Introduction

Casandria Walker, 1857 is a monotypic genus described in the Noctuidae, which present a peculiar position at rest: wings rolled along the body, looking like dead twigs ( Figure 4). It has been used, by early authors ( Schaus, 1894, 1906; Hampson, 1912; Dyar, 1914; Dognin, 1914; Draudt, 1940), to accommodate species that are not congeneric with C. emittens Walker, 1857 the type-species, who they treated in the Sarrothripinae, to include several species (transferred herein to Collomena Möschler, 1890, Motya Walker, 1859, and Neostictoptera Druce, 1900). This confusion about its identity was first created by Walker (1857, p. 606) who described two species: C. emittens, the type species, and, surprisingly, again, as Agrotis emittens ( Walker, 1859, p. 737), based on the same specimen: a female from the Dominican Republic, deposited in the Oxford Museum Collection, England! This kind of incorrection is commonly found throughout Walker’s work. Good examples are his treatment of several Chrysauginae (Pyralidae) species, that he described in the Tortricidae ( Ragnot, 1891, p. 114), and the case of Etiella zinckenella (Treitschke, 1832), that he described four times in four different genera proposed by himself ( Whalley, 1973, p. 8). Schaus (1896, p. 638), examined the types of the species described by Walker deposited in the Oxford Museum Collection, listing C. emittens as an unidentified species, and transferring A. emittens to Acanthodica, a genus he had described two years before ( Schaus, 1894, p. 241). Further confusion was created by Schaus (1906, p. 108), when he described Casandria chirica, from Mexico, establishing a concept that was followed by himself, and by several subsequent authors ( Dyar, 1914, Dognin, 1914; Hampson, 1918), as can be seen in the list of species given below. Following Schaus’ concept, Casandria was treated in the Sarrothripinae [now Collomeninae, Nolidae], by Hampson (1912, p. 350), who synonymized six genus names, and included 18 species, but curiously did not treat C. emittens Walker, 1857, the type species of Casandria. However, curiously he listed the name at the end of Sarrthripinae (Hampson, 1912, p. 454), as one of the unrecognized species. Nye (1975, p. 104), examined the female specimen, compared the two original descriptions, and concluded that they fit the characters of this specimen, recognizing it as the holotype of both names, transferring Casandria to the Catocalinae. Poole (1989, p. 209) followed Nye’s concept, retained Casandria in the Catocalinae, and revalidated three of the six synonyms, assigning most of the 18 species to these synonyms, except for five species that were left as Casandria of authors.

Results

The type specimens of nearly all the names involved were examined revealing that Acanthodica grandis Schaus, 1894 is a junior synonym of Casandria emittens Walker, 1857, and that the five unplaced species also belong in the Collomeninae, and are here assigned to Motya Walker, 1859. All these changes are summarized below.

Nomenclature summary

(The list of countries gives the type locality only, not distribution).

EREBIDAE

C atocalinae

Casandria Walker, 1857

= Acanthodica Schaus, 1894, syn. n.

= Cassandria Hampson, 1918, misspl.

NOLIDAE

C ollomeninae

Collomena Möschler, 1890

Motya Walker, 1859

Neostictoptera Druce, 1900

Acknowledgements

Diego Dolibaina and Robiara S. Becker (Reserva Serra Bonita) prepared the illustrations. Ken Preston-Mafham, Premaphotos Wildlife, England supplied the image of C. emitens holotype, and Jerry Harrison, Panama, kindly supplied the image of C. splendens. S. E. Miller (USNM) reviewed the manuscript, made several corrections, and suggested some changes that improved the article. Dr. Antonio Vives, the editor of SHILAP, did a careful and competent job, as usual. To all of them the sincerest gratitude.

References

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Draudt, M. (1939-1940). Subfamily Catocalinae. In A. Seitz (ed.). The Macrolepidoptera of The World (Vol. 6, pp. 33-230). A. Kernen.

Dyar, H. G. (1914). Descriptions of new species and genera of Lepidoptera from Mexico. Proceedings United States National Museum, 47, 139-350.

Hampson, G. H. (1911). Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum (Vol. 12). British Museum.

Nye, I. W. B. (1975). Noctuidae. In I. W. B. Nye (ed.) The generic names of moths of the World (Vol. 1). British Museum (Natural History).

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Ragonot, E.-L. (1891). Essai sur la classification des Pyralites. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, 11, 15-114.

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Schaus, W. (1896). On Walker’s types of Lepidoptera in the Oxford University Collection. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1896, 634-650.

Schaus, W. (1906). Descriptions of South American moths. Proceedings of United States National Museum, 30, 85-141.

Walker, F. (1857). List of the specimens of Lepidopterous insects in the collections of the British Museum, 11, 493-764.

Walker, F. (1859). List of the specimens of Lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum, 18, 509-798.

Whalley, P. E. S. (1973). The genus Etiella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): a zoogeographic and taxonomic study. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology), 25, 31-72.

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