Wurthiini

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Wurthiini
Niphopyralis chionesis, adult
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Crambidae
Subfamily: Spilomelinae
Tribe: Wurthiini
Roepke, 1916[1]

Wurthiini is a tribe of the species-rich subfamily Spilomelinae in the pyraloid moth family Crambidae.

Description

Pseudebulea fentoni, adult male

Adult Wurthiini are small to medium-sized moths with wing spans of normally 20 to over 30 mm,[2][3] whereas adults of Niphopyralis are usually somewhat smaller, with wingspans of 12 to 22 mm, and the males being smaller than the females.[4][5][6]

In the male genitalia, the uncus consists of a single head bearing stiff chaetae, or it is bicapitate (Niphopyralis). The tegumen-vinculum complex is more or less elongate rounded. The valvae are slender and tapering towards the apex, with the costa weakly to strongly concave (e.g. in Apilocrocis novateutonialis; see

synapomorphy of the tribe). The fibula is broad triangular and ventrally directed. On its mesal side, the valva sacculus is produced as a strongly sclerotised arm that usually ends dorsally in a broad, spinulose tip or a needleshaped projection, and in Aristebulea, Mimetebulea and Pseudebulea, the mediodorsal sacculus bears a medially directed process. The male genitalia of Niphopyralis are highly derived.[7]
: 171 

The female genitalia exhibit a strongly sclerotised lamella antevaginalis and usually a short, membraneous ductus bursae (strongly sclerotised in Niphopyralis). The signum in the corpus bursae is either absent (Mimetebulea, Niphopyralis) or present as a small to large rounded to short transverse sclerotisation.[3][2][7]

The larvae and pupae of Wurthiini are only known for Niphopyralis;[5][6] see there for a morphological description.

Food plants

Very little is known about the food plants of Wurthiini. The caterpillars of Apilocrocis glaucosia feed on Celtis iguanaea (Cannabaceae).[8]

The larvae of Niphopyralis are

Oecophylla and Polyrhachis, where they feed on their hosts' eggs, larvae and pupae.[5][6]

Distribution

The genera Apilocrocis and Diaphantania are found in the

Oriental and Australasian realms.[1]

Systematics

Wurthiini currently contains nine genera, altogether comprising 42 species:[1][9]

Wurthiini was erected by

habitus and the lack of a proboscis. In 1923, the back then still valid genus Wurthia was transferred to Schoenobiinae,[6] where also Niphopyralis had been described in 1893 by George Hampson.[4] In 1981, Niphopyralis was transferred to Pyraustinae,[10] while Wurthia remained in Schoenobiinae. It was not until 1996 that Wurthia was recognized as synonym of Niphopyralis.[11]

Regier et al. (2012) found Niphopyralis to be an ingroup of Spilomelinae, and they consequently synonymised the name Wurthiinae with Spilomelinae.[12] Eventually, in 2019 the name Wurthiini was re-erected as tribe in its current form within Spilomelinae.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Nuss, Matthias; Landry, Bernard; Mally, Richard; Vegliante, Francesca; Tränkner, Andreas; Bauer, Franziska; Hayden, James; Segerer, Andreas; Schouten, Rob; Li, Houhun; Trofimova, Tatiana; Solis, M. Alma; De Prins, Jurate; Speidel, Wolfgang (2003–2022). "Global Information System on Pyraloidea (GlobIZ)". www.pyraloidea.org. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
  2. ^
    S2CID 85607030
    .
  3. ^
    S2CID 251415208
    .
  4. ^ a b Hampson, George Francis (1893). The Macrolepidoptera Heterocera of Ceylon. Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the collection of the British Museum. London: Printed by order of the trustees. pp. i–vi, 1–182, pls 157-176.
  5. ^ a b c d Roepke, Walter (1916). "Eine neue myrmekophile Lepidoptere aus Java (Wurthia myrmecophila n.g. n.sp.)". Zoologische Mededelingen (in German). 2 (3–4). Leiden: 141–146, 12 figs.
  6. ^ a b c d Kemner, N. A. (1923). "Hyphaenosymphilie, eine neue, merkwürdige Art von Myrmekophilie bei einem neuen myrmekophilen Schmetterling (Wurthia aurivillii n. sp.) aus Java beobachtet". Arkiv för Zoologi (in German). 15 (15). Stockholm: 1–28, figs 1-7, pls 1-4.
  7. ^
    ISSN 1863-7221
    .
  8. ^ Janzen, Daniel H.; Hallwachs, Winifred (2009). "Dynamic database for an inventory of the macrocaterpillar fauna, and its food plants and parasitoids, of Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG), northwestern Costa Rica". Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  9. S2CID 251511500
    .
  10. ^ Lewvanich, Angoon (1981). "A revision of the Old World species of Scirpophaga (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Entomology Series. 42 (4). London: 185–298.
  11. ^ Shaffer, Michael; Nielsen, Ebbe S.; Horak, Marianne (1996). "Pyraloidea". In Nielsen, Ebbe S.; Edwards, E. D.; Rangsi, T. V. (eds.). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera 4 4. Canberra: CSIRO Division of Entomology. pp. 164–199.
  12. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2012.00641.x
    .
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