Cryptophasa porphyritis Turner, 1906
♂ - Qld, 3 miles W of Mossman, 13. Mar. 1964, I. F. B. Common leg. (ANIC). [AMO].
♀ - Qld, Mission Beach, NE of Tully, 5. Nov. 1967, R. Dobson leg. (ANIC). [AMO].
Cryptophasa porphyritis Turner, 1906. New Australian Lepidoptera, with synonymic and other notes. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 30: 118–142 [140]. Holotype BMNH ♂, Kuranda, Qld.
Cryptophasa porphyritis Turner, 1906. Common, in Nielsen, Edwards, & Rangsi, 1996, Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, 4: i-xiv, 1-529 & CD-ROM [87].
Cryptophasa porphyritis Turner, 1906. 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 17 April 2010].
Cryptophasa porphyritis Turner, 1906. 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 18 June 2010].
Original description, Turner 1906
Cryptophasa porphyritis, n. sp.
(Porphyrites, purple.)
Male, 46 mm. Head and palpi white. Antennae fuscous; pectinations in male rather short (1 ½ ) Thorax white, with a posterior and two lateral purple-fuscous spots. Abdomen dark-fuscous. Legs fuscous, mixed with white. Forewings elongate-oblong, costa very slightly arched, apex rectangular, termen slightly rounded, slightly opaque; pale purple irrorated with reddish-brown, whitish, and a few blackish scales; costa from base to middle fuscous; base from beneath costa and along dorsum to 1/6 broadly white; a blackish discal dot beyond middle; a triangular white spot on costa at ¾, succeeded by two minute white dots before apex; a sub-terminal line of blackish dots outlined by reddish-brown; a terminal series of reddish-brown dots; cilia pale purplish, a basal line of reddish-brown interrupted by white. Hindwings dark-fuscous; cilia fuscous, with some whitish scales, which are absent towards apex and tornus.
Type in Coll., Walsingham.
N.Q., Kuranda, in January; one specimen received from Mr. F. P. Dodd.
Diagnosis:
Description:
Head:
Cryptophasa porphyritis ♀, head, K211, Kuranda, collected by David Rentz.
Thorax:
Cryptophasa porphyritis ♀, wing venation, K-0573, Kuranda, collected by David Rentz.
Abdomen:
Cryptophasa porphyritis, ♂ genitalia, K-610, Kuranda, collected by David Rentz. Dissected by Ian McMillan.
Cryptophasa porphyritis, ♂ aedeagus, K-610, Kuranda, collected by David Rentz. Dissected by Ian McMillan.
Food plants:
Flight period: November, December, January, March.
Distribution: Queensland. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).
Remarks: The male genitalia confirm that this species is closely related to Cryptophasa albacosta, a relationship initially suggested by barcoding sequence results.