Rejectaria atrax Dognin 1891
Creators: name: Goldstein, Paul Z.
name: Janzen, Daniel H.
name: Hallwachs, Winnie
name: Proshek, Benjamin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Rejectaria
Rejectaria atrax

description: Rejectaria atrax Dognin, 1891
Habitus Fig. 16, 27. Male genitalia Fig. 54, 77–78.
Narcaea atrax Dognin, 1891, Le Naturaliste 13: pp. 125–126. Type locality: Ecuador: Loja (Holotype ♂, USNM)
Material examined. Type material: Narcaea atrax Holotype ♂. Ecuador: Environs de Loja Equateur SJ., Narcaea sp. n. “I have described the genus in the Biologia, Narcaea atrax Dgn, type, type figure 1894, Dognin Collection”, Type No. 32294 U.S.N.M., USNMENT00973692, USNM slide 148640
Diagnosis. Rejectaria atrax and R. splendida are differentiated from other species by the presence of fine, white, entire am and pm lines on the forewing, the absence of frosting in the median field, and the presence of chalky-white patches in the postmedian field. Rejectaria paratrax lacks whitish frosting and R. ritaashleyae lacks an am line.
Supplement to original description. Head. Frons, vertex dark brown; male antennae setose-ciliate; male palpi (Fig. 27) predominantly brown with scattered white scales, overall shape squared, the 1 st and 2 nd segments forming right angles, 1 st segment turning upward at a 90˚ angle before meeting the 2 nd segment; 2 nd segment curving gently for most of its length before turning sharply backward, well above the head. Everted hair pencils tannish.
Thorax. Wings (Fig 16)—(male, 24.5, n=2) FW with dark brown median field, heterogeneous pale frosting in basal and postmedial fields, frosting in the postmedial area concentrated in the subapical patch and towards the pm line where it meets the inner margin; st line faint a discontinuous series of white markings, terminal line a series of white dashes; finge brown; pm, st and terminal lines continue on HW. Legs (Fig. 31) — (Fig. 27) Predominantly chocolate brown, male foretibia cream-colored laterally; pronounced chocolate-brown tuft with scattered white scaling; female foreleg and midleg with additional white scaling at segments; incomplete cream-colored segmental bands on legs and at base of tibial spurs.
Abdomen. Gray-brown above, concolorous with hindwing uppersides.
Male genitalia. (Figs 54, 77, 78) Indistinquishable from splendida (below); valva also similar to that of paratrax in having uneven (as opposed to smooth) outer margin.
Female genitalia. Unknown.
Immature stages. Unknown.
Biology. Unknown.
Distribution. Ecuador
Remarks. The male holotype of atrax from Ecuador may be conspecific with the Costa Rican syntypes of splendida based on habitus and genitalia, but since no other specimens are available for comparison and there are neither barcode nor larval data available, we have chosen to maintain both names.
description: Published as part of Goldstein, Paul Z., Janzen, Daniel H., Hallwachs, Winnie & Proshek, Benjamin, 2022, New species in Rejectaria Guenée (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Herminiinae) with a focus on the Cyclanthaceae-feeders, pp. 451-483 in Zootaxa 5087 (3) on pages 458-460, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5087.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5826945