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Integrating dots and spots with COI sequence data reinstates Thoracolopha Turner, 1939 (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), for 13 Australian species formerly in Proteuxoa Hampson, 1903
Author(s) -
Hitchcock Bobbie,
Edwards Edward,
Mitchell Andrew
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
austral entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.502
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 2052-1758
pISSN - 2052-174X
DOI - 10.1111/aen.12293
Subject(s) - biology , sensu , lepidoptera genitalia , phylogenetic tree , zoology , genus , taxon , cytochrome c oxidase subunit i , type species , monophyly , type (biology) , noctuidae , male genitalia , taxonomy (biology) , evolutionary biology , botany , ecology , clade , genetics , gene
Thoracolopha was described by Turner in 1939 for Thoracolopha alychnodes , Thoracolopha plaesiospila and Thoracolopha pissonephra , with the last designated as the type species. In 1996, Edwards referred all three taxa to Proteuxoa Hampson, 1903, thus synonymising Thoracolopha with Proteuxoa . However, the genitalia of Proteuxoa pissonephra are not like those of the Proteuxoa type species P roteuxoa amaurodes (Lower 1902), and the results of a phylogenetic analysis, using maximum likelihood, of sequence data from mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) also indicate that Proteuxoa ( sensu Edwards) is more than one genus. As a consequence, the genitalia of 42 of the species referred to Proteuxoa by Edwards were dissected and compared for the first time with those of P. pissonephra and P. amaurodes . Based on bootstrap branch support provided by COI sequence analysis (84%), as well as morphological evidence, Thoracolopha is here removed from synonymy and re‐established as a valid genus with 13 described species. The genitalia of typical Thoracolopha and typical Proteuxoa are illustrated, and Thoracolopha is redescribed from both sexes, so that the misidentified Thoracolopha species in collections can be reliably distinguished from those of Proteuxoa using adult morphology alone.