Abantiades pallida Simonsen 2018
Creators: name: Moore, Michael D.
name: Beaver, Ethan P.
name: Velasco-Castrillón, Alejandro
name: Stevens, Mark I.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Hepialidae
Abantiades
Abantiades pallida

description: Abantiades pallida Simonsen, 2018 (female)
Figs 8 a–b, 9a–b.
Material Examined:
SAMA; 1♀, West. Aust. Wheatbelt, Koorda Caravan Park, Koorda, 30 o 49’18”S, 117 o 29’12”E, M+ M Moore 14 May 17. Spec. No., 17185, leg removed, for tissue, storage. M.D. Moore. Sample No H 043. SAMA No. 31-020314. SAMA; 1♀, West. Aust.; Nullarbor, Quarantine Station, Border Village, 31 o 38’19”S, 129 o 00’07”E, R. Penning, 7 th May 2018. Spec. No. 18122, leg removed, for tissue, storage. M.D. Moore. Sample No H 122. Dissected E. Beaver, 16 th March 2020. SAMA No. 31-020414.
Diagnosis:
A large grey moth with a distinct white submarginal line but only an indistinct brown/grey coloured discoidal mark. Specifically, the presence of setose covered nipple shaped projections on the lateral lobes of the antevaginal lamella is unique in all described triforked females (Fig. 9 – arrow).
Description:
Female
Head: Dorsally covered in thick, elongate light grey scales, fronto-clypeal region dark grey. Each eye only slightly smaller than head capsule. Labial palps approximately straight, three segmented; basal palpomere thickly covered in long brown/grey scales, some whitish at base; second palpomere longest, thickly covered in light brown scales, darker ventrally; third palpomere, smallest, sub-spherical, densely covered in brown scales. Antennae: total 60 segments, 12–13 mm long, less than 20% forewing length; monopectinate, basal rami lamellar transitioning distally to spatulate then with lateral forks; rami cruciform on basal half then fully triple branched before spade shaped near the tip. Scattered robust dark setae and more numerous long colourless setae on central fork. Colourless setae present on upper surface of lateral fork and on faces. Pectinations lean slightly towards distal end and central fork a little more so.
Thorax: Dorsal surface densely clothed by medium grey, elongate, robust scales, slightly paler than head. Ventral surface light white grey. Forewing length 62–68 mm, membrane transparent, veins whitish, browner towards base, covered in small dark grey scales; dorsal costa covered in small grey/brown scales; costa to Rs and apically Rs1, sparsely covered in dark grey scales. Two large marks on forewing present, an indistinct discoidal mark, medium brown basally, whiter distally and a distinct dull white submarginal band that extends between Rs2 to CuA1, linear but wider centrally and highlighted by narrow border of dark grey scales. The anterior portion of the discoidal mark has three or four light grey scroll lines present then out to R and Rs1+2 a thin band of dark brown highlighting scales. Irregular obscure, white scaled scroll lines present over forewing, apically scroll marks elliptical, along termen, linear, with pale grey scales between lines. Dorsally and basally wing scales become longer and more red-brown, sparse throughout. Ventral surface: dorsal markings visible through wing; costa covered in small yellow-grey scales with longer grey-brown scales towards Sc. Apex with a few, thinly spread dark grey scales, rest of wing sparsely covered in white-grey piliform scales that are longer and more golden towards base. Hindwing length 45–53 mm, veins white-yellow, membrane transparent. Dorsal surface, sparsely covered in long light grey to reddish-brown scales, basally piliform golden scales. Ventral surface, as for ventral forewing. Legs: femur dorsal surface covered by short yellow sandy-brown scales, lateral scales light grey; inner lateral surface light grey; ventrally whitish grey. Tibia dorsally sandy-grey, ventrally sandy yellow. Tarsus, dorsally sandy-grey, ventrally sandy-yellow, increasingly golden towards distal tarsus. Arolium and epiphysis present.
Abdomen: Dorsal surface thickly covered in long, dark grey piliform scales. Ventrally thickly covered in piliform scales, sternites I–III light white grey, IV–V yellow-grey, VI–VIII yellowish.
Genitalia: (Fig. 9). Dorsal plate lightly sclerotized, bilobed, each hemispherical, central “V’ shaped invagination, inner margin setose. Antevaginal lamella trilobed; medial lobe more heavily sclerotized, setose, inner margin continuously curved with wide, blunt ended lateral projections and small concave depression centrally. Inner margin lightly sclerotized and membranous in some places. Lateral lobes with setose nipple like projection which is quite distinct in the more lateral view (see Fig. 9b –arrow). Subanal plates with heavily sclerotized distal margin. No bursa copulatrix was recovered.
Distribution and Biology:
Recorded Localities: (Fig. 11) Previously known only from Border Village, SA, and Eucla, WA (Simonsen 2018). Now also from Coolgardie; Bullabulling; Hyden; Koorda; and Kellerberrin all in Western Australia.
Flight times: Simonsen (2018) lists the flight period as between 28 th of April to the 11 th of May. The females examined here were collected on the 04 th and 14 th of May.
Larval biology: Unknown.
Remarks:
See above for intra-cladal differences and comparison to A. macropusinsulariae and A. kristenseni.
The females (MT052733 and MT052735) were identified as belonging to A. pallida by sequencing of the mtDNA (COI) gene, and are clustered within a clade that includes three male specimens (Fig. 1). Even though separated by hundreds of kilometres, neither of the two females had an obvious discoidal mark on their forewings, which is rare in Abantiades.
Abantiades pallida has a wide distribution that significantly overlaps with both A. kristenseni and A. zonatriticum Moore & Beaver, 2020 (Moore et al. 2020). The females of the triforked Abantiades species are inherently difficult to identify without dissection. However, A. pallida has one obvious white submarginal line and only an almost obscure discoidal one, while the other two species have two obvious marks (either white or brown). Antennal structure is useful; A. zonatriticum has triangular shaped lateral processes on the antenna whereas in A. pallida they are linear. Upon dissection of the genitalia, A. zonatriticum has a process which seems like an extension to the medial lobe (rather than part of it) of the antevaginal lamella and projects more into the central space (has triangular shaped lateral processes), whereas with A. pallida the projection is more part of the medial lobe, has a smaller projection into the central space with blunt ended lateral processes trapezoidal in shape. The lateral lobes of the antevaginal lamella have a nipple like protrusion in A. pallida but not so in A. zonatriticum.
description: Published as part of Moore, Michael D., Beaver, Ethan P., Velasco-Castrillón, Alejandro & Stevens, Mark I., 2020, Description of two new Australian species of Abantiades Herrich-Schäffer (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) and females of two further species with notes on their biogeography, pp. 71-93 in Zootaxa 4822 (1) on pages 86-89, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4822.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/4401266