Esperiana Memoir 2

Esperiana Buchreihe zur Entomologie Memoir 2: 1-220, 7 Taf.

Schwanfeld, 11. Nov. 2005  ISBN 3-938249-02-1

Revision und Phylogenie der Gattungsgruppe Crypsotidia Rothschild, 1901, Tachosa Walker, 1869, Hypotacha Hampson, 1913, Audea Walker, [1858] 1857 und Ulotrichopus Wallengren, 1860  (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Catocalinae)

von

Lars Kühne

Summary

The revision of the genre Crypsotidia Rothschild, 1901; Tachosa Walker, 1869; Hypotacha Hampson, 1913; Audea Walker, [1858] 1857 and Ulotrichopus Wallengren, 1860 with a total of 89 species resulted in the following taxonomical changes. One synonym at the genus level is found: Cremopalpus Strand, 1909 syn. nov. of Crypsotidia Rothschild, 1901. One genus is described as new: Archaeopilocornus gen. nov..

The status of three species is revised: Ulotrichopus stertzi (Püngeler, 1907) stat. rev., Crypsotidia wollastoni Rothschild, 1901 stat. rev., Ulotrichopus sumatrensis A.E.Prout, 1928 stat. rev. and one nude name is found: "U. catocaloides Strd." nomen nudum.

11 synonyms at the species level are found: Crypsotidia griseola Rothschild, 1921 syn. nov. of Crypsotidia mesosema Hampson, 1913, Crypsotidia conifera Hampson, 1913 syn. nov. of Crypsotidia maculifera (Staudinger, 1898), Tachosa malagasy Viette, 1966 syn. nov. of Tachosa acronyctoides Walker, 1869, Audea humeralis Hampson, 1902 syn. nov. of Audea tegulata Hampson, 1902, Audea hypostigmata Hampson, 1913 syn. nov. of Audea bipunctata Walker, [1858] 1857, Audea endophaea Hampson, 1913 syn. nov. of Audea hemihyala Karsch, 1896, Audea postalbida Berio, 1954 syn. nov. of Audea melaleuca Walker, 1865, Ulothrichopus leucopasta Hampson, 1913 syn. nov. of Ulotrichopus stertzi (Püngeler, 1907) stat. rev., Ulothrichopus glaucescens Hampson, 1913 syn. nov. of Ulotrichopus stertzi (Püngeler, 1907) stat. rev., Ulotrichopus tessmanni Gaede, 1936 syn. nov. of Ulotrichopus pseudocatocala (Strand, 1918), Ulothrichopus macula reducta Prout, 1922 syn. nov. of Ulotrichopus macula (Hampson, 1891).

Four new combination are introduced: Crypsotidia inquirenda (Strand, 1909) comb. nov., Tachosa guichardi (Wiltshire, 1982) comb. nov., Archaeopilocornus lucidus (Pinhey, 1968) comb. nov., Ulotrichopus fatilega (Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874) comb. nov..

24 species and one subspecies are described as new: Crypsotidia gigantea spec. nov., Crypsotidia clytieformis spec. nov., Crypsotidia bibrachiata spec. nov., Crypsotidia piscicaudae spec. nov., Crypsotidia postfusca spec. nov., Crypsotidia bullula spec. nov., Crypsotidia digitata spec. nov., Hypotacha antrummagna spec. nov., Hypotacha soudanensis spec. nov., Hypotacha alba spec. nov., Hypotacha fractura spec. nov., Audea jonasi spec. nov., Audea paulumnodosa spec. nov., Audea luteoforma spec. nov., Audea tachosoides spec. nov., Audea kathrina spec. nov., Audea blochwitzi spec. nov., Audea albiforma spec. nov., Audea nigrior spec. nov., Audea watusi spec. nov., Ulotrichopus varius spec. nov., Ulotrichopus meyi spec. nov., Ulotrichopus usambarae spec. nov., Ulotrichopus pseudomarmoratus spec. nov., Ulotrichopus phaeoleucus griseus ssp. nov..

