Investigating the Taxonomy and Distribution Patterns of Loxophlebia flavinigra: Insights from Historical Records and Recent Data

The species Loxophlebia flavinigra was first described by Jones, 1908 (https://archive.org/details/transactionsofen1908roya/page/144/mode/1up?view=theater) with the type locality in Castro, municipality of Paraná. Hampson, 1914 provided a drawing of the species (https://archive.org/details/catalogueoflepid12brit/page/n41/mode/2up?view=theater) along with a new description (https://archive.org/details/catalogueoflepid01brit/page/137/mode/1up?view=theater).

The main characteristics of the species include its yellow-orange coloration of the head, thorax, abdomen, and base of the forewing; black band on the vertex, interrupted at the collar and continued on the dorsal surface of the thorax and abdomen; black band on the patagia; two posterior black dots on the collar; terminal segments of the abdomen with a black stripe on the side and anterior portion of the segment, which together with the central stripe form cells of yellow-orange coloration; hyaline wings with black margins; forewing with a black spot in the discal cell.

In order to verify the geographical distribution of the species, I searched for photographs of L. flavinigra on the Inaturalist website. Observations of adults identified at least at the subfamily level Arctiinae in the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, and Mato Grosso do Sul, the Argentine province of Misiones, and Paraguay were selected.

I found 18 individuals corresponding to the species L. flavinigra in the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina, Paraná, and Rio de Janeiro.

All the locations where the species was found on the Inaturalist website had already been reported in the literature (Ferro et al., 2012; Nascimento et al., 2016). However, regarding the description of the species, Jones and Hampson did not describe the black stripes on the anterior portion of the terminal segments of the abdomen. Additionally, the drawing provided by Hampson shows these stripes on all segments of the abdomen, which is not the case in the first two.

Bibliography:

FERRO, V.G., RESENDE, I.M.H. & DUARTE, M. 2012. The Arctiinae moths (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) of Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Biota Neotrop. 12(4): 166-180;

NASCIMENTO, M.S., FERRO, V.G., MONTEIRO, R.F. 2016 Arctiinae (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Biota Neotropica. 16(2): 1-23.

Posted on April 2, 2024 04:43 PM by regisrafael