Pseudohemihyalea

Pseudohemihyalea is a genus of moths in the family Erebidae described by Régo Barros in 1956. While the caterpillars of most species of Pseudohemihyalea feed on broad-leaved trees (e.g. oaks, Quercus), the P. ambigua group has larvae that feed on conifers. Their forewing coloration has accordingly evolved to light-and-dark lengthwise striping, giving better camouflage among the slim needles of the host plants. In this, they seem to be convergent to certain geometer moths, such as Caripeta piniata or Sabulodes niveostriata.[1]

Pseudohemihyalea
Adult male red-banded aemilia (P. ambigua)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Subfamily: Arctiinae
Subtribe: Phaegopterina
Genus: Pseudohemihyalea
Régo Barros, 1956
Type species
Hemihyalea schausi (see text)
Rothschild, 1909
Diversity
Some 20–30 species

Taxonomy

The genus was long included in Hemihyalea when the latter was still unresolved versus Amastus, but seems to be distinct and in fact contain more species than originally believed. The initial confusion stems partly from the fact that Régo Barros when describing the genus set the type species to be Phaegoptera rhoda, but he had actually misidentified Pseudohemihyalea schausi specimens as P. rhoda.[1]

The additional species were usually considered a group of the genus Aemilia, but this was long realized to be awkward and possibly wrong. Since then, a variety of data has been found to suggest the red-banded aemilia ("Aemilia" ambigua) and its closest relatives correctly belong in Pseudohemihyalea. However, the genus is still in need of definite revision, as at least one species is incorrectly placed here.[1]

Selected species

Species of Pseudohemihyalea include:[1]

Footnotes
  1. Schmidt (2009)

References
  • Schmidt, B. Christian (2009): Revision of the "Aemilia" ambigua (Strecker) species-group (Noctuidae, Arctiinae). ZooKeys 9: 63–78. doi:10.3897/zookeys.9.149 PDF fulltext
  • Pitkin, Brian & Jenkins, Paul. "Search results Family: Arctiidae". Butterflies and Moths of the World. Natural History Museum, London.
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