Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Xylorycta apheles



Xylorycta apheles (Turner, 1898)


ANIC, holotype

Neodrepta apheles (Turner, 1898). The Xyloryctidae of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 4: 1–32 [24]. Holotype ANIC ♂, Mt Tamborine, Qld.
Xyloricta lychnobii T.P. Lucas, 1900, New Species of Queensland Lepidoptera. Proc. R. Soc. Qld. 15: 137-161 [158]. Holotype SAMA ♂, Brisbane, Qld.  
Xylorycta apheles (Turner, 1898). Common, in Nielsen, Edwards, & Rangsi, 1996, Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, 4: i-xiv, 1-529 & CD-ROM [88].
Xylorycta apheles (Turner, 1898). Beccaloni, G. W., Scoble, M. J., Robinson, G. S. & Pitkin, B. (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/lepindex [accessed 5 May 2010].
Xylorycta apheles (Turner, 1898). Edwards, E. D. (2003), Xyloryctinae. Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/fauna/afd/taxa/XYLORYCTINAE [accessed 19 June 2010].

Original description, Turner 1898
Neodrepta apheles, n. sp. Male, 22 mm. Antennal ciliations, 1. Head, face, and palpi snow-white. Antennae white at base, shading into fuscous towards apex. Thorax white, slaty-grey. Abdomen grey, tuft ochreous-grey. Legs white pair, except coxae, fuscous. Forewings dilated . gently arched, apex round-pointed, hindmargin straight, oblique; whitish-grey, sparsely. irrorated with grey; fuscous at base, thence ochreous, whitish almost to apex; an ill-defined grey triangular blotch on centre of inner-margin, its oblique posterior edge very distinct; an ill-defined greyish line from costa at 3/4 to before anal angle, gently outwardly curved in disc; cilia pale fuscous. Hindwings , and cilia grey .
Mount Tambourine: one specimen at light in December. The type is somewhat worn.
 
Synonymic description, T.P. Lucas, 1900
Xyloricta lychnobii. sp. nov.
♂ 21 mm. Head, palpi, and antennae white. Legs white, tarsi annulated with fuscous bands, posterior tibiae densely hairy. Thorax white, suffused with very light lilac posteriorly. Abdomen metallic grey with a chandeliered design of ferrous dots, and spots posteriorly across the middle segments. Forewings moderately dilate, costa rounded, apex obtusely rounded, hindmargin obliquely rounded, white, suffused with a beautiful light lilac, and freely speckled with grey, the grey ceasing towards base, markings metallic drab. Forewings with a narrow costal line, creamy white, thinning out to apex, and finely bounded towards base by a black margin; a curved circular metallic drab line of dots, interrupted in fold, from beyond 2/3 costa to just before ¾ inner margin. thence anteriorly along inner margin, where it joins the angle of a triangular blotch and suffusion of the same colour, this triangle reaches to within 1/8 of base, separating from the inner margin towards centre of wing, where it forms a darker apex to before middle of wing, posteriorly the base of the triangle becomes lighter tinted with ochreous. Cilia metallic drab with a whitish band through the middle. Hindwings ashy-grey, tinted with ochreous, with the veins outlined with fuscous. Cilia ashy grey. The transverse circular line which runs to join the broken triangle of same colour on inner margin. specially characterises this species. Brisbane, bred.

Diagnosis:
Description:
Head:
Thorax:
Abdomen:

Food plants:
Flight period: December.
Distribution: New South Wales, Queensland. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).

Remarks: