W. T. M. Forbes.
The Family Position of Graphelsyia (Lepidoptera).
Psyche 31:146-147, 1924.
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146 Psyche [June-August
THE FAMILY POSITION OF GRAPHELYSIA (LEPIDOP- TERA)
Ithaca, New York.
Graphelysia Hampson (Annals and Magazine of Natural History (8) vol. 8, p. 408, 1911) was based on Elysius strigillata R~t~hschild, described as an Arctiid. Its position in the Arctiidse has been unchallenged, and it appears in the Supplement to the Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalsense, vol. 2, page 337. The Cornell Entomological Expedition of 1919-1920 cap- tured two specimens, a female from Corumba, Matto Grosso, Brazil, Dec. 1919, and a male from Urucurn, in the vicinity of Corumba, Dec. 23, making a considerable extension of the dis- tribution, as the species was described from southern Peru. The form is undoubtedly a Noctuid, not an Arctiid, as shown both by the venation and by the tympanum, which is of a type unknown in the Arctiidie.
It will find a place in the
Acontianse, as defined by Hampson, but is abundantly dis- tinguished by the combination of conical front and stalked R2 (vein 10): in fact it is not close to any known genus. The an- tenna is pectinate in both sexes, an extraordinary character in the quadrifid Noctuidse, the frenulum hook of the male distinctly longer than wide, though far from having the slenderness typical of Acontianse, the female frenulum of three strong bristles. At the base of the hind wing Sc is moderately thickened, and R is weak but free, fusing with Sc for a short distance only; Ma is well developed, and distinctly cubital, though well separated from Ma at the origin. On one side of the male specimen Sc and R though closely approximate are not actually fused, and M2 arises from the middle of the end of the cell, though the other side, like the female, is normal. The tympanum is like no other form I have seen; without dissection it is not possible to make it out fully, but the alula is deeply fringed with loose hair, not forming the scaly cap frequent in the Acontianie, the hood Pus-he 31:M-147 t 1924). http:ll~ycb.cnlclub.orBf3 113 1-H6 hld
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19241 The Family Position of Graphelysia (Lepidoptera) 147 on the first segment of the abdomen is weakly developed, and encloses the spiracle as in other Acontianse, and entirely unlike the deep subdorsal hood of the Arctiidse, the tympanic mem- brane itself is high up and far back, practically on the level of the wing, and is not well set off from the articular membrane before it. The epimeron proper is unusually short and squarish, exaggerating a character found in other Acontianse. The hind
leg is also of an Acontiine type, being swollen and hairy, with end-spurs only, and with a swollen and somewhat flattened metatarsus.
Altogether the connection with the Acontiine Noctuidse is unmistakable, though no genus known to me is at all close. The female does not differ in any striking way from the male.
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