Revision of the genus Callipia Guenée, 1858 (Lepidoptera, Geometridae), with the description of 15 new taxa

Abstract

The vividly coloured Neotropical genus Callipia Guenée (1858) (Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758, Geometridae (Leach, 1815), Larentiinae (Leach, 1815), Stamnodini Forbes, 1948) is revised and separated into four species groups, according to a provisional phylogeny based on Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene data and morphology. Fourteen new species are described using COI data and morphology: a) in the balteata group: C. fiedleri sp. nov., C. jakobi sp. nov., C. lamasi sp. nov.; b) in the vicinaria group: C. hausmanni sp. nov., C. walterfriedlii sp. nov.; c) in the parrhasiata group: C. augustae sp. nov., C. jonai sp. nov., C. karsholti sp. nov., C. levequei sp. nov., C. milleri sp. nov., C. sihvoneni sp. nov., C. wojtusiaki sp. nov. and d) in the constantinaria group: C. hiltae sp. nov., C. rougeriei sp. nov. One new subspecies is described: C. wojtusiaki septentrionalis subsp. nov. Two species are revived from synonymy: C. intermedia Dognin, 1914 stat. rev. and C. occulta Warren, 1904 stat. rev. The taxon hamaria Sperry, 1951 is transferred from being a junior synonym of C. constantinaria Oberthür, 1881 to being a junior synonym of C. occulta stat. rev. The taxon admirabilis Warren, 1904 is confirmed as being a junior synonym of C. paradisea Thierry-Mieg, 1904. The taxon languescens Warren, 1904 is confirmed as being a junior synonym of C. rosetta, Thierry-Mieg, 1904 and the taxon confluens Warren, 1905 is confirmed as being a junior synonym of C. balteata Warren, 1905. The status of the remaining species is not changed: C. aurata Warren, 1904, C. brenemanae Sperry, 1951, C. parrhasiata Guenée, 1858, C. flagrans Warren, 1904, C. fulvida Warren, 1907 and C. vicinaria Dognin. All here recognised 28 species are illustrated and the available molecular genetic information of 27 species, including Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) for most of the taxa is provided. The almost threefold increase from 10 to 28 valid species shows that species richness of tropical moths is strongly underestimated even in relatively conspicuous taxa. Callipia occurs from medium to high elevations in wet parts of the tropical and subtropical Andes from Colombia to northern Argentina. The early stages and host plants are still unknown.

Cyphoedma n. gen. now described after a century of use, with the addition of a new species from Central America (Geometridae, Ennominae)

“…The formal description of this genus, as well as the recognition of not one, but three distinct species, highlight the importance of ongoing taxonomic research as it relates to more focused conservation efforts and other uses of wild biodiversity. Cyphoedma provides yet another example of a Neotropical geometrid species once believed to be a single widespread entity now revealed to be a group of geographically distinct species (Sullivan, 2014;Brehm, 2015Brehm, , 2018.…”

Revision of the Orbamia Herbulot, 1966 group of genera with description of two new genera, ten new species, and two new subspecies (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae, Cassymini)

“…BINs represent a species-level taxonomic registry of the animal kingdom based on the analysis of nucleotide variation patterns in the barcode region of the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene (Ratnasingham and Hebert 2013). This genetic information facilitates the species delimitation and constitutes the basis of future phylogenetic works at the genus level and below (Brehm 2015(Brehm , 2018.…”

“…Scoble 1999;Scoble and Hausmann 2007;Van Nieukerken et al 2011). Many more are likely to be described and some recent revisions of many genera revealed high percentages of undescribed species (e.g., Brehm 2015Brehm , 2018Hausmann 2003;Hausmann et al 2016). This probably covers less than half the number of actual extant geometrid species on earth, an estimate which can be inferred from apparently undescribed species in natural history museums and in molecular databases like the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD: Ratnasingham and Hebert 2007).…”

The Trichopterygini (Lepidoptera, Geometridae) of Austral South America: description of new species from Chile

“…Intra-specific and inter-specific genetic distances were reported as maximum and minimum distances, respectively. This genetic information facilitates the species delimitation and form the basis of future phylogenetic works (Brehm 2015, 2018).…”