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1957
The Lepidopterists' Neirs
107
A NEW SPECIES OF PHLEGETHONTIUS (SPHINGID^) FROM HISPANIOLA
by Margaret M. Cary
In conjunction with my studies on Antillean Sphingidae I have had the opportunity to collect personally in some of the islands of the Greater Antilles, including the island of Hispaniola. A Catholic priest, Brother Dorothee, has collected Sphingidae for me in Cap Haitien, in Jeremie, and in Petite Goave, all of which are located in the Republic of Haiti, western Hispaniola. John G. Coutsis, a graduate student at Yale University, did some additional collecting of Sphingidse for me in 1955, mostly near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
In the summer of 1956 I was fortunate in securing again the services of Mr. Coutsis to collect Sphingidae for me in Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and in St. John of the American Virgin Islands. In September of 1956 Mr. Coutsis went to a town named Savanette, situated on a plateau in the center of the Republic of Haiti. This plateau is a coffee-growing region, wooded, hot and humid. There is practically no electricity here, and the light traps had to be attached to a generator loaned by the Brierre coffee power plant, located near the town. Mr. Coutsis collected here a series of nine male specimens of a Phlegetbontius he had never before seen. These moths have a yellowish green tinge on the upperside of their forewings, and when he wrote this to me about them I supposed they were Pklegethontius afflictus Grote. My supposition was based on the facts that afflictus was the only known Phlegetbontius from the Antilles having a yellowish green tinge, and that BoiSDUVAL had recorded afflictus from Haiti (see below).
A preliminary study of the Phlegetbontius specimens from Savanette revealed that these specimens are more closely related to afflictus than to any other known species of the genus. Thus, my final decision about the species status of the Savanette series was based on the results I obtained by comparing these moths to a series of six male afflictus from Cuba. Differences between the specimens from Savanette and the series of afflictus became evident after my having considered and compared the following: a) color and markings of the dorsum of the head, thorax, and abdomen; b) color and markings on the upperside of the forewings; c) color and markings on the upperside of the hindwings; d) male genitalia; e) average length of forewing.
The extent of the differences between the Savanette series and the afflictus specimens has convinced me that the former represent a valid new species, which I take pleasure in naming for its collector, John G. Coutsis.
For ease of comparison, the contrasting characters of afflictus are given in parentheses after each character of johanni.
Phlegetbontius johanni Cary, sp. n.
Head: the antenna brown, its base surrounded by white scaling, sometimes the left and right white areas bridged by white scaling; the top of the head and the palpi
108 CARY: Phlegethontius johanni Vol.11: nos.4-5
pale gray {afflictus — the antenna, the top of the head, and the palpi as in johanni, but the scaling around the antennal bases concolorous with the rest of the head, not white).
Thorax: the dorsum anteriorly broadly black, with a narrow median caudad extension of the black scaling {afflictus—the black collar marking absent).
Abdomen: the five pairs of dorso-lateral spots orange-yellow {afflictus — these spots much paler in fresh specimens).
Upperside of forewing: variegated, with dark yellowish green tinge present {afflictus — less variegated, yellowish green tinge lighter, even in fresh specimens); at the apex
Fig. 1 (above). Phlegethontius johanni, HOLOTYPE <$. Fig. 2 (below). Phlegethontius afflictus, Cuban $.
1937
'The Lepidopterists' News
109
there is a white dash, partially lined beneath with black (afflictus — the white dash is absent); the white dash at the apex continues on as a scalloped white line, running close and parallel to the outer margin and ending at the inner margin, traces of black lining present at the distal side of the white scalloped line {afflictus — the white scalloped line is absent); several white zigzag lines extending from the costal margin a short distance towards the middle of the wing (afflictus — these lines absent); a set of black, rather heavy transverse lines (afflictus — black transverse lines present, but not as heavy); fringes containing some white (afflictus — white of fringes better defined). Upperside of hindwing: three dark bands present, separated by light bands, the contrast between the light and dark bands not very strong (afflictus — only two dark bands present, the contrast between the light bands and dark bands strong); the dark nearest the body forked, the elements of the fork equal in width with each other (afflictus
— the dark band nearest body also forked, but the elements of the fork not equal in width with each other); the dark band nearest the outer margin scalloped basally (afflictus
— this dark band smooth basally); the dark band second nearest the body scalloped both basally and distally (afflictus — this band absent, probably fused with the dark band nearest the body); the outer margin pale gray edged with black (afflictus — the outer margin yellowish); the fringes contain traces of white (afflictus — the white in the fringes better defined).
Male genitalia: on the valva, the dorsal cephalad process (marked "1" in fig. 3) short and wide-angled, the dorsal outline of the valva rather straight ("2" in fig. 3), the internal medio-ventral process of the valva with its caudad arm ("3") broad-tipped and serrate, the area shown at "4' bare (afflictus — the dorsal cephalad process ("1" of fig. 4) long and narrow-angled, the dorsal outline of the valva distinctly concave, the arm at "3" slender and relatively smooth — tapered to an acute point, the area shown at "4" in fig. 4 with a dense group of short spicules); the superuncus (fig. 5) is slender and distally straight and undivided (afflictus — the superuncus (fig. 6) is stouter and at the tip is bifid and strongly down-curved).
