Gloora alba Grados & Laguerre & Boppré 2018, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Grados, Juan
name: Laguerre, Michel
name: Boppré, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Erebidae
Gloora
Gloora alba

description: Gloora alba (Druce, 1894) comb. nov.
(Figs. 1‒7, 15‒18, 31‒34, 47‒48, 51, 55‒56)
Idalus alba Druce, 1894:172 (♀ only); Type locality: MEXICO, Jalapa—Figs 5‒7. Type depository: NHMUK.
Idalus alba— Druce (1881 ‒1900: Tab. 73, 22; 1897: 366).
Eucereon album (Druce) — Hampson (1898: 514), Zerny (1931: 25).
Hyaleucerea agylloides Dyar, 1912: 50; Type locality: MEXICO, Orizaba—Figs. 8‒10. Type depository: NMNH. Synonymized by Hampson (1934: 358) (as E. alba).
Eucereum [sic, recte Euceron] album (= agylloides Dyar)— Draudt (1915: 184, fig. 25k).
Eucereon alba— Pliske (1975), Pinheiro & Gaal-Haszler (2015), Beccacece & Zapata (2017), Janzen & Hallwachs (2017).
Material examined. MEXICO, 1 ♂, Vera[Cruz], Misantla, Col. R. Müller No 10961, CNIABM 3199 (CNIABM). VENEZUELA, 1 ♂, [Carabobo], Valencia, Rothschild Bequest B.M. 1939-I (NHMUK). COSTA RICA, 1 ♀, San José, Brade 7-III-09 (NHMW); <30 ♂♂ and <30 ♀♀, Finca Hamadryas nr El Rodeo, Ciudad Colon (9° 54' N, 84°
17' W; 870 m asl) (FZE). [All examined.] Note: at NHMW there are 2 specimens in a row with alba: one misidentified as alba, the other being obviously G. sericea ♀ from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. At ZMHB there is also a specimen, misidentified as alba.
Voucher material of FZE will be deposited at ZSBS, ZMHB, NHNH, MUSM and NHMW.
Diagnosis. A small and fragile species entirely silky white with the costa narrowly lined with dark brown scales in males. In male genitalia valvae largely longer than uncus.
Description. Male. Head. Proboscis light brown. Palpi entirely covered with white scales, the first segment very hairy ventrally. Frons and vertex hairy and pure white. Eyes very large and black. Antennae bipectinate, scape, rami and shaft dorsally covered with white scales but ventrally the shaft is brown and rami are very dark brown. Body and wings. The whole body (collar, thorax and abdomen) is entirely pure silky white. Ventrally there are some scattered yellowish scales on the abdomen. All legs pure white except the claws which are dark brown and some rows of brownish hairs on the tarsi. All wings pure silky white and veins concolorous with background. Forewing length 11‒12 mm (n = 8). There is a thin dark brown line along the forewing costa, darker at base and becoming lighter toward the apex. Fringes pure white. Ventrally all wings are pure white except a thin dark brown line along the forewing costa from base to apex. Genitalia (Figs. 31‒34). Uncus cylindrical slightly spatulate in the terminal half and with a sharp spine on tip. Above uncus two symmetrical processes, tongue shaped, reaching almost the tip of the uncus. Valvae subrectangular, long and narrow, slightly undulate in ventral view and extending beyond the tip of the uncus. The tip well sclerotized, pointed and bent inwards. A small translucent cucullus covered with hair in ventral position. Hardly noticeable triangular expansion pointing inwards just after the middle of valvae. Vinculum wide with a small pointed and triangular saccus. Juxta well developed, sclerotized and shaped as a long tongue almost reaching the base of uncus. In lateral view the genitalic capsule appears extremely flat. Phallus cylindrical, slightly sinuate, long and narrow. Vesica with a unique and large ventral lobe with longitudinal wrinkles and a patch of well-developed cornuti.
Female. Identical to male but slightly larger and without a dark forewing costa. Antennae similar to male but just ciliate. Abdomen with a slightly yellowish tinge dorsally. Forewing length 12‒13 mm (n = 9). Genitalia (Fig. 51). Genitalia generally slightly sclerotized, apophyses anteriores and posteriores subequal, thin and long. Ductus bursae as a narrow cylindrical tube strongly bent and sinuous in the last third where it is strongly sclerotized. Bursa copulatrix, first almost cylindrical and smooth then large and almost spherical, strongly sclerotized at the narrow end near the junction with ductus bursae. Bursa covered with spicules on its entire surface except near the junction with the ductus bursae.
Barcode. See Discussion.
Early stages. Janzen & Hallwachs (2017) provide photographs of larvae and list Rhipidocladum racemiflorum (Steud.) McClure, a New World bamboo (Poaceae) with wide distribution in Central and South America (Clayton et al. 2006) as well as R. pittieri and Senna papillosa (Fabaceae) as larval hostplants of Eucereon alba. Paul Gloor (pers. comm.) has reared G. alba on R. racemiflorum.
Biology. Gloora alba exhibits pharmacophagy with respect to pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs); it has been reported to be attracted to Heliotropium indicum, a source of PAs, in Venezuela at 1,100 m by Pliske (1975; as Eucereon alba); strong attraction of both sexes to various pure PAs and PA-containing plants in evenings has also been found in Costa Rica by P. Gloor (MB unpubl., cf. Fig. 4). Both sexes are attracted to artificial light, too. Males possess interesting tymbal (see Figs. 55‒57) and androconial organs and emit pheromones which are detectable with the human nose―details will be reported elsewhere (Boppré et al. in prep.).
Distribution. COSTA RICA, MEXICO, VENEZUELA.
Remarks. Because of the great similarity of G. alba to Agylla septentrionalis Barnes & McDunnough, 1911, " G. agylloides " would be a more appropriate name but alba has priority.
description: Published as part of Grados, Juan, Laguerre, Michel & Boppré, Michael, 2018, Gloora gen. nov. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Arctiini: Ctenuchina) for several Agylla - like Arctiinae, pp. 226-240 in Zootaxa 4497 (2) on pages 228-231, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4497.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/1452133