Thursday, September 16, 2010

Cryptophasa gypsomera



Cryptophasa gypsomera (Lower, 1903)


♀ - NSW, Broulee, 24. Feb. 1962, M.S. Upton leg. (ANIC). [AMO].

- NSW, Depot Beach, 16 km NE of Batemans Bay, 17. Oct. 1970, I.F.B. Common leg. (ANIC).

Cryptophaga gypsomera Lower, 1903. Descriptions of New Australian Noctuina, etc. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia  27: 27–74 [70]. Holotype SAMA ♂, Bairnsdale, Vic.
Cryptophasa gypsomera (Lower, 1903). Common, in Nielsen, Edwards, & Rangsi, 1996, Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, 4: i-xiv, 1-529 & CD-ROM [86].
Cryptophasa gypsomera (Lower, 1903). 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 16 April 2010].
Cryptophasa gypsomera (Lower, 1903). 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, Lower 1903
Cryptophaga gypsomera, n. sp.
Male, 52 mm. Head, palpi, antennae, legs, and thorax white, faintly ochreous-tinged, antennal pectinations 4, ochreous. Abdomen fuscous, white beneath, segmental margins white, second segment dull red. Forewings elongate, moderate, hardly dilated posteriorly, costa slightly arched, termen oblique; white, faintly .ochreous-tinged, especially along termen; cilia snow-white. Hindwings with termen rounded, faintly sinuate before anal angle; fuscous; costal edge and termen to middle broadly snow-white; cilia as in forewings.
Closely allied to albicosta, Lew., but the total absence of markings of forewings are sufficient grounds for separating it from that species. The former species varies, but not to any extraordinary extent. 
Bairnsdale, Victoria; one specimen in January.

Diagnosis:
Description:
Head:
Thorax:
Abdomen:
Food plants:
Flight period: October, January, February.
Distribution: New South Wales, Victoria. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).

Remarks: