Authaeretis coptobasis Hampson

Taxonomy

The male holotype of Pilocrocis coptobasis Hampson, 1898 [1899]: 656. TL Indonesia, Sulawesi, [Maluku], Ambon Island [Amboina]; is in the BMNH. In LepIndex and Globiz as Pilocrocis Lederer 1863: 430, where it is misplaced, as that is mainly a new world genus. For convenience here we treat it with the Coptobasis opisalis group in Authaeretis.

The genus Authaeretis may be closely related to Coptobasis & this confused relationship should be investigated further.

Description

A silky, golden brown sp. with purple iridescence. The purplish brown FW has a white square discocellular spot with indistinct darker marks on either side. Both wings have pale postmedian lines which are somewhat broken up into pale dots anteriorly. On the FW post median fascia At the start of the post-median line a slightly serrate white patch creates a small coronet. Other small white spots are present medially. The HW has a dotted post median fascia. The palpi appear simple. In his spp. group [Anisoctena] description Hampson (1898: 656) notes the presence of a scale tooth on the basal joint of the male antennae with the base of the shaft deeply excised followed by curved teeth on the outer side for some distance. This is typical of the antennal modifications seen in many Coptobasis spp. See Authaeretis sp. 3 and other Coptobasis Authaeretis group spp which is similar. Authaeretis eridora Meyrick 1886a: 252 is also very similar but the males have very large complex palpi.

References

• Hampson, G. F. (1898 [1899]) A revision of the moths of the subfamily Pyraustinae and the family Pyralidae. Part 1, Proc. zool. soc. Lond.: 590-760.
• Lederer, J. (1863d [Dec]) Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Pyralidinen. Wien. entomol. Monat. 7 (12): 427-502, pl. 2-18.