Pilocrocis ramentalis Lederer 1863
Creators: name: Bernard Landry
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Pyralidae
Pilocrocis
Pilocrocis ramentalis

description: Pilocrocis ramentalis Lederer, 1863
Figs 46, 47, 121, 167
Pilocrocis ramentalis Lederer, 1863: 430. ‒ Schaus, 1923: 28. ‒ Linsley & Usinger, 1966: 162. ‒ Peck et al., 1998: 227. ‒ Causton et al., 2006: 141. ‒ Roque-Albelo & Landry, 2015.
Material examined: 22 ♂, 27 ♀, 20 of undetermined sex from the Galápagos Islands: – Fernandina: SW side, GPS: 815 m elev[ation]., S 00° 21.270’, W 91°35.341’; SW side, GPS: 352 m elev., S 00° 20.503’, W 091° 36.969’. – Floreana: Punta Cormoran. – Genovesa: Bahía Darwin. – Isabela: Albermarle [no precise locality]; Tagus Cove; Punta Albermarle, SW old US radar site; 1 km W Puerto Villamil; 2 km W Puerto Villamil; Sierra Negra, pampa zone, 1000 m; V[olcan]. Darwin, 300 m elev.; ± 15 km N P[uer]to Villamil; V. Darwin, 1000 m elev. – Marchena: [no precise locality]. – Pinta: Plaja Ibbeston [sic]; 200 m elev.; 372 m elev., N 00° 34.476’, W 90° 45.102’; 400 m elev. – Rábida: Tourist trail. – San Cristóbal: P[uer]to Baquarizo [sic]; near La Loberia, sea level, GPS: 00° 55.277’, W 089° 36.909’; 1 km S El Progreso; base of Cerro Pelado; El Junco, east side, GPS: 654 m elev., S 00° 53.734’, W 89° 28.727’; vic[inity]. El Junco, ca. 700 m. – Santa Cruz: Academy Bay; Charles Darwin Research Station; 4 km N Puerto Ayora; Horneman Farm, 220 m; agriculture zone, near (NNW) Bella Vista, GPS: 223 m elev., S 00° 41.297’, W 90° 19.670’; Finca Vilema, 2 km W Bella Vista; transition zone, recently cut road, GPS: S 00°42.528’, W 90°18.849’; Finca S[teve]. Devine; Tortuga Res[erve]. W S[an]ta Rosa; Los Gemelos; Media Luna, pampa zone. – Santiago: Bahía Espumilla; Cerro Inn; 200 m elev.; Aguacate [camp], 520 m elev.; Central [camp], 700 m elev.; Jaboncillo [camp], ± 850 m elev. Deposited in AMNH, CAS, CDRS, CNC, MCZ, MHNG.
Diagnosis: In the Galápagos this 21 to 29 mm wingspan species (Figs 46, 47) is similar to Cryptobotys zoilusalis (Walker) (Figs 10, 11) and some specimens of Hymenia perspectalis (Hübner) (Figs 22, 23) by virtue of their paler linear markings on the fore- and hindwing over a dark brown ground colour. Cryptobotys zoilusalis is a smaller species (wingspan around 20 mm) with a less sinuous forewing postmedian line that becomes wider when reaching the costa whereas that of P. ramentalis essentially disappears before the costa. Also, in P. ramentalis the forewing discal spot, a small dash or lunule, is bordered with black anteriorly whereas the discal spot of C. zoilusalis is bigger, rounded, and with black dashes on both sides, although more conspicuously so posteriorly. Males of P. ramentalis also harbour distinctive secondary sexual characters in the modified, broadly bent antenna basally and the ‘flap’ of modified scales from the base of the forewing costa covering part of the wing’s base. In the most poorly marked specimens of H. perspectalis there is a distinctive, submedian white band in the hindwing with a short bilobed projection medially, and the fringes have white and dark brown patches.
Biology: The larva has been recorded to feed on Odontonema (Acanthaceae) and Boehmeria (Urticaceae) (Heppner, 2003; Robinson et al., 2014). Moths have been collected in the Galápagos from the littoral zone up to 1000 m above sea level on Isabela, from anthropized to pristine habitats, and from January until May.
Distribution: Native to the Western Hemisphere and described from ‘Vaterland?’, an unknown locality, this widespread species is found from Eastern Canada (south of Ontario) across the Eastern USA south through the Antilles, Central and South America to Argentina. It is widespread in the Galápagos, as shown from the 10 islands listed above.
Remark: Galápagos specimen was compared with identified material in the BMNH to secure the determination.
description: Published as part of Bernard Landry, 2016, Taxonomic revision of the Spilomelinae (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae s. l.) of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, pp. 315-399 in Revue suisse de Zoologie 123 (2) on pages 367-369, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.155309