Diario de regisrafael

Macapta lurida was first described by Schaus 1894 as Fagitana lurida (https://archive.org/details/transactionsofam211894amer/page/236/mode/1up?view=theater). Later, Hampson 1910 transfered the species to Macapta, made a description and picture (https://archive.org/details/catalogueoflepid09brituoft/page/99/mode/1up?view=theater, https://archive.org/details/catalogueoflepid410brit/page/n397/mode/2up?view=theater).

To improve the knowledge of the species distribution I compared Inaturalist photos with Hampson picture. The search was made in the brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro and in the countries of Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. Photos of adults previously identified at least in the family Noctuidae was checked.

Three observations was found matching Hampson picture, two of them in Rio Grande do Sul and one in Uruguay: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/113102306 ; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/127750581 ; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/146735884. This identifications are the first for the species in the site and is the first known photographs of living specimens of Macapta lurida.

The species was previously known from the states of Paraná (Schaus, 1894), São Paulo (Hampson, 1910) and Rio Grande do Sul (Silva, Specht & Link, 2004). No previous known papers cite Macapta lurida occuring in Uruguay and can be the first evidence of the species for this country.

Bibliography:

Silva, E. J. E., Specht, A. & Link, D. 2004. Noctuídeos (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) do museu entomológico Ceslau Biezanko, departamento de fotossanidade, faculdade de agronomia "Eliseu Maciel", Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Current Agricultural Science and Technology 10 (4): 389-409.

Trogotorna persecta is the only species described in the genus Trogotorna. The species was described by Hampson 1910. I was unable to find the description and figure but type locality is supposed to be Paraguay (https://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/noctuoidea/noctuidae/acontiinae/trogotorna/). The species is also known from the brazilian states Rio Grande do Sul (Silva, Specht & Link, 2004) and Rio de Janeiro (Zikán & Zikán, 1968). Also, BOLDSystems site have pictures of T. persecta from Costa Rica and Mexico (https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=157592). Two extra species appear in BOLDSystems site: Trogotorna beckeri (https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=346991) and Trogotorna moseri (https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=346990), the first from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and the second from Venezuela and Costa Rica. Despite that, I was unable to find any paper describing this two species.

To improve the knowledge of the species distribution, I compared Inaturalist observations with BOLDSystems pictures of Trogotorna persecta. The search was made in the brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo; argentinian provinces of Misiones and Corrientes; and in the countries of Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. Photos of adults previously identified at least in the family Noctuidae was checked. "Research grade" observations was excluded of the search.

It was found 10 observations recognized as Trogotorna persecta: 8 from Paraná, 1 from São Paulo and 1 from Rio de Janeiro.

This results can be the first evidence of the species for the brazilian states of Paraná and São Paulo. Many others places from Rio Grande do Sul to Mexico are suspected to also have this species, and more efforts must be done to unveil the real distribution. Some of the identifications can be other species, Lafontaine & Poole 2010 wrote about the genus Trogotorna that "several undescribed species are under study (J. B. Sullivan, pers. comm.). I choosed identify in the species level because I couldn't find any paper describing or comparing the supposed species, but in the light of such papers this observations should be reviewed.

Bibliography:

Lafontaine, J. D. & Poole, R. W. 2010. Review of the New World genera of the subfamily Acontiinae (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae). ZooKeys 39: 137-160.

Silva, E. J. E., Specht, A. & Link, D. 2004. Noctuídeos (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) do museu entomológico Ceslau Biezanko, departamento de fotossanidade, faculdade de agronomia "Eliseu Maciel", Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Current Agricultural Science and Technology 10 (4): 389-409.

Zikán, J. F. & Zikán, W. 1968. Inseto-Fauna do Itatiaia e da Mantiqueira. III. Lepidoptera. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira 3: 45-109.

The first description of the species was given by Berg 1882 as Alypia aguirrei (https://archive.org/details/analesdelasocied13soci/page/174/mode/1up?view=theater). Later, Hampson 1910 transferred the species to the genus Rhosus and made a new description and provided a picture (https://archive.org/details/catalogueoflepid09brituoft/page/413/mode/1up?view=theater ; https://archive.org/details/catalogueoflepid410brit/page/n425/mode/2up?view=theater). By that time, Rhosus aguirrei was only known for the argentinian province of Buenos Aires, but Silva, Specht & Link, 2004 reported this species in the brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

To improve the knowledge of the species distribution, I compared Inaturalist observations with the picture Hampson provided and a photo of this species in insecta.pro site (https://insecta.pro/taxonomy/734594). The search was made in the brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina; and in the countries of Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. Photos of adults previously identified at least in the family Noctuidae was checked. "Research grade" observations was excluded of the search.

Just one observation matched the pattern of Rhosus aguirrei found in the argentinian province of Buenos Aires: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/142673143.

The specimen is similar with Hampson figure but lack the yellow stipes in the thorax. I only was confident in the identification after found insecta.pro image that matches very well. Four species of Rhosus that I couldn't find pictures and descriptions also occur in Argentina, R. denieri, R. ornata, R. pampeana and R. storniana (https://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/noctuoidea/noctuidae/agaristinae/rhosus/). R. aguirrei is very distinctive from other species of Rhosus but the similarity with this four argentinian species are unknown. This is the first identification of the species Rhosus aguirrei in the Inaturalist site.

Bibliography:

Silva, E. J. E., Specht, A. & Link, D. 2004. Noctuídeos (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) do museu entomológico Ceslau Biezanko, departamento de fotossanidade, faculdade de agronomia "Eliseu Maciel", Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Current Agricultural Science and Technology 10 (4): 389-409.