Aprica: a new genus and life history for the pteridivore Xanthia patula Druce, 1898 (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)

Abstract

Aprica Goldstein, gen. nov. is described to accommodate Xanthiapatula Druce, 1898. Recent discovery of its larva, which has been recorded eating foliage of species in six families of leptosporangiate ferns, suggest a possible subfamily assignment within the Eriopinae, but this cannot be substantiated based on adult morphology. This species has no obvious close relatives either among the core noctuid pteridivore genera currently recognized in the Eriopinae (e.g., Callopistria Hübner, [1821]), nor among genera more recently discovered to be fern-feeders but which remain incertae sedis with respect to subfamily (e.g., Leucosigma Druce, 1908, Lophomyra Schaus, 1911). The recorded foodplant profile is similar to that of another ambiguously placed Nearctic species Fagitanalittera (Guenée, 1852) (Noctuidae: Noctuinae: Xylenini, incertae sedis) with which it shares no obvious synapomorphies.