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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 38(2), 1984, 85-87
A NEW SPECIES OF SIMILIPEPSIS AND TAXONOMIC PLACEMENT OF THE GENUS (SESIIDAE)
Ping Yuan Wang1
Research Entomologist, Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica, Peking, China
ABSTRACT. A new species of the wasp-like sesiid of the genus Similipepsis is described, and the taxonomic placement of this genus into the subfamily Tinthiinae is proposed.
The Section of Entomology of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) maintains a large collection of insects that has been vastly underutilized by systematists. The collection is rich in all insect groups but butterflies and moths are particularly abundant. The diversity of taxa is particularly evident among the collection of unsorted moths in which I found a sesiid specimen with remarkable ichneu-monoid resemblance.
Further study of this wasp-like moth revealed that it belongs in the genus Similipepsis, a genus described by LeCerf (1911) and heretofore taxonomically unaligned in the Sesiidae hierarchy. Heppner and Duckworth (1981:44) in their recent work made no study of this genus. They listed Similipepsis among other "unassigned" sesiid genera, leaving this problem for further research.
My studies of the genus revealed that Similipepsis species are characterized by having the abdomen constricted to a slender pedicel at the base, the proboscis normal, labial palpus oblique with the second joint of long hairs, forewing veins R4 and R5 stalked and Mx missing, hindwing with vein Cux from just before angle of cell and widely separated from Cu2, hind leg wasp-like. The genus is further recognizable by the absence of the scale tuft on the tip of the antennae. According to recent classification (Naumann, 1971; Duckworth & Eichlin, 1977), these two characteristics suggest that Similipepsis has affinities and should be placed with genera of the subfamily Tinthiinae.
To date, there are only four known species of Similipepsis, S. aurea Gaede, S. lasiocera Hampson, S. typica Strand and S. violaceus LeCerf. The genus is paleotropical in origin and is confined geographically to the Ethiopian and Oriental regions. After reviewing specimens and literature of known species (Strand, 1913; Hampson, 1919; Gaede, 1929), I determined that the aforementioned specimen in the Carnegie
1 Resident Museum Specialist, Section of Entomology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, USA.
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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
Fig. 1. Adult male (holotype) of Similipepsis ekisi Wang, new species.
collection collected from the Cameroons was quite distinctly different and not conspeciflc with the known species.
I am indebted to Dr. Ginter Ekis for offering me the opportunity to study in the Section of Entomology. I would also like to express my appreciation to Dr. Chen Wen Young, the Collection Manager of the Section, for various courtesies during my six month research visit. I am indebted to Anna Tauber and Pat Vachino for literature and clerical assistance, and also to Vincent Abromitis, Section of Exhibits, for photographic assistance. Dr. Craig Black, Director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, provided the financial assistance that made it possible for me to come to the United States.
Similipepsis ekisi, new species
Holotype: Male Metet (Adamaoua), Cameroon (Republic of Cameroon), 15 August 1919. A. I. Good. Cam. Mus. Ace. 6552 (deposited in CMNH, Holotype number 775).
The holotype is associated with the following items: sex label (white, machine print); locality label (white, machine print); collection date label (white, machine and hand print); accession label (white, machine and hand print); CMNH repository label (yellow, machine print); holotype label (red, machine and hand print).
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Male. Head: vertex black; frons brown; occipital fringe greyish white; vertex laterally with fringe greyish white mixed with black; labial palpi upturned, first and second segments brown and covered with extended long bushy scales, second segment less expanded than first, with brown scales on both sides and white erect scales on inside border, third segment white and sharply upturned above vertex; antenna brown and bipectinate, devoid of apical scale tuft; proboscis present. Thorax dark brown, tegula brown; meta-thorax with minute, slender brown and white hairy scales extended from base of hind-wing. Abdomen dark brown, first segment expanded slightly, second extremely narrowed and extended into a long stalk, third slightly expanded, fourth and fifth greatly expanded, sixth and seventh narrowed; anal tuft covered with setaceous, V-shaped brown scales; underside of third abdominal segment with ring of V-shaped white scales. Forewing transparent, except on costal margin; stem of R vein covered with dark brown scales, dark brown scales scattered in region of cell; cilia brown. Hindwing hyaline, with few scattered scales; veins and margins brown; cilia brown. Foreleg: front of femur, with long row of compressed brown scales; tibia brown with metallic sheen; tarsus with metallic blue setaceous scales on tarsomere; other tarsal segments white. Mesothoracic leg dark brown, scales metallic blue, green or red. Tarsus brown, with spiny scales on tarsomere, other tarsal segments with mixture of white and brown scales. Hindleg dark brown, with two pairs of long white spurs. Forewing expanse, 26 mm. Adult as shown in Fig. 1.
Distribution: Known only from holotype from Metet (7°05'N, 13°17'E), Adamaoua, Cameroon, in Western Africa.
Remarks: This species is superficially similar to S. violaceus. It differs from S. violaceus by the narrower costal margin. Also, the ventral side of the abdomen of the S. ekisi specimen with V-shaped white band which is distinctly absent in S. violaceus.
This species is named in honor of Dr. Ginter Ekis, Curator of Section of Entomology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History at this writing.
Literature Cited
Duckworth, W. D. & T. D. Eichlin. 1977. A classification of the Sesiidae of America
North of Mexico (Lepidoptera: Sesioidea). Occas. Papers Entomol., Calif. Dept. Food
& Agric. 26:1-54. Gaede, M. 1929. Familie: Aegeriidae (Sesiidae) in A. Seitz, Die Gross-Schmetterlinge
der Erde, II. Abteilung: Exotische Fauna, 14 (Die afrikanischen Spinner und
Schwarmer):517-538. Plate 77. Stuttgart: A. Kernen. Hampson, G. F. 1919. A classification of the Aegeriidae of the Oriental and Ethiopian
Regions. Novitates Zoologicae 26:46-119. Heppner, J. B. & W. D. Duckworth. 1981. Classification of the superfamily Sesioidae
(Lepidoptera: Ditrysia). Smithsonian Contrib. Zool., No. 314:1-144. LeCerf, F. 1911. Descriptions d'Aegeriidae nouvelles. Bulletin du Museum National
d'Histoire Naturelle (Paris) 17:297-307. Naumann, C. M. 1971. Untersuchungen zur Systematik und Phylogenese der holark-
tischen Sesiiden (Insecta, Lepidoptera). Bonner Zoologische Monographien (Bonn) 1:
1-190. (English translation: 1977, Studies on the Systematics and Phylogeny of Hol-
arctic Sesiidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera). 208 pp. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.) Strand, E. 1913. Zoologische Ergebnisse der Expedition des Herrn G. Tessmann nach
Siid-Kamerun und Spanisch-Guinea: Lepidoptera. IV. Archiv fur Naturgeschichte
(Berlin) 78A(12):30-84. 2 plates.