 mm and for females from 23-25 mm. Palp short and black; antenna has a stripe of dark yellow scales from the base to the seventh antennomere; antennae are black, and longer than in G. chiqyaq . Male thorax dark yellow with some patches of black. Forewing with pattern similar to that of G. chiqyaq , but the lines on Sc+R1 and posterior margin are thicker; there is a small dot in the middle of the base of the cell M1, which is not present in G. chiqyaq ; the V-shaped mark at the base of CuA2 smaller and thicker than in G. chiqyaq . The hindwing, base of M2 is angled diagonally forward to the base of the wing, fused to the base of CuA1; in G. chiqyaq M2 is squared and not fused with the base of CuA1; the fringe is black with few yellow scales making minute spots at the end of the veins, except the cell A2, which is completely outlined in black. The male genitalia have the cucullar region wide, slightly diagonal to the base, whereas the cucullar region in G. chiqyaq is wide, opened, almost touching the saccular region; the juxta is semicircular in shape; the saccus is short and wide. Female genitalia, the sterigma is peanut shaped, and the corpus bursae is ⅛ × larger than the appendix bursae. DNA Barcoding showed that G. arbosi and G. chiqyaq are sister species with ca. ~ 0.3% of difference, but the morphological characters mentioned above distinguish both species.

Immature stages.

Egg. Bright green and turning dark brown close to emergence. Larva. Only known from the third instar, which is very similar to that of G. kanakusika , but the body of G. arbosi is white with dark brown secondary setae, whereas the body of G. kanakusika is rather whitish yellow. Pre-pupa. Unknown. Pupa. Dark brown ( Guevara and Romero 2008).

Distribution.

This species is endemic to coniferous and deciduous forest of Ecuador and Colombia and can be found at high elevations above 2500 m (Fig. 93 ).

Biology.

Guevara and Romero (2008) were the first to record the larval stages in Gaujonia arbosi feeding on Alnus acuminata Kunth but they misidentified it as Gaujonia arbosioides (now Millerana arbosioides ), even though the immature stages differ greatly between both genera (see Millerana immature stages). Additionally, the illustrations from Guevara and Romero (2008) lack of good quality to use for identification.

Remarks.

The holotype of the species was “missing” in the P. Dognin collection (USNM), which was a female illustrated by Dognin (1894). A male was listed as the type specimen, but this is actually a different species from the illustration made by P. Dognin (Fig. 8 ). Presumably both specimens were used in the description of the species in his second work Dognin (1894), and is also deposited in the Dognin collection (USNM), I designated the male as the lectotype for Gaujonia arbosi Dognin under the provisions of Article 74.1.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999), whereas the female is considered a different species (see Gaujonia chiqyaq remarks).

Figures

Figure 93. Distribution of examined specimens of the genera Gaujonia and Gaujoptera.

Figures 8 - 11. Type specimens 8 Gaujonia arbosi, lectotype, USNM, Loja, Ecuador 9 Millerana arbosioides, holotype, USNM, Loja, Ecuador 10 Oculicattus renifera, holotype, NHMUK, Puno, Peru 11 Cicadoforma vau-nigrum, holotype, NHMUK, Tovar, Venezuela.

Figures 26 - 42. Adult habitus of Gaujonia, Gaujoptera, and Millerana species 26 Gaujonia arbosi, ♂, MGCL, Napo, Ecuador 27 G. bichu, ♂, holotype, FSU, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador 28 G. bichu, ♂, paratype, FSU, Loja, Ecuador 29 G. chiqyaq, ♂, paratype, MGCL, Marinio, Colombia 30 G. kanakusika, ♂, holotype, MGCL, Cundinamarca, Colombia 31 G. sourakovi, ♂, holotype, MGCL, Cusco, Peru 32 G. arbosi, ♀, MGCL, Napo, Ecuador 33 G. chiqyaq, ♀, holotype, MGCL, Marinio, Colombia 34 G. kanakusika, ♀, paratype, MGCL, Cundinamarca, Colombia 35 Gaujoptera amsa, ♂, holotype, MGCL, Cotapata, Bolivia 36 G. amsa, ♂, paratype, MGCL, Junin, Peru 37 Millerana arbosioides, ♂, MGCL, Carchi, Ecuador 38 M. austini, ♂, holotype, CUIC, Cotopaxi, Ecuador 39 M. matthewsae, ♂, holotype, MGCL, Ancash, Peru 40 M. cundinamarquensis, ♂, holotype, MGCL, Cundinamarca, Colombia 41 M. tigrina, ♂, holotype, MGCL, Carchi, Ecuador 42 M. cajas, ♂, holotype, MGCL, Azuay, Ecuador.

Figures 85 - 90. Female genitalia of Gaujonia and Oculicattus species 85 Gaujonia arbosi, MGCL, Napo, Ecuador 86 G. chiqyaq, holotype, MGCL, Marinio, Colombia 87 G. kanakusika, paratype, MGCL, Cundinamarca, Colombia 88 Oculicattus renifera, MGCL, Cusco, Peru 89 O. brehmi, paratype, MGCL, Napo, Ecuador 90 O. raizae, paratype, MGCL, La Paz, Bolivia.