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

description: angusta (H. Druce, 1907)
(Fig. 7C)
“ Castnia angusta, sp. n. ” H. Druce, 1907, The Annals and Magazine of natural History (7) 20 (120): 505.
Type material: All the information is compatible with Druce (1907) having described this taxon from a single male in his collection, this would therefore be the holotype by [likely] monotypy (fig. 7C). The specimen passed from Druce to James John Joicey (1870–1932), and it is now in NHMUK; examination shows it to be a female and not a male as Druce surmised.
Type locality: Given by Herbert Druce (1846–1913) as “ Ecuador, Los Lanos” (sic), although on the specimen label it is spelt “Los Lanos”. Los Lanos is in Chimborazo province in southern Ecuador.
Taxonomic status: A valid species of Amauta. It was originally described as a species by Druce (1907) and treated as such by Miller (1995), but then sunk to a subspecies of A. cacica by Lamas (1995). It is herein restored to a valid species, stat. rest.
Male genitalia: (Fig. 4C) Uncus simple, almost quadrate but not quite; moderately sclerotised, as is the tegumen. Gnathos strongly sclerotised, bifid anteriad and excavate and dentate posteriad. Cucullus and valvula almost quadrate, with ventral margin of valva somewhat oblique and with sacculus projected. Phallus moderately curved, not contorted, its distal section slightly more than twice the length of the coecum and tapered, wider at the connection with coecum, and half its width by the middle section. Then, the phallus shows a somewhat abrupt enlargement, as sclerotised as the rest of the structure. From there it becomes thin towards the apex. Subterminal portion of phallus not enlarged, and terminal one with a small projection. Phallus completely different from that of A. cacica.
Distribution: This species appears to be found throughout Ecuador and northward into the western Cordillera in Colombia (Fig. 13), although we have some doubts if localities from eastern Ecuador are really reliable.
Discussion: We have long thought that this taxon was probably not conspecific with Amauta cacica as it is the only taxon in the group in which the postmedian bands on both fore- and hindwings are the same colour, and the hindwing band is much narrower than any of the other related taxa. Most recent studies have treated it as a subspecies of A. cacica but a dissection of the male genitalia shows that it is clearly a separate species. The distribution seems to be similar to that of Vadina hodeei kruegeri and Divana diva hoppi.
Material examined: For this study, as well as the types of angusta and oberthueri, we have examined an additional 40 males and 29 females from various parts of Ecuador and 7 males and 2 females from Colombia as follows: 1♂ Colombia (MGCL); 1♂ Rio Dagua, W Rosenberg; 1♂ Rio Magdalena, (NHMUK); 1♂ Putumayo: Sibundoy a 2100 m, hembra, 18-XI-2008, F. Narváez leg.; 1♂ Rio Cauca, Caldas; 1♂ San José del Palmar, Chocó; 1♂ Rio Garrapatas, Cauca Valley; 1♀ Caldas: Anserma-Pidrias, 1000 m, 3-IV-1998, J. Vargas leg.; 1♀ Sibundoy, Putumayo (JS).
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 page 322, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5194.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7154442