Cossodes White 1841
Creators: name: Kallies, Axel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Cossidae
Cossodes

description: Cossodes White, 1841   
Type species Cossodes lyonetii White, 1841.  
 This unusual monotypic genus was excluded from Cossidae by Schoorl (1990) and Yakovlev (2011), but retained in the family by Edwards (1996). We follow Edwards (1996) and consider Cossodes a primitive Cossidae genus, tentatively placed in Cossinae.   
 The single known species, C. lyonetii (Figs 84, 85), occurs only in the far southwest of Australia (Fig. 170). Several specimens were collected during daytime resting in sedges in heath land, suggesting that the larvae may develop in the roots of sedges or shrubs. A larva, preserved in ANIC, was collected while feeding in the roots and subterranean stem of a sessile species of Xanthorrhoea (Edwards 1997).   
 Genitalia. Male (Fig. 86a–c).  Uncus long, finger-like and pointed; gnathos not ending in a club-like structure (bulla) as seen in other Australian Cossinae (compare Fig. 40) but in a fine tip, with gnathos arms connecting directly to the membrane of tuba analis; valvae are broad and rounded with a conspicuous, pointed crista sacculi near the ventral margin; transtilla is not developed; juxta lacking any extended lateral lobes; vinculum and saccus very small (Fig. 86a); phallus strongly bent with a single tooth distally and a pair of small teeth towards the middle (Fig. 86 a, b). Female (Fig. 87). Ovipositor short and wide, papillae anales broad; ductus bursae with wellsclerotized antrum, ductus itself partially sclerotized and strongly twisted, opening into a simple corpus bursae; with a relatively large weak secondary bursa.   
 Diagnosis (Figs 84, 85). Medium sized cossid moths with striking white and black marked forewings, thorax, and abdomen and with black hindwings with a strong bluish lustre. Antennae simple, without distinct pectination or rami; in males very shortly serrate at the tip. The genitalia of both male and female are very unusual, in particular the absence of a bulla, the lack of lateral projections of the transtilla, and the presence of a crista in the male, and the short ovipositor and the twisted ductus bursae in the female.   
 Remarks. The male and female genitalia of Cossodes differ distinctly from typical Cossinae. In particular, the short ovipositor, the strongly twisted ductus bursae and the presence of a crista sacculi on the valva appear to be distinct apomorphies of this genus. Furthermore, the biology of the species is unusual with the larvae feeding on Xanthorrhoeaceae, a monocotyledon plant family, whereas all other Australian Cossinae with known biology feed on dicotyledon plant families. This biological feature is shared, however, with Ptilomacra senex Walker, 1855, an unplaced Cossidae species (Edwards 1996) that was excluded from Cossidae by some authors (Schoorl 1990, Yakovlev 2011). Resolving the systematic position of Cossodes is beyond the scope of this paper and will require a broader phylogenetic analysis of the Australian Cossidae and some species currently placed outside of this family.
description: Published as part of Kallies, Axel, 2012, Revision of Cossinae and small Zeuzerinae from Australia (Lepidoptera: Cossidae) 3454, pp. 1-62 in Zootaxa 3454 (1) on page 24, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3454.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5254709