Nycterotis, FELDER, 1874

Prada-Lara, Liliana, St Laurent, Ryan A., Weller, Susan & Fagua, Giovanny, 2025, Nystaleinae moths (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae): A morphological review of the subfamily, Zootaxa 5622 (1), pp. 1-67 : 37-38

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5622.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C36CF0C2-0435-4460-A1D0-A9ADE783046F
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03F387A1-FFE7-993F-FF38-BB12FDC4FA51
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Nycterotis
status

Treatment

29. NYCTEROTIS FELDER, 1874 View in CoL

Nycterotis Felder, 1874 , in Felder and Rogenhofer, Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde, Zoologisher Theil, Band 2, Abtheilung 2, Lepidoptera, Heft 4. Type species: Nycterotis poecila Felder, 1874 .

Adults. ( Figure 3F View FIGURE 3 , 11G View FIGURE 11 ) Head: male antennae bipectinated beyond basal half, rarely ciliate, female simple filiform; antennal tuft present; ocelli reduced, third segment of labial palpi short. Thorax: male prothoracic leg lacks scent pocket; tarsal claws bifid. Wings: males 46 to 50 mm; very variable, many species with ground color pale yellow, others darkly mottled brown, often with lengthwise striations and lines giving wings a wooden appearance, tornal and basal markings occasional, hindwing light brown. Abdomen: brown with small caudal tuft. Male terminalia ( Figure 7D View FIGURE 7 ): eighth tergite with midplate, eighth sternite with two long apodemes with leaf-like shape; uncus short and laterally compressed, beak shaped, some species bifid; socii short, strongly upcurved; vinculum and tegumen upright, relatively narrow; valvae usually broad, with a large, sclerotized, quadrate dorsal part with various spines and protrusions, these being asymmetrical, valvae often membranous basally; costulae quite variable, some species have long and thin costulae that are acute at their apices, others short and broad, truncated (in some species asymmetrical with teeth); SSO absent; juxta ovoid; aedeagus short, base flanged, apex with a pair of irregular processes. Female terminalia: eighth tergite heavily sclerotized with a mesial notch on posterior margin; anterior apophyses long and thin, sinuate; ostium wide; eighth sternite with horn-like lateral processes; ductus bursae long and lightly sclerotized, narrow at its base, S-shaped in distal part; ductus seminalis arising from base of ductus bursae near ostium; corpus bursae small, ovoid, with a single tiny signum; posterior apophyses long and thin, straight; papillae anales small and membranous.

Diagnosis. Some species can be recognized due to the large antennal tuft, the mottled brown and gray wing pattern with the gray oval at the tornus. However, this is one of the most diverse genera of Nystaleinae and contains a great deal of variation. A character that is likely uniform in the genus is the shape of the eighth sternite (V shape due to the large sclerotized apodemes), and the presence of the costulae. Male genitalia are also often asymmetrical which is unusual in Nystaleinae .

Comments. Many species are very similar, and genitalia dissections are needed for identification. Hostplants include different species belonging to the Fabaceae family, especially Inga sp. and Lonchocarpus sp. (ACG database). Thiaucourt (2008) illustrates several female and male genitalia, as does Becker (2020).

Distribution. USA to Argentina.

Species included (41).

Nycterotis anapiesma (Weller, 1991)

Nycterotis ankistron (Weller, 199l)

Nycterotis apostatica (Dyar, 1914)

Nycterotis aroata (Schaus, 1901)

Nycterotis balcazari Becker, 2020 View in CoL

Nycterotis chaconi Becker, 2020 View in CoL

Nycterotis colimata (Dyar, 1925) View in CoL

Nycterotis densissima (Dyar,1914)

Nycterotis dognini (Draudt, 1932)

Nycterotis drechseli ( Thiaucourt, 2008) View in CoL