Abantiades paradoxa
Creators: name: Moore, Michael D.
name: Beaver, Ethan P.
name: Bradford, Tessa
name: Hutchinson, Paul M.
name: Kay, Paul
name: Temby, Nick
name: Hamon, Howard
name: Stevens, Mark I.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Hepialidae
Abantiades
Abantiades paradoxa

description: Abantiades paradoxa (Tindale, 1932)
Figs 9, 10, 11, 12.
Material Examined: 2 ♀ in SAMA collection; 1♀, (Fig. 9b), WA, 12 km east of Merredin, 26 April 2014, N. Temby. 1♀, WA Metro Road, Wandoo State Forest, 29-April 2021. [P. Kay leg.] [Metro Road is 20 km long. Collection site 200M short of corner with Brookton Hwy. 49km SE of Kelmscott].
Diagnosis: The plain, red chestnut colour of this large moth is diagnostic, as are the buff-chestnut coloured apically pointed “Y” shaped rami.
Description.
Female.
Head: Frons and fronto-clypeus densely covered in upright, long, thin, light chestnut coloured scales. Eyes slightly smaller than head capsule. Labial palps three segmented, first and third palpomeres of equal length, second palpomere three times longer, third palpomeres with round apex.All covered in sandy-chestnut scales, lighter distally. Antennae (Fig. 12c–d) with 72 segments, chestnut coloured and monopectinate. Basal rami short and lobular then distally become bifurcated and “Y” shaped. Arms and stems of subequal length, slightly elliptical in cross section but with flatter distal than proximal faces. Each arm four times longer than wide, lightly covered in fine, colourless setae, longer laterally and apically.
Thorax: Dorsally densely covered in long piliform chestnut scales, ventrally slightly lighter. Forewing 75 mm long. Dorsally, veins reddish hyaline, surface sparsely clothed in chestnut scales, lanceolate anteriorly, lighter, longer and more piliform basally and along dorsum. Ventrally, costa to Sc densely covered in small chestnut scales, then thinly covered in golden chestnut piliform scales. Hindwing; 58 mm long, dorsally all but costa thinly covered in piliform scales, chestnut anteriorly, golden elsewhere. Ventrally as forewing. Legs densely covered in chestnut scales. Arolium broadly elliptical.
Abdomen: All sternites and tergites densely covered in long piliform scales. Lighter coloured than thorax. Dorsally golden straw, ventrally lighter.
Genitalia: (Fig. 10a–c). Dorsal plate, moderately sclerotised, bilobed with a large central, regular triangular invagination. Posterior half of plate moderately covered with dark setae. Laterally covered with densely packed, broad and robust scale-like setae (red arrow). Antevaginal lamella with elliptical lateral lobes densely covered in long, scale like setae (red arrow). Medial lobe more sclerotized, subtriangular; two rounded points medially with rounded invagination robust, long, and dark setae medially and dorsal apex; anterior surface partly membranous.
Remarks: Recent collections of A. paradoxa have increased specimen records, but the species is still not well represented in collections. Though the male was described in 1932, it was not until 2014 that the first female was collected near Merredin (WA) by NT. A second female was collected near the Brookton Highway 49 km SE of Kelmscott by PK on 6 th May 2016, as illustrated by Simonsen (2018: Pl. 33 Fig. C), further females have since been collected by PK (Fig. 15). The scale-like setae found on the external genitalia of the female are unique.
description: Published as part of Moore, Michael D., Beaver, Ethan P., Bradford, Tessa, Hutchinson, Paul M., Kay, Paul, Temby, Nick, Hamon, Howard & Stevens, Mark I., 2022, Two new species of WesternAustralian Abantiades Herrich-Schäffer (Lepidoptera Hepialidae) and a description of the female of Abantiades paradoxa (Tindale), pp. 201-225 in Zootaxa 5133 (2) on pages 218-222, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5133.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/6521664