Utetheisa

Utetheisa
Utetheisa sumatrana imago
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Euarthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Subtribe: Callimorphina
Genus: Utetheisa
Hübner, [1819]
Type species
Phalaena ornatrix
Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
  • Atasca Swinhoe, 1892
  • Deiopeia Curtis, 1827
  • Deiopeia Stephens, 1829 (non Curtis, 1827: preoccupied)
  • Exitelica Turner, 1921
  • Pitasila Moore, 1877
  • Raanya de Vos, 2007
  • Utethesia (lapsus)
  • Uthetheisa (lapsus)

Utetheisa is a genus of tiger moths in the Erebidae family.

Description

Palpi porrect, extending beyond the frons. Antennae ciliated. Fore wings long and narrow, where the outer margin short and somewhat erect. Vein 3 from before angle of cell. Veins 4 and 5 from angle, vein 6 from upper angle and vein 7 to 10 from a short areole. Hind wing with vein 5 from above angle of cell. Vein 6 and 7 from upper angle and vein 8 from middle of cell.[1]

Caterpillars of many Utetheisa species feed on Crotalaria (rattlebox), and hence the genus as a whole is often called rattlebox moths. The adults usually have bright aposematic coloration[2] and contain toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are used as a chemical defense and are also incorporated into the sex pheromones of the males.[3]

Taxonomy

The members of its subgenera Pitasila, Atasca, and Raanya were formerly included in Nyctemera. Utetheisa is placed in the tribe Callimorphina or in the Nyctemerina; some treatments merge the two subtribes.[4][5]

Utetheisa is monophyletic.[3]

Selected species

Species of Utetheisa include:[6]

Subgenus Utetheisa

Subgenus Atasca


Subgenus Raanya

Heliotrope Moth (Utetheisa pulchelloides)


Subgenus Pitasila

References

  1. Hampson G. F. (1892). "The Fauna Of British India Including Ceylon And Burma Moths Vol-ii". Digital Library of India. p. 558. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  2. Garrett, S. E., et al. (2008). Alkaloidal protection of Utetheisa galapagensis (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) against an invertebrate and a vertebrate predator in the Galápagos Islands. Galápagos Research 65 2.
  3. 1 2 DaCosta, M. A. (2010). Phylogeny of Utetheisa s. str.(Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Arctinae) with comments on the evolution of colour, hind wing scales and origin of New World species. Invertebrate Systematics 24(2), 113-30.
  4. de Vos, R. (2007). The Utetheisa species of the subgenera Pitasila, Atasca and Raanya subgen. n. (Insecta, Lepidoptera: Arctiidae). Aldrovandia. Bollettino del Museo Civico di Zoologia di Roma 3, 31-120.
  5. de Vos, R. and V. V. Dubatolov. (2010). Nyctemerini. In: Dubatolov, V. V. Tiger-moths of Eurasia (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae). Neue Entomologische Nachrichten 65, 11-18.
  6. Savela, M. Utetheisa Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. 2011.

Further reading

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