First identification of Rhosus aguirrei on Inaturalist.

The first description of the species was given by Berg 1882 as Alypia aguirrei (https://archive.org/details/analesdelasocied13soci/page/174/mode/1up?view=theater). Later, Hampson 1910 transferred the species to the genus Rhosus and made a new description and provided a picture (https://archive.org/details/catalogueoflepid09brituoft/page/413/mode/1up?view=theater ; https://archive.org/details/catalogueoflepid410brit/page/n425/mode/2up?view=theater). By that time, Rhosus aguirrei was only known for the argentinian province of Buenos Aires, but Silva, Specht & Link, 2004 reported this species in the brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

To improve the knowledge of the species distribution, I compared Inaturalist observations with the picture Hampson provided and a photo of this species in insecta.pro site (https://insecta.pro/taxonomy/734594). The search was made in the brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina; and in the countries of Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. Photos of adults previously identified at least in the family Noctuidae was checked. "Research grade" observations was excluded of the search.

Just one observation matched the pattern of Rhosus aguirrei found in the argentinian province of Buenos Aires: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/142673143.

The specimen is similar with Hampson figure but lack the yellow stipes in the thorax. I only was confident in the identification after found insecta.pro image that matches very well. Four species of Rhosus that I couldn't find pictures and descriptions also occur in Argentina, R. denieri, R. ornata, R. pampeana and R. storniana (https://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/noctuoidea/noctuidae/agaristinae/rhosus/). R. aguirrei is very distinctive from other species of Rhosus but the similarity with this four argentinian species are unknown. This is the first identification of the species Rhosus aguirrei in the Inaturalist site.

Bibliography:

Silva, E. J. E., Specht, A. & Link, D. 2004. Noctuídeos (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) do museu entomológico Ceslau Biezanko, departamento de fotossanidade, faculdade de agronomia "Eliseu Maciel", Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Current Agricultural Science and Technology 10 (4): 389-409.

Posted on August 31, 2023 01:32 PM by regisrafael