Abstract
Hoare, R.J.B. 2019. Noctuinae (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Part 2, Nivetica, Ichneutica. 80, 455 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
ISSN 1179-7193 (online)
;
no.
80.
ISBN 978-0-947525-67-5 (print),
ISBN 978-0-947525-68-2 (online)
).
Published 9 December 2019
ZooBank: http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:371D4628-CC5F-4B1B-9E4B-B37563F04A34
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7931/J2/FNZ.80
In this second part of the revision of the New Zealand Noctuinae sensu lato, two endemic genera are treated: Nivetica new genus with a single species, and Ichneutica Meyrick, 1887, with 87 species here included. There are 6 new synonymies at the genus level and 13 new synonymies and one reinstated synonymy at the species level. Nineteen (19) new species are described in Ichneutica, there is one new replacement name, and two species are resurrected from synonymy. There are 62 new combinations in Ichneutica and one in Meterana Butler, 1877 (a genus not further treated here). Ichneutica, Nivetica, and all included species are fully described / redescribed and diagnosed. Adults and male and female genitalia are illustrated for all species (where known). Details of life histories are given where known, including brief descriptions of larvae for a number of species; a few larvae are illustrated. Known distribution by New Zealand subregion is summarised and mapped.
Nivetica is a monotypic genus erected to accommodate Ichneutica nervosa Hudson, 1922; its unique combination of characters in the male and female abdomen and genitalia precludes its assignment to any of the named genera, although it shares several characters in common with Physetica Meyrick, 1887. Nivetica nervosa is a small alpine species locally distributed in the South Island; the life history is unknown.
The concept of Ichneutica is here greatly expanded, and the following genera are subsumed as synonyms: Graphania Hampson, 1905 new synonymy, Tmetolophota Hampson, 1905 new synonymy, Dipaustica Meyrick, 1912 new synonymy. The following names also pass into the synonymy of Ichneutica (formerly treated as synonyms of Graphania): Alysia Guenée, 1868 (nec Latreille, 1804) (junior homonym) new synonymy, Maoria Warren, 1912 (nec Laporte, 1868) (junior homonym) new synonymy, Alysina Cockerell, 1913 (objective replacement name for Alysia Guenée) new synonymy. The total number of species now recognised in Ichneutica is 87, with 62 new combinations (not listed in full here: see Checklist of Taxa). The following 19 species are described as new: Ichneutica eris n. sp., I. schistella n. sp., I. subcyprea n. sp., I. dundastica n. sp., I. naufraga n. sp., I. peridotea n. sp., I. barbara n. sp., I. cornutan. sp., I. theobroma n. sp., I. haedifrontella n. sp., I. lyfordi n. sp., I. prismatica n. sp., I. seducta n. sp., I. emmersonorum n. sp., I. inscripta n. sp., I. mustulenta n. sp., I. supersulcana n. sp., I. rufistriga n. sp. and I. thalassarche n. sp. The following two species are reinstated from synonymy: Ichneutica skelloni (Butler, 1880) n. comb., sp. rev. (removed from synonymy with insignis Walker, 1865) and I. sapiens (Meyrick, 1929) n. comb., sp. rev. (removed from synonymy with micrastra Meyrick, 1897). Ichneutica lindsayorum new name is a replacement name for Graphania lindsayi Dugdale, 1988, which becomes a junior secondary homonym of Ichneutica lindsayi Philpott, 1926 when transferred to Ichneutica. There are 13 new synonymies as follows (original genus combinations given below, all species now in Ichneutica): Ichneutica lindsayi Philpott, 1926 is a junior synonym of I. dione Hudson, 1898; Aletia empyrea Hudson, 1918 and Ichneutica homerica Howes, 1943 are junior synonyms of Ichneutica cana Howes, 1914; Aletia lata Philpott, 1915 is removed from the synonymy of I. cana as a junior synonym of Aletia fibriata Meyrick, 1913; Aletia argentaria Howes, 1945 is a junior synonym of Aletia panda Philpott, 1920; Melanchra beata Howes, 1906 is a junior synonym of Hadena skelloni; Aletia dentata Philpott, 1923 is a junior synonym of Aletia cuneata Philpott, 1916; Agrotis mitis Butler, 1877, Spaelotis inconstans Butler, 1880, Aletia munda Philpott, 1917, Aletia gourlayi Philpott, 1921, Melanchra cyanopetra Meyrick, 1927 and Aletia lacustris Meyrick, 1934 are all junior synonyms of Eumichtis sistens Guenée, 1868 (munda and gourlayi formerly treated as synonyms of mitis). There is one reinstated synonymy: Hyssia hamiltoni Hampson, 1913 is treated as a junior synonym of Hyssia falsidica Meyrick, 1911, rather than as a subspecies. Melanchra tetrachroa Meyrick, 1931 (currently in Graphania) is transferred to Meterana as Meterana tetrachroa (Meyrick) n. comb. but the species is not redescribed here.
Ichneutica is divided for convenience into 10 informal species groups, based mainly on characters of the male abdomen and genitalia; three of these are further subdivided into subgroups.