Diastema leo Troubridge, new species
Creators: name: Troubridge, J. T.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Diastema
Diastema leo

description: Diastema leo Troubridge, new species
(Fig. 47, 98, 136)
BIN: BOLD:ABA1169
Diagnosis. Diastema leo is the sister species to Diastema tigris Guenée (BIN: BOLD:AAA8374). Like H. australis (above) I see no reliable way to distinguish the two species other than by range or DNA, although D. tigris has an orange phenotype (Fig. 48) that I have not seen in D. leo. Diastema leo occurs from Florida, northward into Georgia, in the Bahamas, and probably the Greater Antilles, whereas D. tigris occurs from central Texas, southward through Central America. The DNA of D. leo was analyzed and the 658 COI base pairs compared with those of specimens of D. tigris. The results showed a 3.32% difference between D. leo and D. tigris. In the male genitalia, the clasper of D. leo is slightly longer than that of D. tigris, although this character could be variable.
Description. Antennae filiform, ciliate; head, vertex, thorax, and abdomen light ochre. Dorsal forewing (both sexes). Forewing length 12–14 mm. Ground color light ochre; basal line with two dark rust-brown spots adjacent to costa; antemedial line with three large dark rust-brown spots; two faint ochre lines transect wing between antemedial line and orbicular spot; rectangular orbicular and suborbicular spots dark rust brown; medial line arcs from costa to anal margin between orbicular and obscure reniform spot; postmedial line ochre, bordered on anterior and distal margins with purplish-gray scales; light ochre submarginal line incised between M2 and M3, bordered basally with dark rust-brown scales; terminal line a series of black dots at tips of veins; fringe light ochre. Dorsal hindwing. Ground color light ochre, heavily suffused with brown scales toward apex; veins Rs to CuA2 bordered with brown scales; margin light ochre. Male genitalia (Fig. 98). Valves narrowing slightly toward broadly-rounded cucullus; cucullus with dense field of spine-like setae that sweep back toward the anterior; inner side of valve with a deep pit near dorsal margin; clasper “C” shaped, very narrow with pointed apex arises from posterior side of pit, sweeping downward into the pit before extending anterior end of pit toward uncus; uncus broad, flattened dorso-ventrally, constricted at base and bending ventrally at tip to small hook; vesica an elongate sack, directed to right and sweeping to anterior where it narrows toward ductus seminalis at apex. Female genitalia (Fig. 136). Ovipositor lobes rounded apically with numerous setae; 7 th abdominal sternite heavily sclerotized along deeply concave posterior margin; ostium bursae adjoins posterior margin of 7 th sternite on dorsal surface; posterior half of ductus bursae heavily sclerotized, membranous anterior half of ductus bursae meets oblong corpus bursae at junction of appendix bursae; oval appendix bursae joins corpus bursae via a broad tube.
Type material. Holotype male: USA: Florida, Highlands Co.: Archbold Biol. Stn., 27.188°N, 81.338°W, 30.Mar.2017, J. Troubridge, in the CNC. Paratypes: 8♂, 4♀: Alachua Co.: Archer, 29.543°N 82.578°W, 12.Jun.2015, J.E. Hayden, 1♂ (FSCA); Gainesville, 15–16.Jul.1983, J.B. Heppner 1♂; (FSCA); Location unspecified, 5.Jun.1957, H. V. Weems, 1♂ (FSCA); Highlands Co.: Archbold Biol. Stn., 27.188°N, 81.338° W, 9.Apr.2015, 1♀; 29.Jul.2011, 1♂; 17.Mar.2016, 1♀, all J. Troubridge. Hillsborough Co.: USF Ecology Area, 14.Oct.1991, W.L. Adair, 1♂ (FSCA); Marion Co.: 2 mi. S. of Belleview, 11.Jun.1990, J.S. Kutis, 1♂ (MGCL); Miami-Dade Co.: Kendall, 12370 SW 30th St., 31.Mar.1990, L. Koehn, 1♂ (FSCA); Seminole Co.: Winter Springs, 5.Sep.1983, R. Gillmore, 1♀ (MGCL); Sanford, Hidden Lake Villas, 22.Aug.1985, R. Gillmore, 1♀ (MGCL); Volusia Co.: Tomoka State Park, 22–25.May.2000, J.B. Heppner, 1♂ (FSCA).
Etymology. The term leo is from Latin and means lion.
Distribution. Diastema leo has been collected in Florida, Georgia, and the Antilles.
Noctuidae: Noctuinae: Xylenini
description: Published as part of Troubridge, J. T., 2020, A new genus and 37 new noctuoid species from peninsular Florida and the Keys (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea), pp. 1-56 in Insecta Mundi 2020 (789) on pages 34-35, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4585782