Calonotos aterrima subsp. tripunctata Druce 1898, new status
Creators: name: Cock, Matthew J. W.
name: Laguerre, Michel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Arctiidae
Calonotos
Calonotos aterrima
Ssp. tripunctata druce, 1898

description: Calonotos aterrima (Sepp, 1847 in Sepp 1843 –1848) ssp. tripunctata Druce, 1898 new status
Figs. 2–3. BIN: BOLD:AAK1644.
Sepp (1843 –1848, pl. 97) illustrated the biology and adults when describing C. aterrima from Suriname; the adult has a plain black forewing. There does not seem to be any surviving type material. Cerda (2008) treats this species from French Guiana and illustrates the adult male in dorsal view and male genitalia. Druce (1898) described C. tripunctata Druce, 1898 from Trinidad, based on a male with two white forewing spots (type examined, NHMUK), and this name has since then been applied in relation to the fauna of Trinidad (Draudt 1915 –1917, Kaye & Lamont 1927, Fleming 1957). In Trinidad material, the male consistently has two forewing spots (Fig. 2), while the female has three (Fig. 3).
However, we further note that the male genitalia of C. tripunctatus from Trinidad appear to be the same as those illustrated for C. aterrima from French Guiana by Cerda (2008). Furthermore, DNA barcodes for C. aterrima from French Guiana and C. tripunctata from Trinidad are very close within BIN BOLD:AAK1644, but separate from several other species with distinct genitalia in the same BIN (Fig. 1). Specimens resembling C. tripunctata have not been seen from French Guiana, nor have specimens resembling C. aterrima been seen from Trinidad. Accordingly, although we consider the two names refer to the same species, the Trinidad population is geographically separated and phenotypically distinct and hence should be treated as a subspecies, C. aterrima tripunctata Druce new status.
Cerda (2008) treats C. tripunctata (as C. tripunctatus) from French Guiana, but it is not the same as the species recognized here as C. tripunctata from the type locality, Trinidad. Cerda’s C. tripunctatus is an undescribed species which will be treated in a separate contribution.
Strand (1915) provisionally treated a series of one male and two female specimens from Caparo, Trinidad, of what he identified as C. tiburtus (Cramer, 1780, in Cramer 1777 –1782), as a potentially separate form based on the absence of white spots on the palpi and thorax. He wording is very tentative: ‘ Ob die fehlende weifse Punktierung ein aberratives Merkmal ist, kann ich nicht mit Sicherheit feststellen; wenn das nicht der· Fall ist, so w¸rde·es sich hier wahrscheinlich um eine Lokalform handeln, die eventuell den Namen trinidadensis m. bekommen möge ’, i.e. ‘I cannot say for certain whether the missing white spots are significant or an aberrant feature. If they are significant, then this would probably be a local form that might possibly be given the name trinidadensis.’ Strand appears to be assigning a name without coming to a clear conclusion as to whether this is a valid taxon or not. We do not find any ruling on the validity of this approach in the ICZN, but since the name has subsequently been used as a form (Draudt 1915 –1917) albeit mis-spelt trinitatis, and as a variety (Strand 1927), both prior to 1961, we accept it as an available name. Fleming (1957) mentioned that Strand (1915) described trinidadensis as a form of C. tiburtus, but offerred no opinion as to its status. In Lepindex (Beccaloni et al. 2018) (and hence elsewhere on the internet) it is treated as a synonym of C. tiburtus, but this is not based on a published taxonomic act as far as we are aware.
With the help of Martin Wiemers, the type series of one male and two females was found at Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut (SDEI), where all are labelled ‘Caparo, Trinidad / A. Heyne, Berlin-Wilm.’, curated together as C. tiburtus, have Strand’s identification labels as C. tiburtus, but were not labelled as types. Bearing in mind that Strand (1915) mentioned no other Calonotos species from Trinidad, we accept these three specimens as the syntypes of C. tiburtus trinidadensis. The type series are not C. tiburtus, but one male and one female C. helymus craneae Fleming, 1957 (new status below), and one female C. aterrima tripunctata. Rather than make trinidadensis a senior synonym of C. helymus craneae, we designate the female C. aterrima tripunctata as the lectotype, and C. tiburtus trinidadensis is therefore a new subjective synonym of C. aterrima tripunctata.
description: Published as part of Cock, Matthew J. W. & Laguerre, Michel, 2022, Taxonomic changes in the Neotropical wasp moths, Euchromiina and Ctenuchina (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini) relating to the fauna of Trinidad & Tobago, with descriptions of new species, pp. 101-132 in Zootaxa 5222 (2) on page 103, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5222.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7456573