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Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Systematics of Apatelodidae Neumoegen & Dyar, 1894 (Lepidoptera: Bombycoidea) based on molecular and morphological data

Elton Orlandin https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1987-9727 A * , Mônica Piovesan B and Eduardo Carneiro A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Departamento de Zoologia, Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidoptera Neotropical, Universidade Federal do Paraná, PO Box 19020, 81531-980, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.

B Reserva Serra Bonita, PO Box 001, 45880-970, Camacan, Bahia, Brazil.

* Correspondence to: orlandinelton@gmail.com

Handling Editor: Gonzalo Giribet

Invertebrate Systematics 38, IS24041 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS24041
Submitted: 15 May 2024  Accepted: 3 October 2024  Published: 30 October 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing.

Abstract

Apatelodidae is a family of New World bombycoids distributed mainly in the Neotropical region, with 14 genera, 222 valid species and 8 subspecies. These moths are medium-sized with a wingspan ranging from 2 to 8 cm, generally greyish, straw-yellow or reddish-brown, with darker spots and lines on the dorsal side of the wings. We combine adult morphology and molecular data to test, under a probabilistic framework, the monophyly of apatelodid genera and the placement of Tamphana (Bombycidae). We sampled the type species of 12 of the 14 valid genera of Apatelodidae, including the type species of synonymised genera. We sampled ~75% of the species from all valid genera in the family and outgroups from Bombycidae, Brahmaeidae, Eupterotidae and Phiditiidae, totalling 195 terminals. Examination of the specimens resulted in a matrix of 138 morphological characters (116 from male; 22 from female) from the head (7 from male; 1 from female), thorax (37 from male; 4 from female), abdomen (5 from male) and genitalia (66 from male; 17 from female). For the molecular analyses, we used four genes: DDC (647 bp) for 14% of terminals; CAD (2486 bp) for 23% of terminals, Wgl (409 bp) for 38% of terminals and COI (658 bp) for 75% of terminals. Species of Tamphana were recovered in Apatelodidae as two independent clades. The genera Arotros, Crastolliana, Drepatelodes, Pantelodes, and Prothysana were recovered as monophyletic. The remaining apatelodid genera were polyphyletic. We propose a new genus-level classification: Tamphana is transferred to Apatelodidae; 16 new genera are proposed: Aymara gen. nov., Campesina gen. nov., Caribas gen. nov., Cecile gen. nov., Kaweskar gen. nov., Lempira gen. nov., Misak gen. nov., Mocambo gen. nov., Nhanderu gen. nov., Peabiru gen. nov., Raoni gen. nov., Tapuia gen. nov., Tibira gen. nov., Tupac gen. nov., Tuyvae gen. nov. and Zapata gen. nov. Two new species are described: Mocambo lauracensis sp. nov., and Nhanderu takua sp. nov. We revalidate the genus Hygrochroa stat. rev. and three species: Carnotena perlineata stat. rev., Tupac bombycina stat. rev., comb. nov. and Zanola vivax stat. rev. Overall, we propose 82 new generic combinations, synonymise 16 species, and restore the status of 3 species: Apatelodes floramia stat. rest., Carnotena rectilinea comb. nov., stat. rest. and Ephoria nubilosa stat. rest. Additionally, we summarise data on the natural history and distribution of each Apatelodidae species.

ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:254AA924-30B3-48A8-AB15-CCF2745C3B8E

Keywords: Apatelodes, geographic distribution, molecular, morphology, moth, natural history, new genus, new species, revision, phylogeny.

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