Scea necyria
James S. Miller and Andrew V. Z. BrowerIntroduction
Unlike most of its congeners, Scea necyria is widespread throughout the Amazonian slopes of the Andes from Colombia to Peru. The atypical wing pattern (shared with S. bellona) resulted in its being described in a separate genus (see nomenclature, below) which Miller (2009) has synonymized. Larvae feed on Passiflora species, and the moth was introduced to Hawai'i in an unsuccessful effort to exert biological control over P. mollissima (Markin et al., 1989).Characteristics
The iridescent blue-black wings with red basal dashes on the forewings are unique among Josiini, aside from its larger sister species, N. bellona. Miller (2009) notes two additional undescribed species from Peru that belong in this clade.Nomenclature
S. necyria was originally described in the genus Sangala (Geometridae), and subsequently associated with Dioptinae by Prout (1918), who erected the genus Cyanotricha, for this species and "Tuina" bellona Druce (Tuina is a genus af Arctiidae). Miller's (2009) phylogenetic analysis revealed Cyanotricha to be embedded within a paraphyletic Scea, and so elected to synonymize the former.References
Markin, GP, RF Nagata and G Taniguchi. 1989. Biology and behavior of the South American moth Cyanotricha necyria (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae), a potential biocontrol agent in Hawaii of the forest weed Passiflora mollissima (HBK) Bailey. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 29, 115-123.
Miller, JS. 2009. Generic revision of the Dioptinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 321, 1-971 + 48 plates.
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Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
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- First online 10 January 2010
- Content changed 10 January 2010
Citing this page:
Miller, James S. and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2010. Scea necyria http://tolweb.org/Scea_necyria/138760/2010.01.10 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
. Version 10 January 2010 (under construction).