Forewing length of Holotype 51.5 mm.; average of Holotype and 5 Paratypes measured 52 mm.; largest 55.5 mm.; smallest 44.5 mm. (average of 6 Cuban afflictus 44.5 mm.; largest 46 mm.; smallest 43 mm.).
The description is based on nine male specimens collected from 7 to 13 September 1956, at Savanette (Republic of Haiti), Hispaniola. All specimens were taken at light. The male HOLOTYPE and the PARATYPE used for the genitalic dissection are in the Peabody Museum of Natural History of Yale University. One PARATYPE is being deposited in each of the four following collections: Rothschild Collection of the British Museum, at Tring; Academy of Natural Sciences, in Philadalphia; Carnegie Museum, in Pittsburgh; collection of William E. Sieker, of Madison, Wisconsin. The remaining three PARATYPES are retained in the Cary Collection, which will eventually go to the Yale Peabody Museum. All six Cuban afflictus specimens used for drawing comparisons between the two species are males in my collection. Mr. Coutsis made the genitalic comparisons and prepared the figures of the genitalia with the aid of a camera lucida.
P. johanni is easily distinguishable from all other Antillean Phlegethontius (sextus, afflictus, rusticus, brontes, and caribbeus) in its contrastingly black anterior dorsum of the thoracic vestiture (fig. 1); the other species have the entire dorsum uniform (e.g., fig. 2), either light gray or dark (all available specimens of P. sextus from the Bahamas and one from Petite Goave, Haiti, show a trace of anterior darkening, as does P. brontes). The three dark bands of the upperside of the hindwing of P. johanni are also present in P. sextus and
110 GARY: Phlegethontius johanni Vol.11: nos.4 *>
2 mm.
Fig. 3. Phlegethontius johanni, PARATYPE & , internal structures of left valva; pointers indicate distinctive characters.
Fig. 4. Phlegethontius afflictus, Cuban $ , internal structures of left valva; compare with Fig. 3.
1957
The Lepidopterists' News
111
Fig. 5. Phlegethontius johanni, PARATYPE <$ , lateral view of genitalia, with right valva removed and showing details of superuncus; pointers indicate distinctive characters. Same specimen as for Fig. 3.
Fig. 6. Phlegethontius afflictus, Cuban $ shown in Fig. 4; same structures as in Fig. 5, for comparison with P. johanni. All drawings by JOHN G. COUTSIS.
m
GARY: Phlegethontius johanni Vol.11: nos.4-5
P. caribbeus, both of which have completely different markings of the forewing and thorax; in P. brontes and P. rusticus the hindwing is dark and lacks bands above. As noted above, only P. afflictus and P. johanni have a .yellowish green tinge on the forewing. No non-Antillean Phlegethontius shares the characters of johanni.
Notes Concerning the Localities for Phlegethontius afflictus In ROTHSCHILD and JORDAN'S "A Revision of the Lepidopterous Family Sphingidse" (Nov. Zool., vol.9, Suppl.; 1903) it was stated that P. afflictus is found in Cuba, but also in Haiti and South America. Boisduval recorded afflictus from Haiti. B. Preston Clark, in his description of Phlegethontius afflictus bahamensis (Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol.6: pp.39-50; 1916), wrote of having compared bahamensis with a series of afflictus from Cuba and South America. I had Mr. H. K. Clench look up the long series of afflictus at the Carnegie Museum, and he found no afflictus except from Cuba. I myself looked over the afflictus specimens in the American Museum of Natural History in New York and also went to Washington where I looked over those in the U.S. National Museum. All afflictus were from Cuba and Cuba only. Then I asked Dr. W. T. M. FORBES to examine the afflictus specimens of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, since this series would be the most likely place for Clark to have seen a South American afflictus. Dr. Forbes found approximately twenty afflictus specimens, all from Cuba and none from South America. Thus, Dr. Forbes wonders whether Clark did not find a slightly green Phlegethontius petunice (?) and absent-mindedly mistook it for afflictus. Neither the extensive collection of afflictus specimens in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia nor my own collection includes afflictus from localities other than Cuba.
Supplementary Note After this manuscript had been accepted for publication, two relevant captures were made in 1957. On 20 August Mr. Coutsis caught a true Phlegethontius afflictus at Hotel Montana, La Vega, Dominican Republic. In September Brother DOROTHEE took one male of P. johanni at Petite Goave, Haiti, and this specimen is hereby added to the PARATYPE series; it appears to agree with the Savanette series in all essential characters but has a forewing of 58.5 mm. This confirms the presence of P. afflictus on Hispaniola and shows that it is essentially sympatric with P. johanni. The La Vega specimen, a male, is extremely interesting. As with my single specimen of P. afflictus bahamensis and Clark's excellent colored figure of the type of bahamensis, the forewing has the discal area heavily shaded with dark markings and has submarginal whitening. The underside of the forewing of the La Vega male has the space between the two postmedian dark lines heavily shaded, whereas Cuban afflictus have these two lines very distinct and unshaded. The La Vega male is distinctly smaller (forewing length 44.5 mm.) than my Bahamian specimen. One specimen is too few for safe assumptions, but the Hispaniolan population of afflictus appears to be much more closely related to the Bahamian race than to Cuban afflictus.
Ellet Lane at Wissahickon Ave., Philadelphia 19, Penna., U. S. A.