Vadina Worthy & González & Zilli 2022, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Worthy, Robert
name: González, Jorge M.
name: Zilli, Alberto
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Castniidae
Vadina

description: Vadina gen. nov.
Type species: Castnia hodeei Oberthür, 1881, by present designation.
Diagnosis: Vadina is a monotypic genus (Fig. 10); the type species is a medium-sized moth with much more rounded forewings than Amauta spp., and the termen is decidedly convex. Males have largely black forewings with just a hint of a white postmedian band, often just a couple of dots; this band tends to be more pronounced in Vadina hodeei kruegeri (Figs. 10D, E) than in the nominotypical subspecies (Figs. 10A–C). The hindwing is black with a small red patch at the anal angle, alongside this patch are a couple of small white patches in ssp. hodeei and a much larger white spot in ssp. kruegeri. Females have a black forewing with a postmedian white band which is only hinted at in the male, this band is narrow in ssp. kruegeri, but much wider in ssp. hodeei. The female hindwing, like that of the male, is black with a small red patch at the anal angle, however, alongside this patch is a white band that continues nearly up to the costa; this is quite wide in ssp. hodeei but much narrower in ssp. kruegeri. There are a series of five red extradiscal spots on the hindwing with just a hint of extradiscal spots on the forewing, although one specimen of ssp. kruegeri we have seen has eight very distinct red spots on the forewing.
The ventral surface of the V. hodeei female is dark brown, and the pattern mirrors the dorsal surface, although the bands on all four wings are wider. In the male, the forewing is dark brown, and the pattern mirrors the dorsal surface with the addition of a row of extradiscal orange spots, strong in ssp. hodeei but fading away in ssp. kruegeri (fig. 12E). The hindwing lacks the white markings of the dorsal surface and there is a strong postmedian row of orange spots with a weaker extradiscal row; like the female, these are much stronger in ssp. hodeei than in ssp. kruegeri.
Focusing on wing colouration alone, sexual dimorphism is evident in Amauta, Telchin and Vadina, but not so well expressed in Divana. Wing morphology and venation also help discern similarities and differences among the four genera, thus separating them. Vadina, Divana and Telchin are medium-sized moths, but they are smaller (~60–65%) than Amauta. Forewings of Amauta are almost 1/3 larger than Vadina, Divana, and Telchin (Forewing length: Vadina, Divana and Telchin: 60–80 mm; Amauta: 100–140 mm). Forewings of Vadina (Fig. 2B) are noticeably curved along the costa and at the apex of the outer margin, while they are only slightly curved along the costa and near the apex of the outer margin in Telchin (Fig. 2D). The costal margin of Divana (Fig. 2C) is slightly curved, as is the outer margin, similar to Vadina. The forewings in Amauta are broad and only slightly rounded along the distal third of the forewing costa, the outer margin is almost straight (Fig. 2A). Whilst a lobe is present in the anal margin of all four genera, it is certainly more pronounced in Vadina, than in the other three, especially in the area in front of the union of 1A with 2A (Figs. 2A–D). A radial accessory cell is present in Amauta, Vadina and Divana, but not in Telchin; the discal cell is closed in Amauta, Vadina and Telchin, but not completely in Divana (Figs. 2A–D).
Males of Vadina, possess a moderately sclerotised genital capsule, while in Telchin and Amauta it ranges between moderately and heavily sclerotised. Vadina possesses the uncus and anterior section of gnathos apophysis slightly sclerotised, more so than the tegumen. Uncus short, divided, with arms laterad and barely developed socii; all lightly sclerotised, almost membranous distad, and gnathos moderately sclerotised in Divana. Uncus in Amauta has a bulbous protuberance and uncus is fused with the socii in Telchin, features that are not present in Vadina and Divana. Uncus is slightly sclerotised in Telchin, with an inflection in the lateral margins, such an inflection is barely noticeable in Vadina, whilst in Amauta, the uncus curves (Figs. 4A–H, 5E–F). Gnathos in Vadina is bifid anteriad and lightly sclerotised, but in Telchin, besides being bifid, it is heavily sclerotised with its dorsal arm prominent, and the ventral one reduced; in Amauta it is also bifid anteriad, but lightly sclerotised. Ventral margin of valva slightly concave in Vadina, while in Telchin is tenuously excavated and in Amauta is predominantly lobate with sacculus emarginate and recurved setiferous lobe ventrad (Figs. 4A–H, 5E–F).
Phallus slightly sclerotised and slightly to moderately curved distally, having a distal section slightly larger than the coecum, with the terminal portion of shaft wider than the rest of the phallus and not contorted (Figs. 4G–H). Telchin has heavily sclerotised, strong, contorted distal section of phallus, which is double the size of the coecum. Tip of the phallus highly ornamented with several membranous intersections (Figs. 5E–F). In the case of Amauta, the phallus is deeply curved, with most species having a slightly hardened ejaculatory bulb (Figs. 4A, C–F). Divana with phallus moderately sclerotised, with distal section about ¾ the length of the coecum (Figs. 5A–D). Phallus is slightly contorted, sinuated, ending in a somewhat bifurcate plate at the tip, with a membranous dextral view and vesica everted bearing minute cornuti. The tip of the phallus of Divana is slightly ornamented, not as much as Telchin, but more than what can be seen in Vadina (Figs. 4G–H, 5A–F).
Etymology: The name Vadina is an anagram of Divana, continuing the tradition started by Oiticica (1955) of using anagrams of existing genera for new ones.
Remarks: Vadina hodeei appears to have a vestigial male retinaculum but it is very small and probably nonfunctional, unlike any other genus in the family (Fig. 1A), the male retinaculum and genitalia together with the wing venation make it possibly closer to Divana (in which the subcostal retinaculum is absent) than to Amauta or Telchin. However, the wing venation (Fig. 2B) and particularly the male genitalia (Figs. 4G, H & male genitalia below) in V. hodeei are very different from either of these genera.
description: Published as part of Worthy, Robert, González, Jorge M. & Zilli, Alberto, 2022, A review of the genera Amauta Houlbert, 1918 and Divana J. Y. Miller, 1982 (Lepidoptera: Castniidae) with description of a new genus, pp. 301-342 in Zootaxa 5194 (3) on pages 305-306, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5194.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7154442