DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF CHILO (CRAMBIDAE)
by Hahn W. Capps
The following description is to provide a name for an undescribed species, reared by Mr. R. A. Agarwal, and involved in his study of lepidopterous sugarcane pests and related species at Louisiana State University at Baton Rogue, Louisiana.
CHILO ERIANTHALIS Capps, new species Figures 1 - 3a
Male.— Alar expanse 24 mm. Antenna simple, pubescent. Vestiture of head, collar, thorax, and patagia gray with somewhat reddish tinge, sprinkled with reddish-brown scales. Abdomen pale luteous, lightly sprinkled with dark fuscous. Labial palpus porrect, length about three times that of head; loosely scaled, gray with heavy intermixture of dark fuscous. Frons conical. Ocelli present. Forewing: Upper surface gray with slight reddish tinge, heavily dusted with fuscous; veins and folds accentuated with gray or gray with ochreous tinge, giving the wing a lined appearance; a series of conspicuous blackish metallic patches, the series chevronlike in shape with apex at outer angle of cell. Terminal dots black. Fringe cupreous, somewhat metallic. Under surface paler than above; metallic patches absent; terminal dots black but weaker than above. Hindwing: Uniformly pale gray with brownish tinge; fringe concolorous with wing, non-metallic. Hind tibia normal; two pairs of spurs, length of outer spurs about two-thirds that of inner. Genitalia (fig. 3): Harpe simple, rather broad basally, narrowed apically; uncus short, distal end a sharp point; gnathos simple, median projection a narrow upturned hook; arms of anellus long, slender, extending to or above costa of harpe. ^Edeagus (fig. 3a) slender with a very narrow ventral tonguelike projection; the projection weakly sclerotized distally, short and ending well before middle of asdeagus; cornutus moderately long, spinelike.
Female (fig. 1).— Alar expanse 25-28 mm. Similar to male in color and maculation. Genitalia (fig. 2): Length of ductus bursas about two times the width, moderately sclerotized, constricted near middle; ductus seminalis origin from or near junction of ductus bursas and bursa copulatrix; bursa copulatrix elongate, lightly sclerotized from junction with ductus bursas to signum, the sclerotized portion constricted near middle; signum narrow, elongate, weakly sclerotized, slightly scobinate.
TYPE.- Male, in U. S. National Museum, USNM Type No. 66663. Paratypes.— Four females, same locality as type; in U. S. National Museum. Type locality.— Port Rlarre, Louisiana. Food plant.— Erianthus sp.
Remarks.— Chilo erianthalis resembles C. fernaldalis Dyar & Heinrich in size and habitus, but fernaldalis is paler, more grayish, and the forewing is unlined, lacking a conspicuous grayish accentuation on the veins and folds; dark fuscous patches are absent, or if discernible, obsolescent and non-metallic; a distinct subterminal line is present and the fringe is dull brown with a reddish tinge. The asdeagus of fernaldalis has the ventral tonguelike projection well developed, broader and longer than in erianthalis, and extending to or slightly beyond middle of aedeagus.
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