Megalographa culminicola Barbut and Piñas

Lafontaine, J. Donald & Sullivan, J. Bolling, 2009, A review of the genus Megalographa Lafontaine and Poole (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Plusiinae) with the description of a new species from Costa Rica, Insecta Mundi 2009 (77), pp. 1-10 : 6

Megalographa culminicola Barbut and Piñas

( Figure 3, 4 )

Megalographa culminicola Barbut and Piñas 2007: 19 . Holotype: male, MNHN, Paris [photographs examined]; Type locality: Carchi, Impuera, Ecuador.

Diagnosis. This species is an anomaly. The forewing pattern is unlike any other species of Megalographa , whereas the genitalia appear to be indistinguishable from those of M. agualaniata . The species can easily be recognized within Megalographa by the elongated, narrow, tapering stigma, not the usually bilobed or two-lobed stigma of the other species in the genus. The sexes are similar. The male genitalia are like those of M. agualaniata ( Fig. 10 ), but the uncus is slightly stouter and the mesial bulge in the vesica is positioned closer to the base because the basal part of the vesica is much shorter in M. culminicola .

Distribution and Habitat. Megalographa culminicola occurs in the páramo zone, 3300–3940 m, high in the Andes in Ecuador and northern Peru.

Figures

Figure 1–8. Megalographa spp. 1) M. monoxyla, m, Cochabamba, Incachaca, Bolivia. 2) M. agualaniata, m, Cochabamba, Incachaca, Bolivia. 3) M. culminicola, m, Ecuador. 4) M. culminicola, f, Junin to Huanuco Hwy., Pasco, Peru, 3600 m. 5) M. bonaerensis, m, Curitiba, 920 m, Paraná, Brazil. 6) M. biloba, m, San Gerardo de Dota, Cartago, Costa Rica. 7-8) M. talamanca, m, Reserva los Nimbulos, 3150 m, Cerro de la Muerte, San José, Costa Rica.

Figure 9–14. Male genitalia of Megalographa spp. and Lophoplusia sp. 9) M. monoxyla, Cochabamba, Incachaca, Bolivia. 10) M. agualaniata, Venezuela. 11) M. bonaerensis, Curitiba, 920 m, Paraná, Brazil. 12) M. biloba, Verdugo, California. 13) M. talamanca, Reserva los Nimbulos, 3150 m, Cerro de la Muerte, San José, Costa Rica. 14) Lophoplusia sp., Kauai, Hawaii.