Taxa excluded and transferred to other genre: Audea albifasciata Pinhey, 1968 comb. nov. with Catephia Ochsenheimer, 1816 (Noctuidae: Catocalinae), Ulotrichopus maccvoodi Hampson, 1913 syn. nov. of Catocala sponsalis Walker, [1858] 1857 (Noctuidae: Catocalinae).

The geographical distribution, male and female genitalia, and adults of all revised species are illustrated. The phylogenetic interpretation is based only on morphological apomorphies. Cladogramms generated by the software programm PAUP 4.0 were produced for all morphological data which are typological marks as well plesiomorphies as apomorphies. The results are illustrated in an extra chapter.

Phylogenetic hypotheses are presented for each genus and the hold group and illustrated as phylogramms. They based on apomorphies and differ from the cladogramms. Any genus is characterised by its autapomorphies. The phylogeny of the examined group showed that Tachosa and Hypotacha are adelphotaxa; both together are the adelphotaxon of Crypsotidia. Archaeopilocornus gen. nov. is a probable adelphotaxon of Audea. This prefered phylogenetic interpretation has been made more difficult due to the existence of many characters within this genus which can be found in the other genera as well. The genus Ulotrichopus forms a monophylum with the genus Catocala. Both genera have a common ancestor, but it has to be considered that they are polyphyletic. The minimal morphological differences and parallel developments make it very difficult to elucidate the complex phylogeny without further investigation. The confusion of some characters within the genitalia of species of Ulotrichopus and Catocala supports the suspicion that some species are descendants of older radiation. The phylogeny of the three characterised monophyla within the tribe Catocalini can not be finally reconstructed because there are many parallelisms in other genera of the subfamily, which have to be investigated separately.

The monophylum Catocalini within the subfamily Catocalinae (Noctuidae) is newly characterised by six autapomorphies: secondary, ventral sclerotisation of 8th segment (sinus vaginalis), existence of genuine valvula, muscle 7 insert at the harpe, muscle 5 split (two inseration points at vinculum), fusion of the valva with vinculum, therefore muscle 4 is reduced, and occurrence of a corema on the outside of valva. The genre Clytie and Achaea are probably related groups.

It is assumed that the ancestors of Catocalinae originated and diversified in the tropical biome. The disintegration of the tropical forest zone up to the miocene and the panafrican fluctuation was followed by the catocaline species and is an explanation of the recent distribution of species of the examined group. The species richness within the trifine noctuids and their minimal morphological variance are evidence of their younger age and recent radiation in the open and drier landscapes.

Lars Kühne wurde am 4. Dezember 1967 in Premnitz an der Havel geboren. Der Reiz des Havellandes weckte frühzeitig das Interesse an der Natur. Dabei rückten allmählich die Schmetterlinge in den Mittelpunkt. Von 1990 bis 1996 studierte er an der Humboldt-Universität Berlin und schloss das Studium mit dem Staatsexamen in Biologie und Chemie ab. In seiner Studienzeit wandte er sich vollends den Makrolepidopteren, insbesondere den Noctuidae zu. Reisen nach Mittelasien, in den Fernen Osten Russlands und nach Ghana erweiterten nicht nur seine Sammlung sondern ließen ihn auch frühzeitig erkennen, dass der Forschungsbedarf bei den "Motten" umso größer wird, je weiter man sich von Europa entfernt. So reifte der Gedanke, sich ein Dissertationsthema zu suchen, das die unzureichende Systematik einer Noctuidae-Gruppe aufgreifen soll und zudem einen Schwerpunkt in Afrika hat. Die Gründung und der Aufbau eines Planungsbüros drängten diese Vorhaben für einige Jahre in den Hintergrund. Dann fiel die Wahl auf die Gattung Audea und den mit ihr verwandten Gattungen. Die Arbeit begann 2000 und wurde am Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt Universität Berlin durchgeführt. Die hier vorgelegte Abhandlung ist das Ergebnis dieser Arbeit. Sie wurde durch die gleichzeitige Mitarbeit am BIOTA-Projekt (Biodiversity Monitoring Transsect Analysis in Africa) von 2001-2003, mit Schwerpunkt Kenia, gefördert und befruchtet.